Telstra is well known across Australia for two things — its wide coverage and its high prices.

So it’s no surprise that, according to a survey published by Roy Morgan in June 2025, customers on independent Telstra-powered telcos like ALDI Mobile, Boost Mobile, Everyday Mobile, and Superloop are the most likely to recommend their provider to others. They truly are getting the best of both worlds.

Sure, Telstra comes with plenty of perks. But if you want premium coverage at a lower price, we recommend ditching the idea of enticing bonuses and switch to a Telstra MVNO (Mobile Virtual network Operator) instead. Below we’ve identified which Telstra MVNOs are the most popular plans across various budgets while also comparing them to Telstra themselves.

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Telstra provider mobile plans: $20 and under

Yes, it is still possible to pay $20 or less for a phone plan these days, but there aren’t as many as there used to be. The above plans, sorted by popularity, all come with unlimited talk and text, access to the Telstra network and at least 7GB of data.

Telstra provider mobile plans: $30 and under

For a Telstra MVNO phone plan priced $30 and under, you can expect an average of 22GB of data, which should be plenty to last the average customer a month. But if your usage is greater than normal, we recommend looking at plans that include data rollover or data banking to help you out on those high usage months.

Telstra provider mobile plans: $40 and under

The more you’re willing to spend each month, the more phone providers you’ll gain access to and the more data you’ll get. All of Telstra’s MVNOs offer phone plans around $40 and under, each with varying ranges of data. For example, More comes with as little as 25GB of data at $32 per month, while ALDI Mobile offers 65GB for just $39 per month.

Telstra provider mobile plans: $50 and under

A $50 phone plan is around the same price point of an average mobile plan from Telstra itself.

However, customers on the Telstra $49 prepaid SIM, for example, will usually get just 25GB of data at speeds of up to 150Mbps.

Compare this to customers on the Boost $49 prepaid SIM, who will receive the exact same coverage as direct Telstra customers but will get 35GB of data each month at the same speeds. That’s 10GB more than Telstra, even before any promos are applied.

Compare Telstra’s mobile plans

Telstra’s mobile plans start around $39 per month for 28 days. For a start, this means you’ll need to recharge 13 times a year instead of 12. Aldi Mobile and Superloop, for example, both offer a 30-day renewal.

When you consider data and compare Telstra’s $39 to Boost Mobile’s $39 plan, Telstra’s plan only includes 15GB of data while Boost’s has 25GB. That’s still 10GB less than Boost’s regular offering for the same price and at the same speeds.

At the time of writing, Telstra is also including bonus data on the first three recharges until July 7 2025. This offer gives customers an extra 40GB of data but only for the first three recharges.

But Boost is competing with its own promo deals. Firstly, new customers will pay just $13 for a SIM — that’s a saving of $26, but the offer ends July 7 2025.

And secondly, Boost is also offering bonus data on the first three recharges. Customers on its $39 SIM will receive 40GB of bonus data, taking its total up to 65GB per month. Boost’s offer ends and must be activated by July 7 2025.

Both Telstra and Boost’s plans are capped at speeds of 150Mbps and both expire after 28 days. But with or without a data bonus, Boost still comes out on top.

Which phone provider has the most coverage?

Telstra’s 4G coverage spans 99.7 per cent of Australia. In second place is Optus with 98.5 per cent then nipping closely at its heels is Vodafone with 98.4 per cent.

All but one of Telstra MVNOs have access to Telstra’s wholesale network, which covers 98.8 per cent of Australia. So this is already 0.3 per cent more than Optus’ 4G coverage. The only Telstra MVNO that is an exception is Boost Mobile. Uniquely Boost has access to Telstra’s full 4G network coverage. This means if you’re a Boost customer, you get the exact same coverage range as a regular Telstra customer but for much less money.

Which phone providers use the Telstra network?

At the time of writing, Telstra has eight major MVNOs that use its network. These include, ALDI Mobile, Belong, Boost Mobile, Everyday Mobile, Exetel, More, Superloop and Tangerine Telecom.

Christie Graham is Digital Content Editor at WhistleOut, Australia’s mobile and internet comparison site.