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Whilst you could use almost any mobile phone plan in an old
mobile phone to use the mobile phone as a GPS Tracker, certain plans
will make it cheaper and reduce the financial risk. Post-paid plans
leave you open to ongoing charges and often cost more due to the monthly fee.
Prepaid plans limit your financial risk and some provide 365 days for
the credit to be used. In this document we discuss the prepaid plans that
last for 180 or 365 days to use with a mobile phone being used as a GPS Tracker.
Key features of plans to look for
For the GPS Tracker For Car hack you'll need:
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Expiry period of 365 or 180 days.
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Prepaid to limit charges.
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Low cost per megabyte.
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Data usage measured in kilobytes or lower if available.
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Lowest cost.
Mobile Phone Plan Providers
Aldi
Aldi has a pay-as-you-go plan. A start-up kit is available for $5 at any Aldi store
and recharge vouchers are available for $15.
Price: $5
Recharge: $15
Expiry: 365 days
Data usage: 1KB
Data cost: $0.05 / MB
Data amount: 100 MB for $5, 300MB for $15
Amaysim
Amaysim SIMs are available at many retail outlets. Amaysim has a pay-as-you-go plan with a starter
credit of $10. On special these starter kits can sometimes be purchased for $2.
Price: $10
Recharge: $10, $20, $30, $40, $50, $100
Expiry: 365 days
Data usage: 1KB
Data cost: $0.154 / MB
Data amount: 64.93 MB for $10
NOTE: Amaysim defaults payment to autorenew and you need to provide your credit card details.
You should disable autorenew payments as soon as
possible by logging onto your account.
Vodafone
Vodafone recently changed their plans. Previously they charged 2 cents per megabyte but now charge 4 cents per
megabyte. Plans start at $30 for 180 days, or $40 for 365 days. Sometimes starter kits can be found in Coles
$9-$15.
Price: $30/$40
Recharge: $10, $20, plus higher amounts
Expiry: 365 days
Data usage: 256KB increments, 1st 512KB zero rated in each data session
Data cost: $0.04 / MB
Data amount: 750MB for $30, 1GB for $40
Note: The data usage increment is a concern, however it really depends on how this works out in
real world usage. This needs to be tested to see what it really means. Potentially with small
data sessions it may mean zero cost for data, or it may go through the data quite quickly if data sessions
exceed 512KB. Without testing not clear enough to make a decision.
Optus
Optus have a range of prepaid plans starting at $20 for 90 days. However it is felt
for a GPS tracker 186 is probably the preferred minimum. Sometimes Optus starter kits
can be found in Coles at quite discounted prices.
Price: $30/186, $60/365
Recharge: $30 plus higher amounts,
Expiry: 186/365 days
Data usage: 1KB
Data cost: $0.07 / MB
Data amount: 428MB for $30, 857MB for $60
Telstra - NOT SUITABLE
Telstra have a range of prepaid plans. Data is the same 10 cents per megabyte across all
plans. We've chosen the $30, 186 plan but 365 day plans are available.
Price: $30
Recharge: $10, $20, $30, $40, $50, $100
Expiry: 186 days
Data usage: 1MB
Data cost: $0.10 / MB
Data amount: 300 MB for $30
NOTE: It was not easily possible to find what Telstra charges in terms of data usage and
the session size. All that was found was 10 cents per 1MB (round to the nearest MB).
Further reading indicates Telstra has sessions which use a minimum of 1MB per session.
A GPS Tracker will have many short sessions in a day and with a 1MB session
size data may consume data very quickly.
The following companies were ruled out of the reason given.
Belong - only monthly plans
Boost - only monthly plans
GoTalk - 90 days
Hello Mobile - 90 days
Kogan - $152.10 for 365 day small plan
Lebara - $300 for 360 days
Dodo - 1MB charging increments, 365 day recharge $100.
TPG has a pay as you go plan (according to TPG all plans are prepaid) for $1 a month
and 10 cents per megabyte with 1KB minimum data usage. This plan would be OK except
it is automatically topped up. Thus like a post-paid plan there's potential for
financial exposure. In addition there's a minimum prepaid deposit which if used is
automatically topped up. If you leave TPG there's chance you may not get the deposit back.
Locked Mobile Phones
If you have an older locked mobile phone it may or may not be worth unlocking the mobile phone
to use on a different mobile network. For example Vodafone charge $25 for older locked mobiles
even if you've had it for years. Telstra however will unlock the mobile at no cost if you're had
it for over two years. In addition discounted mobiles found at Coles each week may be cheaper
than unlocking an old mobile and it comes with a new battery.
If you do have a locked mobile it's probably best to use a SIM from the company it's locked to.
For example we have a couple of mobiles locked to Vodafone. If we want to use Aldi (which use Telstra's service)
the cost could be $25 to unlock, plus $5 starter kit, plus $15 recharge in the first year, or
$45. To make things more complex you need to work out how much data you need and also how long
your expect the battery will last with a useful charge.
With locked mobiles keep in mind you can often use the mobiles using other telco plans.
For example TPG uses the Vodafone network and thus a mobile locked to Vodafone from
out experience works on TPG. When TPG used Optus as their service provider, mobiles
locked to Optus also worked on TPG. Below is a list which shows the major telcos
and other companies that use their network. We've only included plans we've listed above but
there are other companies that use Telstra, Optus and Vodafone's infrastructure.
Telstra: Aldi
Optus: Amaysim
Vodafone: TPG
Coles and Woolworths Catalogue Specials
Coles mostly, but also Woolworths, have some excellent specials on mobiles and prepaid
plans each week.
Keep an eye on the catalogues for prepaid plans. For example this week (13/03/2019) the Optus $40 prepaid
is available for $15. That plan would last for 186 days and provide sufficient data for
the entire time for iOS and Android based GPS trackers. This type of discounting has been
common. In theory you could just use the discounted offers and not recharge, but just
purchase and activate a new SIM each time.
Locked mobiles are also available from Coles for very low prices, often for around or less than the cost
Vodafone charges to unlock a mobile. The benefit over unlocking is you get a new battery
and perhaps better technology such as longer standby times. Keep in mind a discounted locked
mobile from Coles for Telstra may also work with Aldi.
I also noticed recently 7 Eleven in their fuel app had a Vodafone SIM kit for half price.
However with Vodafone recently dropping their 365 Plus plans and increasing their data cost,
as well as their less than clear charging mechanism, care needs to be taken with Vodafone.
Hopefully in the future I'll test Vodafone plans and let people know what I find out.
Data Usage
We've test two mobile phones, an iPhone 4 running iOS 7 and an Aldi Lenovo mobile running Android 4.4.2.
The telco used was Amaysim.
The difference in the data
usage between the two operating systems was quite considerable.
iPhone 4 iOS 7: 0.4MB per day
Aldi Lenovo Android: 2.14MB per day
From the above figures we should allow about half a megabyte per day for an iPhone and up to
2.5-3MB per day for an Android based mobile phone. On a yearly basis the different operating
systems would expect to use the following when set up as a tracker.
iOS: 182MB
Android: 912MB
Now the we know roughly how much data the mobile phones will use as a GPS tracker, we can
review the plans based on how much data is provided and which plans are then the most suitable.
Suggested Mobile Phone Plan
Whilst there may not be a single plan that suits everyone, the following is the plan we'd suggest
is best for an unlocked mobile phone. If you have locked mobile phone your options will be more
limited.
Recommended Aldi Android and Apple iOS mobile
Basically the mobile company with the lowest cost per megabyte is the most obvious. However if
you use less data over the period with perhaps an iOS device, then you don't need as much data.
For the initial $5 plus an additional $15 giving a total of 400MB of data, this would be sufficient
for use with an iOS device for 365 days. However it would not be sufficient for an Android device. You may need
around three recharges with Aldi totalling $45 plus the initial $5 starter kit, totalling $50.
Vodafone is cheaper but it is not known how the data is charged. This needs to be tested and if it
is found to be cost effective, for those with old mobile locked to Vodafone this could be a good option.
Optus also have reasonable prices per megabyte and would be our second preference, based on not
knowing what Vodafone's charging means, otherwise it would become the third preference.
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