Short answer: the best business mobile plan is the one on the right network for where your staff work, with the right amount of data for each person, and no contract you can't get out of. The cheapest plan on paper often isn't the cheapest once you add excess data charges or a 24-month lock-in.
1. Start with coverage, not price
A cheap plan is no good if the phone drops out at your site. Australia has three mobile networks – Telstra, Optus and TPG (Vodafone) – and most smaller providers resell one of them. Check coverage at your premises, at your customers' sites and on the roads your team drives. In regional areas the difference between networks can be big.
2. Match the data to each person
Pull the last three months of usage from your current bill. A tradie using maps all day, a sales rep tethering a laptop and an office worker on Wi-Fi most of the day need very different plans. Putting everyone on the biggest plan wastes money. Putting everyone on the smallest means excess charges. A mix usually works out cheapest.
3. Check the contract
Month-to-month plans let you add, drop or change services as your team changes. Plans with a handset bundled in usually lock you in for 24 or 36 months, and leaving early means paying out the phone. If you want new phones without the lock-in, buying outright or choosing refurbished handsets keeps the plan flexible.
4. Look at what's shared and what costs extra
Check whether data can be shared across your account, what happens when someone goes over their allowance, and what international roaming and international calls cost. Every provider has to publish a Critical Information Summary for each plan – it's the quickest way to compare the fine print.
5. Think about who you'll call
When a SIM needs replacing or a new starter needs a phone today, it helps to have one account, one bill and a person who answers. That matters more as your team grows.
What about cheap business mobile plans?
Cheap plans are fine for light users who are mostly on Wi-Fi. Before you sign up, check which network the plan uses, what excess data costs and how you get support. A plan that's $10 cheaper but drops out at your site costs more in the end.
A quick checklist
- Which network works best at our sites and on our usual routes?
- How much data does each person actually use?
- Month-to-month, or locked in?
- Can we share data across the account?
- What do roaming and international calls cost?
- Who do we call when something goes wrong?
How we can help
Bold Media Group offers business mobile plans on the Telstra and Optus wholesale networks from $34 a month, month-to-month. Send us a recent bill and we'll tell you straight whether you'd save by switching.