Following an upgrade to the credit expiry of its prepaid mobile FlatChat range, Crazy Johns has launched Flat Chat Unlimited. 
With $39 and 30 days to use it you get unlimited calls to Australian fixed lines and mobiles, unlimited Txt, unlimited MMS, unlimited video calls and MMS, unlimited Voicemail, unlimited 1300 and 1800 numbers and a whopping 4GB of data. This is a prepaid offer with 30 days to use it, so if you want to keep using it just keep recharging. How good is it? It is as good as the other “prepaid unlimited offers” except it is lacking one thing, 3G data. GPRS data is 2G, not as fast as 3G and the 4GB of data that you are given access to is GPRS. It is a speed thing, not a coverage issue.
In terms of calls, pretty much every call type except for international is included in your $39 so you can’t fault them there and given the perception that Crazy Johns is a serious prepaid player, this plan should do OK.
Keen to hear your thoughts on this one, in particular the GPRS data offer.
Buy a $39.90 Lebara Mobile Mega Plan Starter pack online between 25/01/12 and 29/02/12 and receive a BONUS $9.90 Mega Recharge voucher. The Mega Recharge voucher can be used to top-up your included call credit for international calls and data, at Lebara’s standard low-cost rates. Customers who purchase 
online will receive a Mega Plan Starter pack ($0 SIM card and $39.90 Mega Plan recharge voucher) and a BONUS $9.90 Mega Recharge voucher.
Offer rules
Offer available from 25/01/12 and ends on 29/02/12. We reserve the right to extend this offer at any time during the offer period. This offer is available only to customers who purchase a Mega Plan Starter pack online during the promotional period. Standard Terms and Conditions apply.
How do I get it?
Purchase a $39.90 Mega Plan Starter pack today
Once you have received your $39.90 Mega Starter pack, you will need to:
Activate your SIM
Use your $39.90 Mega Plan voucher to redeem your call credit . You will need to use your $39.90 Mega Plan voucher first, to access the Mega Plan.
You can also top up your included call credit at the same time using your $9.90 Mega recharge voucher.
Vodafone have expanded their Prepaid Cap range with the launch this week of the $50 prepaid cap, adding to the already popular $30 Cap. The original launched with $450 in calls, 500MB (unlimited social media) and unlimited Txt. The new $50 Cap has $1000 in calls, 3GB of data (unlimited social media) and unlimited Txt. Just note that the website says that data is charged per MB (the $30 Cap has it charged at 25KB). Credit lasts 30 days. Two minute call costs $2.20
Let’s compare it to some of the others eg Telstra, Optus, Virgin and Woolworths Mobile
- Optus – New Turbo Cap Plus ($50 recharge) offers $1000 in calls, unlimited Txt/MMS, unlimited calls to Optus, 3GB of data (charged p/MB) plus unlimited social media. Credit lasts 30 days. Two minute call costs $2.17.
- Telstra – Prepaid Cap Encore ($50 recharge) offers $1000 in calls, 2GB of data (charged p/KB), unlimited calls to anyone from 6pm – 6am (until 23/4/12). Credit lasts 30 days. Two minute call costs $2.17
- Virgin – Your Caps ($49 recharge) offers $800 in calls, unlimited calls to Virgin, 1GB of data (charged 60/KB). Credit lasts 30 days. Two minute call costs $2.20.
- Woolworths Mobile – $49 Cap offers $1000 in credit ($500 to other Woolworths Mobile customers) plus 5GB of data (charged p/MB). Credits lasts 45 days. Two minute calls is $2.17.
From what I have collected above it is competitive but it isn’t the leader. Optus’ offer is probably the most competitive on face value but I wouldn’t write-off Telstra’s offer either. 2GB of data at per/KB is atleast as valuable as 3GB. Telstra doesn’t have unlimited social media access but they do have unlimited calls in the evening for the next 3 months (likely to be extended again).
With their new network, Vodafone should have sharpened their pencils a little more for me. If the network is as good as they say, then the more people giving it a go will/should result in more influencers telling others how good it is.
You can compare the rest of the prepaid offers from Vodafone here.
If you are looking for the best prepaid mobile and prepaid internet deals so that you can recharge your mobile phone or mobile broadband service then we have a new site which will give you exactly what you are after. Whilst you can still find many of these great offers on our home page, the number of actual offers in the market when you also consider retailers is far too many for our home page to handle, therefore we launched “Prepaid Recharge Deals”. Our new site for hot prepaid recharge deals under the sun.
Whether it is Coles with 10% off or Woolworths with 10% added bonus value we have it covered for you. Search by brand “Virgin” or my Expiry eg “January”. You could be mobile or searching by the internet connection on your phone. Easy to find and easy to use.
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Make what you will of the show (I don’t watch it myself) but they do have a quarterly swing at the large telcos by sourcing some very cheap plans to make you all aware of. Isn’t that my job. Kidding..
On tonight’s show they featured both Live Connected and Amaysim as competitive alternatives to the larger Telstra, Optus and Vodafone. Are they? Of course they are, the business model is totally different. Live Connected has very competitive plans (I am a customer myself and was drawn by the pricing), but as rightly pointed out, there is no call centre. It is all DIY online or via email. You have to be comfortable that the $20 a month you save is worth it.
Amaysim also has very competitive plans, the As You Go and the Unlimited are both very popular plans on our site. I see the traffic to their pages and the clicks to their website everyday. Outside of Optus and Telstra they are probably the most popular plans on my site.
Amaysim are a small player and have been around for just over a year now. Made a big splash when they arrived and have continued to invest a lot of money in advertising. From what I can see, it is still working. Not sure how many people are also moving away. From all reports they seem to have a good reputation.
Enjoy the video.
