Seniors Broadband Plans: How to Save with or without a Pensioner's Discount

Being eligible for a seniors card gets you loads of benefits in all sorts of areas. Unfortunately however, senior discounts are rare in telecommunications. That doesn’t mean however that you can’t save big time on your broadband offerings.

Southern Phone is one of the major providers to offer a seniors discount, giving pensioners $5 off per month (with either a seniors or pensioners card). While Telstra does offer some limited discounts for pension card holders, these are mainly related to phone calls and connection fees rather than broadband plans. That doesn’t mean however that you can’t save money with a great deal.

So, can we do better than that without the Seniors Card? You bet we can!

Telstra Brings Simplicity

Telstra have a long history of providing quality services — both in terms of delivery and support. They’re backed up by the biggest network in the country. Chances are they’re the ones already providing your phone line. So it makes sense to bundle your internet and your phone line rental with a quality provider.

On that front, Telstra offers a simple deal — $75/month for 200GB of data, with unlimited local, national, and mobile calls included. If you’re NBN eligible, the plan runs on NBN tier 25. If you’re on the ADSL network, this bundle is NBN-network-ready, so when the time comes to make the transition, Telstra will make it as seamless as possible.

While they don’t offer discounts on broadband, Telstra does offer discounts for seniors on eligible home phone services. If you have a Centrelink Pension Card or a Veterans’ Affairs Pension Card, Telstra can offer discounts on connection charges (in some cases), home phone calls, and fee waivers for credit card processing fees and paper bill fees.

You Save with MATE

It’s easy to see how MATE’s NBN plans are worthy of any customer’s attention. For seniors and pensioners, specifically, MATE seems like a reasonable choice. All plans offer unlimited data with no lock-in contract. They’re only differentiated by their speed tiers. For senior users who only need the internet for casual browsing and emailing, the telco’s Good Mates NBN12 plan at $59/month is your best choice. For a bit streaming and video calling with loved ones, the Best Mates NBN50 plan delivers at $10 more. For seniors living in a larger household, the Soul Mates NBN100 plan is obviously your pick here at a discounted price of $89/month. You can also choose to bundle NBN with a home phone that offers unlimited local, national, and mobile calls for an extra $9 per month.

Southern Phone Keeps It Worthwhile

If you’re focusing on keeping costs down, another great option is the range of NBN plans offered by Southern Phone. This local company has offerings starting at just $50 per month for 100GB at 12 Mbps – a great data allowance at that price point. For $10 more per month, you can bump that data allowance up to unlimited data already and another $10 more to boost your speed to 50/20Mbps. Southern Phone is a completely Australian-based company that not only employs Australians in all their customer-facing departments but is also owned entirely by regional local councils. All of their profits go right back into the community – there are no private shareholders to worry about.

If you’re in a remote regional area that’s not serviced by the NBN, you can access Southern Phone’s “Skymuster” satellite plans which offer 12 Mbps speeds with data allowances starting at 70GB for $38/month, or 120GB for $45/month. You’ll need to supply your own WiFI modem (or buy one for a one-off $99 cost) but the satellite dish and installation is all done at no cost to you.

MyRepublic For All Your Essentials

MyRepublic’s NBN lineup is one that’s simple but efficient. It’s great for seniors and pensioners that prefer a straightforward approach when it comes to having their internet needs covered. And as such, MyRepublic offers competitive pricing for its NBN customers, especially for seniors who are looking for quality internet without the usually attached high costs. Their unlimited data on the NBN50 is at $74.95 a month regardless of your chosen contract term (month-to-month or 12-month) and includes a home phone with unlimited calls to Aussie landlines. Seniors who don’t mind committing for 12 months can receive a brand new WiFi modem for only $1.

Save Up With Tangerine

Seniors prefer internet plans that can guarantee both quality and affordability that’s why Tangerine’s NBN offerings easily stand out. For as low as $54.90 per month, you can get connected to the internet with unlimited data and configured on 25/5Mbps speed tier or get faster data with 50/20 Mbps for $10 more. Unlimited calls to local, national, and mobile calls are just another $10/month extra. Tangerine truly keeps it simple for seniors while also allowing them to save in the long run.

Remember to Compare for the Best Prices

As the examples here show, while there’s not a lot of interest from Internet providers in doing special Seniors Card discounts, the prices of their regular plans can get so low that you’re ultimately going to be saving more money anyway. The key to pensioners saving more money is to shop around – if you’ve got any questions about a particular provider’s service, give them a call – you’ll get a good sense of what they’re like when you chat to them, too. And if you’re relatively new to the Internet, go for a plan with no contract – that way, if you find out you need more data each month, or a faster connection, you can jump onto that without having to pay a penalty.