Live Connected was recently featured on A Current Affair as a great cheap alternative plan to the many more expensive mobile phone caps that are available today.
Live Connected Mobile Plan Review
Be they contract or even prepaid. When you look at what is on offer you can see why many would consider them, even me. I am actually using the Pioneer Plan (superseded by the Tribe 11 Plan) and have been very happy with it. It has certainly saved me some money. However you need to bare in mind that support is only via their website and email. There is no call center. Let’s take a look at the plans. This range has been live for a few months now. Live Connected regularly review their plans and upgrade them, always upwards with more value and savings. You can count on that.
Base level we have Lite.r which is an easy start plan offering $100 call credit and $100 to other Live members and 100MB data. Just enough to see a few emails. However do note that data is counted in KB not MB, so it should last you a lot longer. This is a great starter plan if you don’t use your phone much but do want some credit each month and for $5 it looks like great value. Need to bare in mind with Lite.r that the call rates are 99c per minute with a 40c flagfall, so not the cheapest around. $100 gives you 42, 2 minute calls per month.
The next range is the Tribe range, starting with Tribe 8, upgrading to Tribe 11, then to Tribe 16, and then Tribe 25. The calls rates now drop to 90c per minute and 35c flagfall. Tribe 8 offers $145 in calls to anyone locally, $135 to Live members and 200MB of data. Tribe 11 gives you $500 in calls to anyone with 1.5GB of data at just $11 per month. The plan also offers $500 of calls to other Live members. The next plan is Tribe 16, which offers $650 in calls, $900 to Live members, 2GB of data at just $16 per month. Compare this to most $30 prepaid caps and you will surprised how much extra value you get. The same comparison exists for the Tribe 25 plan, $800 in calls, $2000 to Live members, and 3GB of data.
Personally I don’t see why you even need to look at the Zen plans. The Tribe plans should be enough for most regular users, smartphone or not.
The Zen plans are for power users. Described as better than “Unlimited” they certainly offers just as much value as an Unlimited offer. The entry level Zen 35 offers 4000 minutes of calls (local), unlimited Txt and MMS, $40 of international calls and 3GB of data (counted in KB). If you want more international calls and more data, upgrade to the Zen 40, which offers the same in local calls but $90 in international calls and 5GB of data.
Finally we have the biggest of the Zen plans the Zen 60. Again with the 4000 minutes of local calls and unlimited Txt/MMS but this time with $120 in international calls and 8GB of data. Im an not sure if the extra $20 per month is worth the $80 in international calls and 5GB. You could probably buy a phone card for $20 and make a lot more calls overseas.
There you have it. Great value plans but watch out for the service element. You need to be comfortable that you will never speak to Live Connected. Live Connected use the Optus network.
