Telstra’s Data Christmas Present to Pre-Paid Freedom Users

Earlier this year Telstra changed their Pre-Paid plans to scrap the Encore plan for new users and introduced a new plan called Pre-Paid Freedom. At the time it looked to be a big step backwards as it decreased the data available to users. In a bid to entice more users onto the Pre-Paid Freedom plan Telstra have doubled the data as a Christmas present to customers using their Freedom Pre-paid plans.

For a $30 recharge there is now 800MB of data included, while for the $40 and $50 recharge’s there is 1,5GB and 2GB of data included respectively. Sounds great for those already on a Pre-Paid Freedom plan but for those who require more data than included, beware the fine print.

On the new Freedom plans, the highest recharge possible is a mere $50, so if you require more data, you will have to pay for it. Unfortunately, with the Pre-Paid Freedom plan you cannot use Telstra credit to pay for extra data packs as has been an option with previous Telstra Pre-Paid plans. To gain extra data you will need to “recharge” by parting with more hard-earned cash. Speaking with Ausdroid, a Telstra customer service representative advised

..all plus packs are incompatible with the Freedom offers. What you may do is to recharge these denominations to top up data. $5 for 250MB or $15 for 1GB, both good for 14 days.

The new Pre-Paid Freedom plans now look like this :

While it may seem like a good deal on the surface, carefully consider your data usage before committing to one of these new Freedom offers. While I commend Telstra for increasing data allowances, it’s also worrying that they’re removing some functions for updating using ‘Telstra credit’. If your data usage is greater than these then you will end up spending much more than you intended and once you leave the Pre-Paid Encore plans you cannot go back. As always it is a case of buyer beware.

Do you use Telstra Pre-Paid? Freedom or Encore? What are your thoughts on the new plans?