If you are visiting Australia for an extended period of time and wondering if you should subscribe to a fixed phone line to make your local and international calls 
then you might want to think twice. Using a prepaid mobile service will not only avoid any contracts, it could also save you a bundle in call costs.
Five years ago, making an international call using your mobile phone in Australia would have cost you quite a bit of money. Whilst Australia had a growing international student market and migrants coming in from all over world to fill employment opportunities, the options for these longterm visitors to make cheap international calls back home to friends and family was really limited. In fact the only service offering discount call rates was prepaid phone cards.
Today, the options are considerably different. The prepaid mobile market has significantly changed with a handful of prepaid mobile providers entering the scene who specifically target international calls with discounted call rates to landlines and mobiles, supported with cheap SMS services.
A recent poll undertaken on our website showed that over 30% of our readers used their mobile phone to make international calls. One key reason for the demand is that many international students and workers rent their homes in Australia and avoid subscribing to a fixed phone line. Instead they use their mobile phone for all calls they wish to make.
To give you an idea of what it costs to establish a fixed phone line in Australia, I have compared the monthly charges for both Telstra and Optus, the most popular providers when it comes to these services. I have also taken a snapshot of what they charge for international calls to some of the more popular international destinations.
Telstra has a budget packet called Homeline Budget. For $22.95 per month you can make local calls at the following rates:
- Local calls – 30c untimed
- Call connection – 45c
- Calls to Mobiles – 36c/min
Calls to these popular destinations:
- India – $1.10/min
- UK – 21c/min
- Indonesia – 90c/min
- China – 75c/min
- Hong Kong – 35c/min
- Malaysia – 60c/min
Note that a flagfall applies.
Telstra also offers a $5/month International Pack which provides discounted international call rates.
Optus also offers a budget starter pack for your home phone line. The Home Starter Plan gives you the following rates:
- Local calls – 30c untimed
- Call connection – 45c
- Calls to Mobiles – 80c/min
Calls to these popular destinations using an Optus home phone plan and standard call rates are:
- India – $1.10/min
- UK – 21c/min
- Indonesia – 90c/min
- China – 75c/min
- Hong Kong – 35c/min
- Malaysia – 60c/min
In fairness to Optus, they also have a $5 and $10 World Saver and World Saver Plus offer with discounted call rates, however these are packages that you specifically need to ask for. If you didn’t know they existed, the standard rates would apply.
If you decided to skip the home phone and use your prepaid mobile plan for all your local and international calls, a prepaid service such as Optus’ Connect 4 Less, which is a specialist sim card would offer you the following local and international call rates.
- Local calls to fixed lines and mobile – 10c/min
- Flagfall – 23c
- Data – 5c/MB
- Expiry – 90 days
Calls to these popular destinations:
- India – 1.9c/min
- UK – 3c/min
- Indonesia – 5c/min
- China – 0c/min
- Hong Kong – 1c/min
- Malaysia -0c/min
The savings when using a prepaid mobile plan are significant for both local (mobile calls in particular) and international calls.
In most cases, call rates are less than 10% of that charged by a fixed phone line. Whilst Optus has a competitive offer, you can also compare rates with providers such as Vodafone, Lebara, gotalk, LycaMobile and even Telstra and find very similar savings.
