Unlimited Calls to the Philippines from Australia on Prepaid Mobile

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

While in Australia and you intend to regularly keep in touch with loved ones and friends back in the Philippines, the best prepaid mobile phone service to have is one that allows for unlimited international calls to the Philippines. The reasons for this are simple:

First, you can call anytime and for any duration.

Second, while you can use Facebook Messenger, Viber, WhatsApp and other voice-over-IP solutions, it will require that the person you are calling should also have Facebook Messenger, Viber, WhatsApp and the relevant voice-over-IP solution, in addition to an active data plan or at least access to a WiFi network with Internet connectivity. This may not work well for some, particularly if the person you are trying to reach is one who occasionally runs out of load.

In addition, do note that unlimited calls to the Philippines are just add ons to unlimited calls Australia-wide. So it means that, if you have unli calls to the Philippines, you will also have unli calls to anywhere in Australia, which you'd probably need.

Belong Mobile (https://www.belong.com.au) offers a $5 add-on to its $10-per-month prepaid plan which appears to be the most economical option. This $5 add-on allows you to call the Philippines for an unlimited period. You have the option not to top-up your plan with this $5 unlimited call option, bringing down your monthly maintenance for mobile service to just $10 for unlimited text and call within Australia. The only caveat here is the 1GB data cap, which for just reading emails and browsing through Facebook (without watching videos) may be enough. If you do not use up your 1GB, it can be carried over to the next month.

For a bigger data cap, Belong has the 10GB option for the $25 monthly plan. The unlimited calls and text to a Philippine number will be a $5 add-on. Otherwise, the $40 monthly plan is already inclusive of unlimited text and call within Australia and to a Philippine number plus 40GB data allowance. This is probably too much, unless you are a heavy data user watching Korean novelas over 4G.

The other option is from Boost Mobile (https://boost.com.au) starting from its $150 per year prepaid plan which includes 80GB of data. This is roughly $12.50 for 6.7GB of data per month plus unlimited calls and texts to Australian and Philippine numbers. This will seem more economical than the Belong offer, but the caveat is that you will need to pay $150 upfront. If cash flow is not an issue, go for the Boost Mobile option. It gives you good data allowance, which will come in handy if you need to go online at home and your accommodation has limited Internet facilities.

Please note that I am not affiliated with Belong or Boost. I am not paid in any way writing this, and the information I have provided above is current as of writing. You are advised to check their respective websites for updated information on current mobile plans on offer.

Meanwhile, if you are planning to bring your mobile phone from the Philippines to Australia, you may want to read this article, Bringing a Mobile Phone to Australia.