Best Postpaid Mobile Plan Providers

Canstar’s Most Satisfied Customers Awards recognise companies with the most satisfied customers overall based on consumer surveys.

Canstar surveyed 1,884 Australians with a current postpaid service for their feedback on postpaid providers they’ve been signed up to. Respondents had to have an active postpaid mobile phone account in their name and pay the bills.

Market research company PureProfile manages the survey on Canstar’s behalf.

Survey respondents are asked to rate their satisfaction with their postpaid provider from zero to 10, with zero meaning extremely dissatisfied and 10 meaning extremely satisfied. Postpaid mobile provider satisfaction is rated on the following criteria:

• Value for money: the cost of the plan was reasonable for the plan’s inclusions and service.
• Customer service: the provider was easy to get in touch with and offered helpful customer service.
• Sign up and activation: signing up to and activating the service was quick and easy.
• Billing transparency: the phone bill was clear and easy to understand and pay.
• Network coverage: the mobile service had good mobile network coverage and connectivity.
• Plan management: managing the plan and payments was straightforward.

The Most Satisfied Customers Awards identify which categories have the most influence on customer satisfaction and weights them accordingly.

The brand with the highest indexed score is awarded the Canstar Most Satisfied Customers Award for that category.

Canstar also gives Star Ratings to top performing financial products, and Outstanding Value Awards to providers with a range of high-performing products. Canstar’s Innovation Excellence Awards also showcase products and services that break new ground when it comes to helping customers.

Canstar rates products and services over a range of consumer categories, in addition to financial services.

Explore Canstar’s Most Satisfied Customers awards here.

If you’ve decided a postpaid phone plan is right for you, with many providers and plans on the market, it can be tricky to navigate. While it could be tempting to go with a big name telco, it helps to shop around to find the best plan to suit your needs and one that could offer you real value for money.

When you’re comparing postpaid SIM-only plans, there are several things you might want to keep in mind.

• Data: For many of us, the number one measure when looking for a phone plan will be the mobile data inclusions. As we use data more and more on our phones — even for making calls and sending messages — there’s a need for more data on our phone plans. It’s important to work out how much mobile data you need (and will realistically use) and compare plans that will suit your data needs.
• Cost: For some, cost may be the most important part of deciding which postpaid plan to sign up to. As cost is often linked to data inclusions, the cheaper the plan, the smaller the data inclusions will be. If you have higher data needs, you may need to sign up to a more expensive plan. If finding a cheaper plan is important to you, but you use your mobile data a fair bit, you might need to reduce or monitor your data usage.
• Mobile network: Choosing a phone plan based on the mobile network might be important if you live in or visit an area which has limited mobile coverage. It’s best to check the network coverage map before signing up to any phone plan, to ensure you’ll have mobile reception in areas you live and frequent. Keep in mind that you don’t need to sign up to a phone plan with the big three telcos (which own and operate the mobile networks), as smaller providers, known as MVNOs, will have access to parts of the mobile network.
• Other inclusions: Some telcos may offer additional extras or services with plans. This could come in the form of entertainment extras, data banking, international call inclusions along with discount and bonus data offers. While it might not be worth signing up to a phone plan based solely on its extras, it could be a helpful way to narrow down your choices if you need or will use any of these extras. However, be sure to read through any terms and conditions on these offers so you know what you’re signing up to.

According to the Australians surveyed in Canstar’s 2026 postpaid mobile ratings:

• The average cost of a postpaid SIM-only plan is around $46 per month
• 51% said they could comfortably afford the monthly costs of their plan, an increase from 41% in our 2025 ratings
• 25% compared plans to find the best deal before signing up
• 22% signed up for the cheapest phone plan they could find, a jump up from 19% in our 2025 ratings
• The top five most important factors for Aussies choosing their postpaid provider are: stable and reliable network connection, wide network coverage, data allowance that fits my usage, good customer service and support, and affordable low-data plan options.
• 21% have between 20GB and 49.99GB of data, followed by 15% with 50GB to 99.99GB
• 12% of respondents go over their data allowance monthly
• 59% claim to have never gone over their data allowance
• 26% have always had a plan with the same provider
• 51% have had their monthly phone bill increase over the past year
• In response to this increase, 89% of respondents have done nothing and stayed on the same plan
• Of those who stayed on the same plan, 18% claim to have stayed as they were happy to pay a higher price for the same plan
• 13% stated they knew how to switch to a cheaper provider but couldn’t be bothered
• 13% claim that because of the increasing cost of living, they have made changes to how much they spend on a plan, and of those, 29% stayed on the same plan but stuck to their included data allowance, while 23% switched to a cheaper plan with another provider and less data.