Everyday Living
Phone and Internet
Phone and Internet
In Australia, cell phones are known as ‘mobile phones’ and telephones fixed at your home are known as ‘landline phones’ or ‘landlines’.
Contracts for these services are often called ‘plans’. To compare te lephone and internet services, you can search online by entering terms such as ‘mobile plan’, ‘landline plan’ and ‘internet plan’.
These are some common features of Australian telephone and internet contracts:
- Services usually require a connection fee. You may need to enter a one year or two year contract, however no-lock in contracts are also available to choose from.
- Most mobile services include a calls allowance or a data allowance each month for mobile broadband and you may have to pay more if you exceed the allowance.
- Many services include spend management alerts – an SMS or email informing you if you have exceeded 50%, 85% or %100 of your monthly allowance.
- You can choose from pre-paid services (pay before you use) or post-paid services (the provider will send you a regular bill).
If you receive a telephone or internet bill and you cannot pay it by the due date, you should contact the company.
Telephone calls to other countries are often NOT included in monthly phone plan allowances. These calls can be expensive.
If you want the internet connected to your home or to access it through a wireless device, you will need to enter into a contract with an internet service provider. Before signing any contract, be sure that you can afford to pay for the service and it meets your needs.
TIP: there are a lot of options for free calls, messaging, and videocalling services, you can choose from several apps as per below link: