optus business sim plan

Business phone plans

Keep your employees connected and your business moving without breaking the bank..

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In this guide

What is a business phone plan?

Is it worth getting a business mobile plan, how do i compare business phone plans, what is the best business mobile plan in australia, telstra business mobile plans, optus business mobile plans, vodafone business phone plans.

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Business phone plans are designed for businesses to give to their employees, so they can keep in touch with clients and co-workers.

If you're running a business with multiple employees that need work numbers, it makes sense to look at getting a business mobile plan to make it easier for organisational or tax purposes.

They have different inclusions to personal mobile plans because people tend to use their phones differently for business than they would for recreation.

Business plans are also designed for lots of employees to share inclusions.

They also often have better access to support , because the consequences of a business phone being down are much harsher than that of a personal phone.

• Keep in mind: SME's and larger enterprises reap the most rewards with a business mobile plan. Business phone plans won't really benefit sole traders (depending on how you handle tax).

Depending on the size of your business, a mobile plan specifically designed for work may or may not benefit your organisation.

• Designed specifically for business. Many also allow you to tailor the plans specifically to suit your business needs. For example, if you need international call inclusions to keep in touch with international clients, or have multiple employees who can share a data pool.
• Lots of options available. Businesses come in so many different flavours – a cheese factory and game development studio would have vastly different calling and data needs, so providers have plenty of options to make sure you get the right plan.
• Extra value. Because most businesses are signing up for a bunch of mobile plans at once, providers will often kick in extra perks like international call inclusions, or discounts.
• Cost and contracts. These plans tend to be more expensive than regular mobile plans and often have long contracts. Think carefully about whether a business plan or a regular account with multiple personal plans is better for you.

Note for sole traders:

You don't need to have a business phone plan to be able to claim your phone on tax . You can claim the portion you use for business on a regular, personal phone plan. This will be the most cost-effective choice for most sole traders who only have 1 phone.

There are a lot of options in the business mobile world, and your needs will be different from other businesses. Here are some things to consider besides the cost of your plan.

Business support

This is the main thing business plans offer over personal ones. If this is something that's important to you, make sure you're being offered tech support and personalised service in the way you prefer.

Network coverage

Telstra covers the most places in Australia, so if your business will take your employees out into rural and regional areas, a plan on the Telstra network may be worth the extra dollars it costs.

Flexibility

What you need this quarter might not be the same as what you need next quarter. In many businesses, being able to reduce costs quickly can be vital. While all providers will let you add plans and upgrade to more expensive ones with more inclusions, make sure the one you choose will also let you move down to a cheaper plan and even remove plans in case of tough times.

Do you already have devices you can give to your employees? The major providers will often have device bundles available to sign up to which can be convenient, but could you get a better discount on bulk phones elsewhere?

How much data do you really need? Consider whether a large data pool shared amongst employees is a good option, or if you'd rather each employee has their own set amount of data each month.

As each business is so wildly different from the next, it's impossible to pick a mobile plan that will best suit every business.

Many businesses may prefer to sign up to a larger, more established provider, but that's not to say you won't get excellent service and cheaper prices from smaller providers too.

We've broken down the main offerings from the 3 largest business mobile providers in Australia to give you a taste of what's on offer.

Telstra's business phone plans operate in the same sizes as its general consumer plans, with Small, Medium, Large and Extra Large plans. All include:

• Data, from 40GB–180GB
• Data sharing between plans on the 1 account
• Unlimited standard national calls and texts
• Medium and above plans include the 5G network
• No excess data charges in Australia
• The option to add a phone to each plan for an added monthly cost spread over 24–36 months
• Good to know: To get the right mix of plans for your business, Telstra encourages you to book an appointment with one of the company's dedicated small business experts.

You can see Telstra's business plans here

• Compare Clear

Optus offers a huge range of plans to suit every kind of business with 1–300 plans able to be put on the same account and share data.

• Good to know: Companies that require 10+ SIMs are encouraged to talk to an account manager to tailor data allowances, monthly rates and device inclusions to suit their business.

Here are the details of the plans available to every business without negotiation:

• Plans start from $50 month-to-month or $47.50 on a 24-month plan or $45 on a 36-month plan – prices get cheaper the more SIMs you're after
• 50GB of data, which accumulates and pools with other phones on the same account
• Unlimited standard talk and text
• Unlimited international talk and text to selected countries
• Multiple service discount for total number of Business Mobile Plus services on the 1 plan, starting at 10% for 2, and up to 34% for 12+
• Option to add $10 roaming packs for business trips

For businesses that need 6+ plans with devices, there are Tech Fund plans. These plans include:

• Device credits from $300–$1,800, depending on the plan and length of contract
• Up to 10GB of included international roaming data each month
• Data ranging from 6GB–200GB (which is pooled)
• The option to blend different plans on the 1 account (such as cheaper plans with no roaming for local sales reps, and plans with 10GB roaming inclusions for regional managers)

You can see Optus business plans here

Vodafone offers the most affordable plans of the big 3 telcos, along with including some added features.

• Good to know: If your employees need to travel overseas, the $5 a day roaming add on will allow them to keep the same number without breaking the budget.

Vodafone has 3 types of business plans:

• Team plans. These allow data sharing between employees, and you can add a phone onto the individual plans. This is for when you have fewer than 10 services on the 1 account.
• SIM only Business Flex mobile plans. Best for teams of 10+, which includes the use of a personal account manager.
• Tech Fund Business Flex plans. These include credit towards buying handsets, as well as the use of a personal account manager.

You can see Vodafone's business plans here

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Alice Clarke

Alice Clarke is an award-winning freelance journalist, producer and presenter, as well as co-curator of the PAX Aus Together Lounge. In her 15 years as a journalist she’s appeared in The Age, Herald Sun Finder, Gizmodo, Kotaku, the ABC, Stevivor, Cracked, Curve and many other publications.

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Optus mobile plans review

How does australia's second largest telco stack up to telstra and cheaper alternatives.

Tom's Guide Verdict

While there's no denying that Telstra clearly has the lead amongst Australia's three major telcos, Optus isn't that far behind, boasting the country's second-largest network and the title for fastest 5G download speeds. It's also far more affordable than Telstra, with fairly priced plans that offer plenty of data. Of course, the telco has a long way to go to regain Australia's trust after suffering one of the worst cyberattacks in our history, alongside a nationwide outage that lasted more than half a day.

Plans offer good value

Fast 5G download speeds

Great roaming add-ons

Reputation in the toilet

Speeds capped on pre-paid plans

Still uses off-shore call centres

Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what's best for you. Find out more about how we test, analyze, and rate.

Since its commercial arrival on the Aussie telco scene back in 1992, Optus has maintained its position as Australia's second-largest network operator, with Telstra consistently holding onto the number one spot in terms of number of subscribers.

A subsidiary of Singaporean telecommunications giant Singtel, Optus offers a range of mobile plans which offer big data at reasonable price points. It has both pre-paid and post-paid choices, as well as plans which include a handset.

Although Optus comes in second to Telstra with regards to its overall network coverage, the telco is still able to claim that its 3G and 4G networks reach 98.5% of the Australian population. 

And while Telstra seems to have a significant lead when it comes to 5G coverage (based on nPerf's independent coverage maps ) and is claimed to now reach 85% of the Australian population, it's worth nothing that OpenSignal has awarded Optus the 5G Download Speed crown for the last 4 years running. Of course, most users probably won't reach those top speeds unless they're right next to an Optus tower, and the network is relatively uncongested.

As for customer service, Optus still uses off-shore call centres in India and the Philippines, though it does operate local call centres in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, too. 

However, the real elephant in the room is that Optus has had a rough couple of years — in 2022, Optus experienced one of the biggest cyberattacks in Australian history , resulting in the personal information of roughly 10 million customers being exposed. 

This was followed by a nationwide outage in 2023, which lasted approximately 12-13 hours, once again affecting around 10 million customers, including 400,000 businesses.

So while Optus has the second-largest network and a range of decently priced mobile plans, the question remains as to whether the telco can regain the trust of its customers — both existing, and potential.

Optus mobile plans and pricing

• Optus SIM-only plans far more reasonably priced than Telstra
• No lock-in contracts for Optus SIM-only plans

Of the three main network operators in Australia, Optus arguably sits in the sweet spot between Telstra and Vodafone when it comes to price and value. 

Telstra undoubtedly has the best coverage, but is by far the most expensive. And while Vodafone offers the most monthly data at prices which are on par with Optus, it ranks third in terms of coverage and download speeds. 

That leaves Optus with a range of plans which are well-priced and still data-generous, with coverage that's quite decent despite falling short of Telstra's reach. In other words, Optus is probably the telco that Goldilocks would choose.

Optus SIM-only plans start at AU$49 p/m for the Small Optus Choice Plus Plan , which comes with 30GB of monthly data, which means you're paying about AU$1.63 per GB. 

That's followed by the Medium Optus Choice Plan , which costs AU$59 p/m for 100GB of monthly data (a cost of AU$0.59 per GB). That's double what Telstra offers in terms of data on its entry-level Basic Upfront plan, which is more expensive at AU$62 p/m for 50GB (or AU$1.24 per GB).

Next is the Large Optus Choice Plus Plan , which costs AU$69 p/m for 220GB of monthly data, or around AU$0.31 per GB. Yes, you heard right: for a mere AU$7 extra p/m, Optus gives you 170GB more monthly data than Telstra's aforementioned 50GB Basic Upfront plan.

If that still isn't enough data for you, Optus also offers an Extra Large Optus Choice Plus Plan , which costs AU$89 p/m and includes 360GB of monthly data (about AU$0.25 per GB). 

Additionally, Optus currently offers an Optus Plus Promo Plan , which gives you 500GB of monthly data at AU$69 (a tiny AU$0.14 a gig) for the first 12 months, after which the price goes up to AU$89 p/m (a still very-reasonable AU$0.18 per GB). Note that this is technically a special offer, and while there's no end date on it at the time of this review, it will only be available until withdrawn.

Also worth noting is that there are no lock-in contracts on any Optus SIM-only plan, and each one brings uncapped 5G network access in selected areas (excluding Northern Territory), unlimited standard talk and text within Australia, and unlimited standard international talk and text to 35 selected destinations. You can also share your data across eligible plans on the same account, and donate your unused monthly data to Australians in need.

Although there are no lock-in contracts on any of the above Choice Plus plans, Optus also offers a range of prepaid Flex Plus plans for those who don't want to risk extra charges, or only need service for a fixed period of time.

Optus Flex Plus plans with a 28-day expiry period start at AU$35 and come with fluctuating amounts of data. For instance, new customers on this plan get 40GB of data along with a bonus 20GB of data for those first 28 days. After this, the plan loses the bonus data on the second and third recharge (a total of 40GB), then drops down to 20GB from then on. That means after the introductory period you'll be paying AU$1.75 per GB.

Similarly, a AU$45 Flex Plus plan provides 60GB + 20GB of bonus data (80GB in total) during the first 28 days, losing the bonus data on the second and third recharge, before landing on 30GB after that (or $1.50 per GB ongoing). Alternatively, you can opt for a plan which costs AU$55 for 80GB on the first three recharges, which then drops down to 40GB after that (a rate of AU$1.38 per GB).

Of course, there are other long-term 186-day and 365-day options for those who don't want to think about recharging for a while, though you'll have to pay a larger sum upfront.

Note that there is one caveat with Optus's Flex Plus prepaid plans; while all will get you access to the telco's 3G, 4G and 5G networks, download speeds on these plans are capped to 150Mbps across the board. It's also worth mentioning that every Flex Plus plan includes data rollover up to 200GB, which will be applied as long as you recharge before expiry or have an active auto-recharge set up.

Optus mobile coverage

• Excellent 3G / 4G coverage, but lags behind Telstra in 5G reach
• Optus awarded fastest 5G download speeds by OpenSignal

Given that Optus operates the second-largest mobile network in Australia, it probably comes as no surprise that it also offers the second-best coverage. 

Where Optus is closest to Telstra is in its 3G and 4G reach, with a claimed 98.5% of the Aussie population covered. However, while Telstra's 5G mobile network is said to currently reach roughly 87% of Australians , Optus doesn't currently make any specific percentage claims — and if nPerf's coverage maps are any indication, it still has a lot of catching up to do.

During our rundown of the various mobile plans offered by Optus, you may have noticed that 5G network access was only available in selected areas, and excluded Northern Territory entirely. Sure enough, a closer look at nPerf's coverage map for Darwin shows a complete absence of Optus 5G network coverage, and only a small 3G and 4G presence. 

Simply put, if you live in the Top End, you're better off going with Telstra or Vodafone — both of which offer a far greater 3G, 4G and 5G presence in NT. That said, if you live in any of Australia's major cities along the east coast, you should be OK. Optus does offer 5G network access in Perth, though the rest of the west coast is fairly barren in terms of coverage.

Optus mobile plans: Extras, perks and offers

• Big discount on Optus Sport access
• Discounts on streaming subscriptions with SubHub

In terms of extras, Optus postpaid SIM-only customers receive 3 months of Amazon Prime for free when they sign up via Optus SubHub. The latter lets you manage and pay for subscriptions in one place, which are added to your regular phone bill. 

Additionally, customers can save up to 10% on streaming subscriptions when they add three or more eligible subscriptions to SubHub. Supported services include Netflix, Amazon Prime, Binge, Paramount Plus and more.

Best of all, sports-lovers who sign up to Optus Sport via SubHub get a huge discount on the service's monthly subscription cost, bringing it down from AU$24.99 p/m to just AU$6.99 p/m.

Optus also offers very competitive international roaming add-ons — for AU$5 per day, you get 1GB of data, 100 minutes of talk and 100 texts per day to use in over 90 Zone 1 destinations.

Optus mobile plans: customer service and community reviews

• Support team still has call centres in India and the Philippines
• Optus reputation at an all-time low

While Telstra has drastically decreased its use of off-shore call centres since 2021, switching over to a mostly Australia-based support team, the Singtel-owned Optus still relies on call centres located in India and the Philippines. 

Of course, Optus also has call centres in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, although you probably won't know whether you're connected to one of those or someone from an overseas branch. 

Thankfully, Optus has a huge retail presence in Australia, with over 350 branded Optus Yes outlets across the country, making it relatively easy for customers to receive face-to-face service.

Still, not everyone is happy with Optus, with the telco receiving mostly negative online reviews on sites like Product Review and Trustpilot , where it has earned overall customer satisfaction scores of 1.3 and 1.2, respectively. 

With that in mind, it's important to note that both Telstra and Vodafone have achieved similar scores, which goes to show that most customers will only bother reviewing something if they've had a bad experience.

Even with that disclaimer, there's no denying that the telco's reputation is at an all-time low, following an immense cyberattack in 2022 which left the information of over 10 million Optus customers exposed.

This was not helped at all by a nationwide outage which occurred the following year, leaving 10 million customers and 400,000 businesses without mobile or internet access for around 14 hours. Not only did the outage leave vulnerable Australians without the means to contact anyone for help, it also left business owners who rely on EFTPOS twisting in the wind for an entire working day.

Given the extreme public backlash that followed these two disasters, it's no wonder that Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin went on to resign in November 2023.

However, the telco still has a long way to go in regaining Australia's trust — the market research company Roy Morgan named Optus as Australia's most distrusted brand in March 2024, suggesting the telco's black eye is going to linger for a while.

Optus mobile plans: Bottom line

Is an Optus mobile plan worth your money? In terms of value, Optus mobile plans are far more competitively priced than Telstra's, with SIM-only offerings that deliver big data and worthwhile perks. 

As Australia's second-largest telco, it's no surprise that Optus falls behind Telstra in terms of coverage. That said, its reach is still significant — particularly when it comes to 3G and 4G coverage.

Of course, there's no denying that Optus has made some significant blunders with regards to customer security and service over the last couple of years — some of which are hard to forgive. Optus has posted an open letter to customers that includes a commitment to "do better", but is that enough?

If you're willing to forgive Optus, you can at least rest assured that its mobile plans are good value and will likely satisfy most customers (outside of the Northern Territory).

• Best Australian phone plans with international roaming

Stephen Lambrechts is the Managing Editor of Tom's Guide AU and has written professionally across the categories of tech, film, television and gaming for the last 15 years. Before Tom's Guide, he spent several years as a Senior Journalist at TechRadar, had a brief stint as Editor in Chief at Official Xbox Magazine Australia, and has written for such publications as APC, TechLife Australia, T3, FilmInk, AskMen, Daily Telegraph and IGN. He's an expert when it comes to smartphones, TVs, gaming and streaming. In his spare time, he enjoys watching obscure horror movies on physical media, keeping an eye on the latest retro sneaker releases and listening to vinyl. Occasionally, he also indulges in other non-hipster stuff, like hiking.

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Optus business mobile plans review

Let’s get down to (Optus) business.

Optus has dedicated business mobile solutions for up to 300 plans , but the main focus of this page is plans reviews for smaller businesses. Enterprise customers with more than 300 employees in need of phone plans can alternatively contact Optus Enterprise for support . While Optus tailors mobile plan solutions for between one and five employees or six to 300 staff, smaller businesses can take advantage of the value and savings found in Optus mobile plans built for everyday users.

Optus may not have as wide-reaching network as Telstra (for 4G and, particularly, 5G ), but it’s still got coverage in most parts of Australia. Basically, if you business operates in any populous part of Australia, you shouldn’t have any issues with an Optus mobile plan. Optus has good dollar-to-data value on its plans, with plenty of data and decent inclusions. It’s a shame there aren’t cheaper SIM Only plans and 1.5Mbps post-max-speed throttling isn’t ideal, but there aren’t any excess data charges.

Optus business mobile value for money

We advise small businesses to use SIM Only plans over Prepaid plans , unless you use a phone more reactively and don’t have on-the-go data needs. If that’s you, long-expiry Prepaid plans are worth considering to help keep costs down.

Note that all Optus SIM Only plans include access to the Optus 5G network (where available). Similarly, Optus SIM Only plans let users share data on eligible plans under a single account, which is a good choice for small business users. Optus SIM Only plans start with the $49 Optus Choice Plus Plan, which comes with 30GB of data.

There’s money to be saved if you go with an Optus MVNO or Vodafone MVNO , but you’ll have to pay closer to this particular Optus plan price if you want partial Telstra 5G or Vodafone 5G access. Below are some of the most popular SIM Only plans from our database with at least 30GB of data.

The dollar-to-data value increases dramatically with the next Optus plan. For not a lot more per month, the $59 Optus Choice Plus Plan comes with 100GB of data, plus unlimited calls and text messages (no MMS) to 35 selected dialling destinations.

That 70GB jump in data thins out the SIM Only competition. There are other competing telcos on the Optus, Telstra wholesale and Vodafone network with better pricing and/or more data, but international call inclusions and data sharing are rarer perks. For comparison, below is a daily updating list of SIM Only plans from our database with at least 100GB of monthly data.

The next cheapest plan is the $69 Optus Choice Plan, which has 220GB of data and the same international inclusions. Again, Optus continues the trend of paying not a lot more for a whole lot of data.

Competition is a lot thinner when you start dealing with 200GB of data. There are alternatives on the Optus 5G and Vodafone 5G network at this price point, which are worth considering if you need more than 200GB of data. Below is a daily updating list of popular SIM Only plans from our database with at least 200GB of data.

The penultimate SIM Only plan is the $89 Optus Choice Plus Plan, which ordinarily comes with 360GB of data for use on the Optus 5G network. Optus is currently running a promotion that bumps that figure up to 500GB, so the amount of bulk value here blows away most of the competition.

There’s only one other plan in our comparison engine that competes with 400GB+ of data, and that’s the $85 SIM Only Ultra+ Plan from Vodafone, which comes with unlimited max-speed data on the Vodafone 5G network. Check out these two plans side-by-side below.

If you’d prefer a dedicated Optus business plan, consider Optus Business Mobile Plus . This plan structure supports between one and 10 SIMs. There’s a 10% discount for two sims, 20% for three, 26% discount for four to seven SIMs, and a 30% discount for eight to 10. The plan starts at $55 for 80GB of data, and every SIM added boosts the shareable data pool by 80GB. Like personal Optus SIM Only plans, Optus Business Mobile Plus plans come with Optus 5G access, no excess data charges (1.5Mbps throttling after data cap) as well as unlimited calls and SMS to 35 selected destinations.

Optus business mobile features and perks

All Optus SIM Only and Prepaid plans come with unlimited calls and text messages (SMS and MMS) to Australian numbers. For Optus Prepaid monthly plans, you can roll over up to 200GB of data and up to 84 days if you recharge early. Not every Optus Prepaid plan includes Optus 5G network access, but all Optus SIM Only plans do. Optus SIM Only plans also include data sharing under a single account for eligible plans.

Except for the cheapest Optus SIM Only plan, all other options come with unlimited calls and SMS to 35 selected dialling destinations, which includes:

• China (mainland)
• New Zealand
• South Korea
• United Kingdom
• United States of America

There aren’t any excess data charges for Optus SIM Only plans, but the trade-off is a sluggish 1.5Mbps connection speed for the duration of your billing month.

Optus is one of three main telecommunications providers in Australia, which offers mobile and broadband internet services. Its mobile network has the second largest reach (behind Telstra but ahead of Vodafone) and supports 5G, 4G and 3G cellular connectivity.

Optus business mobile support

We understand that one person’s support experience with a telco may differ from another’s, which is why we look to quantitative support pathways. Optus offers a wide range of support via telephone, online chat, social media, self-paced online support, as well as brick-and-mortar stores for in-person support.

Optus also has dedicated business support options for authorised representatives. Chat with Optus business support via online messaging service or call them on 133 343, Monday to Friday 8:00am to 7:00pm AEST or Sat and Sunday 8:00am to 6:00pm.

How to sign up for an Optus business mobile plan

From the list of Optus plans below, pick the plan that’s best for your business needs, then click on the ‘Go’ button. You’ll be taken to the corresponding Optus mobile plans page. Have a read over the inclusions and confirm the plan you’d like, then follow the sign-up steps. Alternatively, call Optus business mobile on 1300 106 481 for sales support.

Optus business mobile plans

Below is a list of all Optus SIM Only mobile plans (sorted by popularity).

How we review mobile providers

Whether we’re evaluating personal or business mobile plans from telcos, we follow the same approach. It starts with dollar-to-data value for money. Telcos that receive high scores tend to offer more gigabytes than the cost of a plan.

Still, network coverage is also a key consideration, which is why the Telstra and Telstra wholesale networks rank favourably with us as they’re the largest. Optus and Vodafone aren’t too far behind, admittedly, but the Telstra 5G network has a clear lead over Optus which, in turn, is ahead of Vodafone.

We like to see mobile plans with meaningful inclusions, be they access to additional services or more practical features like data sharing and no excess data charges. In terms of support, we tally the number of support pathways a telco offers and use that as a guide to how much a telco has invested in helping customers with issues. For personal mobile plans, we may also take publicly available customer reviews into account.

Optus business mobile FAQs

Optus Sport used to be included with Optus SIM Only plans, but now it’s a separate subscription. Sign up for Optus Sport via the Optus SubHub for $6.99 per month.

It really depends on what you’re after. Telstra business mobile plans may offer faster speeds via the widespread Telstra 5G network. Optus business mobile plans have better dollar-to-data value, but the Optus 5G network isn’t as far-reaching as Telstra’s.

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Australia’s Best-Rated Business Mobile Plan Providers

See Our Ratings Methodology .

Most Satisfied Customers | Vodafone

Vodafone is our winner for the 2023 mobile plan provider ratings, with an impressive five-star score across most categories, including customer satisfaction, value for money, client service, billing and plan flexibility, while it scored four stars for network coverage.

How we rate business mobile plan providers

Our ratings compare mobile phone plan providers offering business plans, based on customer satisfaction as rated by Australians.

How many Australians do we survey for our ratings?

Canstar Blue surveyed 580 Australians with a current business mobile plan service for their feedback on mobile plan providers they’ve been signed up to. Respondents had to have a current mobile phone plan for a business and that business pays the bills.

• The outcomes reported in these ratings are measured via accredited research panels managed by Qualtrics .

What criteria are used to rate business mobile plan providers?

Survey respondents are asked to rate their satisfaction with their business mobile phone plan provider from zero to 10 , with zero meaning extremely dissatisfied and 10 meaning extremely satisfied. Business mobile plan provider satisfaction is rated on the following criteria:

• Overall satisfaction: measures consumer satisfaction with a mobile plan provider as an individual score, NOT the combined total of all criteria.
• Value for money: the price paid for the mobile phone plan was reasonable for the service experienced.
• Network coverage: the mobile network offered good and reliable coverage.
• Client service: the mobile plan provider offered good service and support, and was easy to get in touch with.
• Billing: the mobile plan billing was clear and easy to understand and pay.
• Plan flexibility: the mobile plan provider offered a reasonable amount of plan flexibility.

How do we determine the winner?

The winning brand is the brand that receives the highest Overall satisfaction rating . All the scores from the Overall satisfaction criteria are then combined and averaged to determine the overall winner.

• Overall satisfaction is asked as a specific question and represents an individual measure, not a combined total of all criteria.
• The brand with the highest number of five-star ratings within the supporting criteria will become the five-star recipient in overall satisfaction, and therefore win the award. If a clear leading brand still cannot be determined from the supporting criteria, joint winners will be declared.

Which business mobile plan providers do we rate?

To qualify in the ratings results, providers must have received a minimum of 30 responses to be included. Therefore, not all mobile phone plan providers offering business services will be compared in this survey. Providers rated in this survey are listed below in order of best overall satisfaction.

Find more information on our Most Satisfied Customers ratings .

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Best business mobile plan providers

1. vodafone, ratings result.

Vodafone came out on top for the second year in a row, scoring five stars for overall satisfaction. It also scored five stars for value for money, client service, billing and plan flexibility, while it scored four stars for network coverage.

Editor’s notes

Vodafone offers the option of SIM-only plans or plans that can be bundled with a device. All that you need to do is supply your ABN/ACN on sign up, or link it to an existing Vodafone mobile plan account, with additional business plans also able be added.

Telstra took out second place with four stars for overall satisfaction, value for money, client service, billing and plan flexibility, while it scored five stars for network coverage.

Telstra offers a range of SIM-only plans or plans with a phone, with the option to bundle services onto the one plan. Its plans and device selection are essentially the same offerings as what you’ll get if you sign up to a non-business plan. If you bundle a phone with a plan, you’ll choose from a 12, 24 or 36-month device repayment period.

Ratings results

Rounding out our ratings in third is Optus with three stars for overall satisfaction and billing, while it scored four stars in the remaining categories — value for money, network coverage, client service and plan flexibility.

Optus offer a range of options for its business phone plans. While you can pick a similar selection of SIM-only plans and devices to its non-business phone plans, Optus does offer McAfee protection on up to 20 devices on its Business Choice Plus plans. Optus also offers a ‘team plan’ which includes four SIM plans with data to share and flexibility, along with the option to add on additional SIMs for an extra cost per SIM.

Other business phone plan providers

Apart from the above-mentioned providers, there are several other telcos also offering phone plans for businesses, although many of these providers might only offer SIM-only plans and no handsets for bundling. These telcos include:

• Aussie Broadband
• Southern Phone

Choosing a phone plan provider

Access to a phone and/or phone plan for work can be an essential part of a business. Of those surveyed, 27% provide employees with a mobile phone for work use and 33% upgrade handsets every one to two years.

Despite several providers offering mobile phone services to businesses, 50% of respondents have always been with the same business phone service provider. A big reason for this could be that almost a third of respondents (31%) believe the provider offers good value, while 26% believe their provider offers the best coverage or is the only provider with coverage in the area.

When choosing a provider for your business mobile phone services, there can be a lot to consider. 17% of survey respondents claimed that they don’t find the time to compare other offers and switch providers, so it might seem like a lot to think about on top of operating a business.

However, when you break it down to a few points, comparing business mobile phone plans might be more simple than you think.

Phone with a plan or SIM-only

The first thing to consider is whether you’ll need phones bundled with a phone plan — such as an iPhone or Samsung phone — or if you simply need the phone plan on its own. If you need handsets with a plan, your provider choices will mostly be limited to the big three telcos (Telstra, Optus and Vodafone).

If you just need the SIM cards with a phone plan, then you have a wider range of options to choose from.

Additional extras

Some providers will offer business-related extras such as the ability to bundle multiple services, data sharing across plans, device security software and more. If these extras are important to you, you can then compare providers to see what is available and which telco will offer the best value for you.

How much mobile data you need for your plans is pretty important. Consider what your team will be using their phone plans for — such as working on the go, accessing emails, video conferencing, making calls, etc — will help determine whether you need a plan with lots of data or not. If phones will be used primarily for making and receiving calls and accessing emails, a smaller amount of data, or a data-sharing plan, might work best. Otherwise you’ll need bigger data plans for working on the go and video conferencing.

Mobile coverage

Of course, for some workers, a phone plan can be essential when travelling for work. If your team frequently needs to travel, especially to regional and remote areas, ensuring your choice of provider has good mobile network coverage in that area is essential.

While the Telstra, Optus and Vodafone networks all offer coverage to the majority of the country, it’s worth checking the mobile coverage map before signing up to a provider to ensure that the areas your team will be working from are covered by the mobile network.

About our telco experts

Emma bradstock: senior telco specialist.

Emma Bradstock has been an authority on consumer phone, internet, technology and streaming markets in Australia for the last 4 years, with a dedication to providing Aussies with all the information they need to make better purchasing decisions. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Media from Macquarie University and has a decade of professional writing experience in print and digital media.

Samantha Howse: Consumer Research Specialist

Samantha Howse is Canstar Blue’s Consumer Research Specialist, coordinating the consumer research program behind our customer satisfaction awards across Canstar and Canstar Blue in Australia and New Zealand. Sam has earned a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) from Griffith University and, with seven years in market research and 2 years in marketing, she is experienced in survey design, implementation and analysis, coupled with an understanding of marketing principles and best practice.

Frequently asked questions

About this research.

Canstar Blue surveyed 2,022 Australian small business owners and key decision makers across a range of categories to measure and track customer satisfaction, via ISO 26362 accredited research panels managed by Qualtrics. The outcomes reported are the results from customers within the survey group whose business currently pays for a mobile phone plan that is used for business purposes– in this case, 580 people.

Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included. Results are comparative and it should be noted that brands receiving three stars have still achieved a satisfaction measure of at least six out of 10. Not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The ratings table is first sorted by star ratings and then by mean overall satisfaction. A rated brand may receive a ‘N/A’ (Not Applicable) rating if it does not receive the minimum number of responses for that criteria.

Past ratings

Here are past winners of Canstar Blue’s Most Satisfied Customers – Business Phone Plans Providers ratings:

• 2022: Vodafone
• 2021: Optus
• 2020: Vodafone
• 2019: Vodafone
• 2018: Optus
• 2017: Vodafone
• 2016: Optus
• 2015: Optus

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^By clicking on a shop online, compare now, buy online, more details, go to site or check latest prices button, you may leave Canstar Blue and be taken to a referral partner to compare. Canstar Blue may be paid for this referral. You agree that Canstar Blue’s  terms and conditions  apply to this referral. If you click on a brand that is not a referral partner, you will be taken to a brand page on Canstar Blue.

Canstar Blue may earn a fee for referrals from its website tables, and from sponsorship of certain products. Fees payable by product providers for referrals and sponsorship may vary between providers. Generally, sponsorship fees are payable in addition to referral fees. Sponsored products are clearly disclosed as such on website pages. They may appear in a number of areas of the website such as in comparison tables, on hub pages and in articles. Sponsored products may be displayed in a fixed position in a table, regardless of the product's rating, price or other attributes. The table position of a Sponsored product does not indicate any ranking or rating by Canstar. The table position of a Sponsored product does not change when a consumer changes the sort order of the table. For more information please see  How Are We Funded .

*Prices correct as of publication date.

Business vs personal mobile plans

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Have you ever wondered how ‘business’ mobile plans differ from ‘personal’ plans? 

Well, quite often for small businesses, the only significant difference is the name, according to our research.

We compared a number of business plans with equivalent consumer plans, and found some curious anomalies. In a couple of cases, for example, the fine print for ‘business’ mobile plans indicated they could only be used for personal use.

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At Optus, its $40 consumer plan provides unlimited standard national calls, unlimited SMS and MMS within Australia and to certain countries, and up to 300 voice minutes to those selected countries. Plus 7GB of data. 

And the $40 business plan? As far as we can see, the inclusions and terms are pretty much the same. The consumer plan rules out ‘non-ordinary’ or ‘commercial purpose use’ but bizarrely the critical information summary for the business plan makes the same exclusion.

So we turned to the Optus Fair Go policy for clarification.

“If you are a residential customer our services are for your personal use only,” the policy said.

“If you are a business customer, including a small to medium business customer, our services are for your use in the ordinary course of business.

“You may not use the service in a manner which is ‘unreasonable’ or ‘unacceptable’.”

That seems to mean that you aren't allowed to make or take business calls on a personal plan, or personal calls (“should I buy some milk on the way home?”) on a business plan.

An Optus spokesperson explained: “Our consumer plans are designed for personal use while our business plans are for use in the ordinary course of business plus some personal use where needed.

“We understand there will be certain circumstances where a customer needs to use their service outside its primary intended purpose. In these cases, we offer a level of flexibility for customers to make a judgement on what is reasonable and acceptable use of their service based on their contract.”

So the good news is that the way most of us use one plan for business and personal purposes is acceptable, providing the selected plan reflects the main use.

It might not be obvious from the everyday use of the terms, but Optus (and probably other carriers) distinguishes between ‘business’ and ‘commercial’ use. The company confirmed that ‘commercial use' refers to levels of voice or data use normally seen only in call centres, or to mobile data used to access enterprise-style services rather than those associated with micro to medium businesses.

And although the inclusions and price may be the same for consumer and business plans, “Our SMB plans offer a number of benefits for business customers including billing made out to your registered ABN for tax purposes, access to business specialists in over 120 of our retail stores, premium support from our dedicated SMB team when you bundle two or more services, and invitations to exclusive business events,” said the Optus spokesperson.

The Optus Fair Go policy does goes on to give several examples of unreasonable use, most of which seem quite reasonable, such as not allowing automatic diallers, resale and bulk messaging. But the prohibition on using a ‘mobile voice’ SIM card in a non ‘mobile voice’ device seems odd. What difference does it make to the carrier whether you tether a tablet to the phone or temporarily move the SIM from a phone to a tablet?

The reason, according to the Optus spokesperson, is that requiring separate SIMs “allows us to optimise their service for the device, the network and billing purposes”. Optus does allow data pooling between plans, but you’re up for at least $10 a month per additional device, though that does include 1GB of shareable data.

Over at Vodafone, it’s pretty much the same situation when it comes to distinctions between personal and business customers.

The $60 personal plan provides unlimited standard national calls, unlimited standard national and overseas SMSes, 120 standard international minutes to selected countries and 6GB of data (a special offer running at the time of writing boosts that to 12GB).

The $60 business plan has the same inclusions.

But the personal plan is for “personal use by approved customers only” while the business plan is for “personal use by approved customers with an ABN/ACN only”.

We asked Vodafone to explain how a business plan can be for personal use only, but received no reply more than a week later. The only interpretations we can suggest are either that it essentially the same as Optus's business/commercial dichotomy but using different words, or that you can’t use that plan on a phone that’s used by more than one person (for example, the phone carried by whichever member of a team is on call over a particular weekend).

Telstra's personal and business plans are slightly different. For example, $50 a month gets personal customers ‘$1000 worth of calls’, unlimited SMS and 2.5GB of data, while business customers pay $55 for ‘$1200 worth of calls’, unlimited SMS and 5GB of data.

Bear in mind Telstra’s call values are calculated on what we consider to be an inflated tariff of $1 per minute. By comparison, even a $19 Virgin Mobile prepaid recharge can have a rate as low as 15c per minute.

A Telstra spokesperson* said that customers must have an ACN or ABN to qualify for a business plan, but business customers can opt for consumer plans if they consider the price and inclusions are a better fit.

"For example, we provide our small business customers with more voice value, because we know they make calls more frequently than our consumer customers," the spokesperson said, adding that the business plans also allow for free calls between mobiles on the same account.

Other benefits of the Go Business Mobile plans include a free data SIM for use with a tablet or dongle, with both devices sharing the same pot of data, and the ability to put cloud services such as Office 365, Symantec Endpoint Protection and Deputy rostering and workforce management onto the same bill.

Data sharing across multiple services is available on Telstra's consumer and business plans.

Mobile virtual network operators – the companies that provide mobile services based on third-party networks such as Telstra, Optus or Vodafone – generally make a clear distinction between personal and business usage.

For example, the conditions for amaysim's Unlimited plans flatly state they are “available to individual customers only (not companies or businesses), who use their mobile phone for personal use only. If we determine that you are using Unlimited 3GB other than for personal use or if we determine that you are using the Plan in a way that does or may, in our opinion, adversely affect the network, we reserve the right (at our option) to transfer you to the amaysim As You Go Plan, or to immediately suspend or cancel your access to the Service”.

We asked amaysim what it considers ‘personal use’ to be, and its compliance and service operations manager Chad Heininger responded: “We see personal use as individuals using their amaysim service primarily for private use in a way not connected with carrying out a business activity. As per our Fair Go Policy, our customers are unable to use our service for ‘business purposes’ as this falls outside of personal use. We aren’t specific about what constitutes as business use, because we trust our customers to use their judgment and play by the rules. For example, we would not expect our customers to use our service to support a large business or organisation as this clearly would be for ‘business purposes’. We also expect our customers to use our service in a reasonable and acceptable manner.”

It sounds to us that there's a certain amount of wriggle room – if your small-business ‘business use’ is similar to that of a personal customer in terms of the number of calls and texts, how would Amaysim tell the difference, and why would it be bothered? That said, we're not encouraging anyone to breach the T&Cs.

While large organisations can receive volume pricing, the benefits of business plans for small businesses are hard to quantify. In fact, the differences between many personal and business plans in terms of inclusions and costs are so insignificant that we can’t help feeling that the distinction is mostly arbitrary.

However, that also means there’s rarely any downside to opting for a business plan rather than the corresponding personal version.

So if a phone is going to be used primarily for business purposes, you might as well opt for a business plan and be fully compliant with the plan’s terms and conditions. It’s likely to cost much the same – and it reduces the admittedly slight risk that your service will be terminated because you went outside the T&Cs. 

* Note: This article was updated on 21 April 2016 due to Telstra responding to our request for more information after the article's publication.

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