Vodafone was the last of the major three Australians telcos to launch a 4G network, meaning that nearly all Australians can now be using 4G if they want. But with faster mobile speeds comes the ability to burn through data allowances just as fast.
In order to prevent customers exceeding their data limits, Vodafone Australia yesterday announced data packs, allowing 4G post-paid customers to top up their plans, either on a 12 month commitment or month-to-month.
"We are taking direct action against bill shock so customers can make the most of their services by giving them the tools they need to monitor their usage and top up when they need to," Vodafone Australia's Chief Customer Officer Craig Reines said in a statement.
Month-to-month add-ons start at $5 a month for 150MB, up to $30 a month for 2GB. The 12 month add-ons are priced the same, but for double the corresponding data allowance.
While the data packs will be able to get you out of a tight spot quickly, Vodafone's add-ons are slightly more expensive than on Optus and Telstra. Telstra's lowest offering of $5 will get you 200MB, $10 on Optus will get you 500MB.
Voda's shock treatment
Vodafone had already implemented Vodafone Alerts for 4G customers, which sends out a text messages at 50%, 85% and 100% of usage.
It has now also included text messages that will inform customers when they have gone over their monthly allowance by $100 or $200.
"These tools give our customers the ability to get the most out of their service whilst remaining in total control of their monthly mobile bills," Craig Reines said.
While these top-ups can help, mobile data usage is on the rise and faster networks will only have users downloading apps, games, music and videos more. Hopefully, we will all have cheaper and higher data allowances across all networks in the future.
