Ever wondered what the deal was with 28-day prepaid expiry periods? Turns out, it was just a sneaky way for mobile service providers to get a 13th month out of their customers each year.
Now, Vodafone is (sort of) putting an end to that (in its own company, at least) with the announcement of new 35-day prepaid plans which reduce your number of recharges per year from 13 to 10.
The new prepaid plans, dubbed Talk Combo and Data Combo, will now offer a 35-day expiry period on plans of $40 and above.
“By giving these new plans a 35 day expiry instead of a 28-day expiry, customers will have heaps of time to use their inclusions and will be recharging less frequently annually, saving them money," said Vodafone Consumer Business Unit Director Ben McIntosh.
Money talks
According to McIntosh, the combined revenue of providers from the creation of this bogus '13th month' are estimated to total more than $155 million each year.
The new plans will be quite generous in terms of data, offering between 3GB and 15GB per 35-day period on the Data Combo plans and up to 12GB on the Talk Combo plans. Customers will also get unlimited standard national calls and texts within Australia.
Price points for the new plans range from $30 to $60, though only the plans over $40 will be offering the new 35-day expiry period. The new plans are available now from the Vodafone website.
