Best PAYG SIM for Australia?

macman

A friend of mine is making a five week visit to Australia next month. Can any one please recommend a local SIM provider to use mainly for local calls in Aus? Light usage, say 500 mins, no more than 2GB data.
She is on o2, and their Travel bolt on is a steep £5 a day. So the idea is to use the local SIM in a spare phone.
Someone suggested simcorner.com, but their SIM's are 28 days only.

easymoney999

https://www.amaysim.com.au/plans/mobile-plans/as-you-go


I used the above last year, add credit and it lasts for a year.
if you want to use data(internet) that can be added on but only lasts for 28days

macman

Thanks, that looks good. A bit more research now tells me that Aus switched off their last 2G netowrk last February, so as her old Nokia is only 2G, now I need to find her a budget 3G phone (doesn't need to be a smartphone, it's just for local calls). Ideally for under £30. I'm surprised to find that most of the current new 'feature phones' (great marketing-speak, that) are still 2G only. Nokia 3310 3G is around £40, so maybe a refurbished Nokia 2730 would do the job at around £30? Any other suggestions please?

System

I'd suggest Aldi mobile which uses Telstra which usually has the best local coverage.

Besides the 2G shutdown, much of their 3G coverage is 3G 850MHz which a cheapie Nokia is unlikely to have as it's mostly used in the Americas alongside OZ/NZ.

If you find a phone with 3G 850/900/2100 that should work on all Aussie networks.

pink_pirlie

You can pick up SIMs in most supermarkets, petrol stations or 7-11 stores.
I found amaysim were great. The Aldi sims you have to order online (or at least you did when I was there) whereas the others you can get in store.

Depending on where your friend is travelling Amaysim use Optus but Telstra has better signal in more rural areas. You can google different options just as you can over here.

Most providers have a sim option where just buy a short term plan in a similar way to giffgaff and the like.