Choosing the right data plan

 

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Choosing the right data plan

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What's coming up?

In this activity, you'll learn about which data plan is best for the kinds of things you do on the internet.

You can control how much your internet connection costs by choosing a smaller plan that suits your needs.

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Different plans

Your internet provider will offer different data plans at different prices. A more expensive home or mobile plan gives more data to use per month. Let's look at what different amounts of data let you do each month on a home internet plan.

A comparison between mobile internet plans and home internet plans
Small internet plans only give you limited data

Small plans

Usually called Small, Basic or Light, these plans cost the least.

At home and on mobile: A good choice if you just want to read web pages, such as the news, and send a few emails.

Medium plans

These plans can be called Medium or sometimes Everyday.

At home: Suitable for households where more than one person uses the internet. This is a good size to choose if you want to share photos, listen to music, or if two or three devices in your home need to use the internet at the same time.

On mobile: Good for email, web browsing, listening to music, sharing photos, using maps and watching short videos.

Medium internet plans give you more data to use than a cheaper, small plan
Large internet plans offer a lot of data

Large plans

Large and Extra Large plans come with an enormous amount of data. Many home plans offer unlimited data, especially if you get your internet from the nbn. Their prices are related to the connection speed that you choose.

At home: Suitable if you have several devices connecting to the internet at the same time and want to listen to music or internet radio, watch catch-up TV or movies using the internet.

On mobile: For heavy web browsing, emailing, photo and video sharing, plus regular use of maps and internet music, as well as several hours' worth of movies and catch-up TV.

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eSafety tip

Generally, it's easy to move from a smaller plan to a larger plan, as you'll be paying more money, so your internet service provider is happy to help.

At the same time, it's often difficult to move from a larger plan to a smaller plan, as your internet service provider will be getting less money.

So, if you're not sure, start with a small plan, then you can upgrade it to a larger one if needed.

Well done!

This is the end of the Choosing the right data plan activity. You've learned that data plans are divided into different sizes – small, medium and large. You can choose the plan that suits your needs and it is easy to change up to a larger plan if you need to.

Next up, if you have registered and are logged into the Be Connected website, you'll now be able to take a short quiz to finish the course. If you're not registered, you are now at the end of the Choosing a data plan course.

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