Prepaid Mobile Broadband

Prepaid Mobile Broadband is a great option if you want the benefits of mobile internet, but don’t want to be tied down by contracts, commitments and monthly bills. You simply recharge your prepaid mobile broadband account when you need to. And even if you go months without using your mobile broadband service, it will be ready for action again when you recharge your credit!

All of the major mobile networks offer prepaid mobile broadband. The main differentiators between providers are:

• price – eg $ per GB
• expiry period
• coverage

Considering any one or two of these factors in isolation may mean that you don’t get the best prepaid broadband deal for you. Evaluate any potential deals on all three factors to ensure you are getting a  prepaid service that will serve you well.

Price – this is fairly easy to compare, except when companies try to introduce tricky prepaid mobile broadband caps or other pricing  mechanisms. The best advice we can offer so you can compare “apples with apples” is to work out a $ per GB cost for each provider. If a certain provider uses a Cap, then look at the peak usage rate and calculate how much data you will get for you money. In all cases, we have tried to do this conversion before displaying the plans on WirelessBroadband.com.au.

Expiry Period – with prepaid mobile broadband, there is also the factor of expiry period to consider. It is of little use to buy a large data amount if a short expiry period means you will lose most of the data after 30 or 60 days! Estimate how much data you will need over several periods – how much in the first month, then over three months, six months and then a year. If your usage is variable from month to month, then 12 month expiry credit may be the best option. If your usage is more consistent, then recharging every 30 to 60 days may be more appropriate.

Coverage – there is no point finding the best prepaid mobile broadband deal if you then have no coverage to use it where you need it! There are several ways you can research the mobile broadband coverage. Firstly on the providers’ websites you’ll be able to see coverage maps – click on the “Sign Up” links in the table above to be taken to the respective websites.

Secondly you can test mobile coverage in a particular area using your mobile phone. Whilst it is no guarantee of mobile broadband coverage, it could give a good indication if there is strong reception in a particular area. Testing in this way may also show up interference or weak signal strength that a coverage map cannot properly indicate.

Prepaid mobile broadband is an extremely popular product that is relatively cheap and flexible to access. Use it as you need to and enjoy the freedom of wireless broadband when you need it and where you need it. Within coverage locations of course!