New Telstra Go Mobile plans aimed at families and the data hungry user

Telstra continue their attack on the mobile market from a position of strength – introducing new plans under the banner “Go Mobile” which offer new data allowances and sharing features which are ideal for families.

The new plans are available immediately and for those of you who love your entertainment or sport, you can grab a 12 month AFL or NRL digital pass which gets you all the streamed games you’d like, or choose a 6 month subscription to Presto the online streaming movie and TV service.

But it is families who will benefit most from the new plans at Telstra with new data allowances and access control options for the kids.

Mum and Dad can sign up to casual Telstra plans and share their combined data allowance together, while also introducing the kids onto the plan sharing mum and dad’s data limit while paying for Unlimited Calls and Texts.  Those unlimited plans are $40 each, and while mum and dad might be spending $140 together to get 12GB of data, it’s a total of $220 for mum, dad and two kids to share in the 12GB.

While that looks great, you have to remember that with Vodafone you could have four $50 SIM Only users with 8GB each plus options for family sharing.  But what Telstra offers here is their well-regarded network combined with a huge boost in their plan inclusions when compared to just a few months ago.

It’s not about Telstra being better or even similar value.  This is about Telstra offering a world more to customers than they used to and in turn increasing their customer retention.

Telstra also have an inclusion called Telstra Mobile Protect which allows parents to put some important controls on the mobile accounts of their kids.

With Telstra Mobile Protect, you can:

• Apply internet filters and block nominated websites
• Restrict call and SMS activity
• Set time restrictions
• Receive reports on which websites are being accessed

Setting time restrictions on mobile data alone is an excellent feature, so yet again a great option for families.

There’s also a huge amount of data available on business plans, up to 16GB at $195 per month.  That sort of monthly spend goes back to the type of dollars we used to spend 10-15 years ago, and while data demands are increasing, one wonders why a business isn’t working smarter for data rather than just paying more for it.

Telstra is pushing users to their $95 and $100 plans as best value, which is most certainly the case across their plans.  What this really means is a rise in the ARPU (Average revenue per user) across their network, bringing that number up boosts revenue and profitability, and that’s great for Telstra, and strikes fear into the management meetings of Optus and Vodafone.

What Telstra have realised is that they don’t need to beat Optus and Vodafone on price, but they sure as heck do need to offer better value.  When value is on offer, people are less likely to take the temptation to switch.  Telstra have had a coming of age and there’s little reason to jump ship if you’re a Telstra customer – now’s the time to call them and get more for what you pay, or pay less for what you use today.