The Aldi Phone Prepay.

[issatree]

Hi All,
Now some of you may know about this.
I bought a new Mobile Ph. It is an LG Optimus L3, Android $69. Yes & now they are $49, at Office Works. Oh Well.
So a friend of mine suggested that I buy an Aldi Sim Card $5.
Now the $5 goes into your pre pay A/C, therefore you already have $5 Credit.
You then have to buy either a $15 or $30 card,& then Activate it on Online. The part that sold me, was that your money lasts 365 Days & your calls are 12 cents a minute.
This Aldi P/P is connected to Telstra.
Right up our alley.
So now we will use the Mob. instead of our Land Line, but receive calls on the L/L.
I have to go to Telstra as my Mob. keeps dropping out, so a friend thought it wasn't getting to enough Sats. & I will ask if it is because of this cheaper rate. Have heard a whisper that if you are a way up in Woop woop, then you may have a small prob. of ringing the Lady or whoever.
Yet to be confirmed.

[Bushmiller]

I would be very interested to hear more of people's experiences with this Aldi system. On the face of it sounds very good, but is there any compromise on coverage?

Regards
Paul

[DaveTTC]

I'll follow this one too

[Big Shed]

I bought one of the Aldi SIMs for my wife's Nokia (not a smart phone).

We have the $15/365 day plan for that as she hardly ever uses it.

Whilst we were away recently I put 2Gb/$15 of data on it and put the SIM in my Android tablet. I compared reception in various places against my LG Optimus smart phone which is on pre-paid Telstra. Everywhere I checked the Aldi reception was the same as my LG Optimus/Telstra phone.

Using the tablet as a WiFi hotspot though was far superior to using my LG Optimus phone as a WiFi hotspot, a feature of the better WiFi function of the tablet, confirmed by putting the Telstra SIM in there.

If you use a fair bit of data and make regular calls, Aldi also have a $35/month plan which gives yo unlimited calls and texts and 5Gb of data, actually a better deal than my Telstra pre-paid.

The only thing you don't get with the Aldi SIM is 4G, but that is basically limited to metro areas anyway at this stage.

[damian]

Thank you to previous posters for the information.

My partner and I have been on vodafone 365 for years. The big advantage apart from the 365 was the free vodafone to vodafone calls as 90% of ours are to each other.

Recently we have had data with amaysim and are very happy with the company service but the optus resell seems to be getting worse by the month. Poor reception and lousy data throughput.

We intend to move away from vodafone eventually as they no longer roll over free minutes.

The aldi offering seems cheaper than amaysim and if reception is good then that would be a better data solution. The aldi 365 seems a good option for calls.

Thus I too will see how the service pans out. Whirlpool forums is always a good place to check how things are going.

[Mr Brush]

Both Aldi and Kogan Mobile are using (most of) the Telstra 3G network, so coverage for phones will be pretty good. You probably won't get the same data speeds as you would with the real Telstra 3G, but that's no deal breaker for me.

After years of putting up with dismal Vodafail service here, I was planning on getting the Aldi SIM. Waited a few weeks but they never had them in stock, so went with Kogan instead. Same kind of deal, but Kogan is unlimited calls to landline and mobiles, unlimited SMS/MMS, and 6Gb of data per month, all for the princely sum of $29/month. Even cheaper if you go with 3 month or 12 month periods. Aldi is a similar offer (only 5Gb data though), but $35/month.

Both of these "unlimited" plans DO have usage restrictions (and have been in the press recently because of this...), but in reality you will be fine unless you absolutely flog the thing to death.

For a cheap phone, the Nokia Lumia 520 is a new Telstra "blue tick" smartphone running Windows 8 mobile. I can confirm that I get excellent rural coverage on mine, and the Windows mobile OS is very simple to drive (I'm used to Android on a Nexus 7 tablet). It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of a $700 phone....mainly because it only costs around $170 outright (unlocked) from Hardly Normal.

Nokia Lumia 520 Windows 8 Phone - Buy Outright Phones - Mobile Phones - Phone & GPS | Harvey Norman Australia

So, for good rural coverage without spending too much, Lumia 520 plus an Aldi or Kogan SIM has you up and running on (effectively) the Telstra 3G network for only about $200.

[Big Shed]

After years of putting up with dismal Vodafail service here, I was planning on getting the Aldi SIM. Waited a few weeks but they never had them in stock, so went with Kogan instead.

You can order the Aldi SIM, standard or mini size, via their mobile web site, so even if you don't live anywhere near an Aldi you can get one.

https://www.aldimobile.com.au/

[Mr Brush]

They've got lots of them now......at our local Aldi they finally got boxloads in, literally 2 days after I got my Kogan SIM instead.

I'm guessing they have now caught up with the initial flurry of demand.

[Mr Brush]

Aldi is a better fit for VERY light users who found the Vodafail 365 plan attractive for that very reason, Kogan is better for slightly heavier users who can get some value out of the lower monthly cost.

Not plugging either here - its horses for courses. Either offering is a substantial saving over Telstra's 3G prices.

To be honest (in my case), if you know you can make as many calls as you like on your cheap plan, you do tend to use it a bit more !!

[dabbler]

I've been using Aldi prepaid since mid-Feb and very definitely a light user. The coverage is better and far cheaper than the Optus prepaid it replaced esp. on those 20 second "where are you ?" phone calls.

Have yet to try it in a truly regional area but it works in the hinterland in places I know Optus falls over, so I'm already better off.

Interestingly my Aldi sim also works in several tablets and phones that are locked to Telstra prepaid.

I am very happy so far.