Vodafone throws down the Prepaid gauntlet with 35 day recharges

Almost a year after pretty much every telco switched to 28 day prepaid expiry, Vodafone have bucked the trend and not only reverted to longer expiry, but longer than any other telco with 35 day prepaid recharges on several of their plans.

By extending their recharge time-frame, Vodafone hopes to offer more value to consumers. At the same time, it does make comparing apples to apples a bit more difficult.

There are a variety of plans, from data heavy users to those needing some international minutes, the $40 and $50 plans offer great value over a 12 month period.

Gone are the MyMix plans, deemed too complex with some 72 different possible combos, Vodafone’s 35 day expiry prepaid recharges offer 9 or 12 GB of data for $40 and $50 respectively.  The $40 starter pack is discounted to $20 as an introductory offer for the next month.

When comparing their new 35 day expiry plans to their old 28 day plans there are savings of $100 and more. On a 28 day recharge, a $40 top up would cost $520 per year – on a 35 day recharge, that drops to $400.

Compared to the non-contract market leader Amaysim, Vodafone’s value is quite surprising.   9GB of data per recharge will cost you $650 a year with Amaysim with a total of 117GB per year.

Vodafone’s $50 recharge would give you 125GB per year and only cost you $520.

With Prepaid being the most popular form of mobile plan, Vodafone is making a real bid for more of that market share.

Vodafone have retained a 28 day recharge on their $30 top-up, most likely to maintain an apples for apples comparison for those in the lower spend brackets.

$40 and $50 top ups with a 35 day expiry are available now from Vodafone, and a half price offer for new customers on the $49 starter pack is in place till June.