CODE: FELIX50

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Australia’s Best-Rated Business Mobile Plan Providers

See Our Ratings Methodology.

Most Satisfied Customers | Vodafone

Vodafone is our winner for the 2023 mobile plan provider ratings, with an impressive five-star score across most categories, including customer satisfaction, value for money, client service, billing and plan flexibility, while it scored four stars for network coverage.

Fact Checked Fact Checked

How we rate business mobile plan providers

Our ratings compare mobile phone plan providers offering business plans, based on customer satisfaction as rated by Australians.

Canstar Blue surveyed 580 Australians with a current business mobile plan service for their feedback on mobile plan providers they’ve been signed up to. Respondents had to have a current mobile phone plan for a business and that business pays the bills.

  • The outcomes reported in these ratings are measured via accredited research panels managed by Qualtrics.

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

  • Overall satisfaction: measures consumer satisfaction with a mobile plan provider as an individual score, NOT the combined total of all criteria.
  • Value for money: the price paid for the mobile phone plan was reasonable for the service experienced.
  • Network coverage: the mobile network offered good and reliable coverage.
  • Client service: the mobile plan provider offered good service and support, and was easy to get in touch with.
  • Billing: the mobile plan billing was clear and easy to understand and pay.
  • Plan flexibility: the mobile plan provider offered a reasonable amount of plan flexibility.

The winning brand is the brand that receives the highest Overall satisfaction rating. All the scores from the Overall satisfaction criteria are then combined and averaged to determine the overall winner.

  • Overall satisfaction is asked as a specific question and represents an individual measure, not a combined total of all criteria.
  • When we cannot determine a clear winner from the criteria for the Overall satisfaction rating, we will then look at the other criteria measured in the rating.
    • The brand with the highest number of five-star ratings within the supporting criteria will become the five-star recipient in overall satisfaction, and therefore win the award. If a clear leading brand still cannot be determined from the supporting criteria, joint winners will be declared.

To qualify in the ratings results, providers must have received a minimum of 30 responses to be included. Therefore, not all mobile phone plan providers offering business services will be compared in this survey. Providers rated in this survey are listed below in order of best overall satisfaction.

  • Vodafone
  • Telstra
  • Optus

Find more information on our Most Satisfied Customers ratings.

MYOB Accounting Software

Looking to make dollars and cents of your personal or small business finances? MYOB’s accounting software includes options for invoicing, payroll, expenses and more. For more information on the featured plans below, click the button below to be referred to MYOB’s site.

MYOB Logo

Business Lite

For sole traders and small business with up to 2 employees

  • Track income and expenses
  • Create and send unlimited invoices and quotes
  • Manage tax and basic reports
  • Connect up to 2 bank accounts
  • Add payroll for up to 2 employees (extra $1.50/month per employee)
  • Save $150 over first 6 months
  • $5.00 per month for first 3 months. New customers only. T&Cs Apply.
from $5.00/month
min. cost $30.00 $5.00 over 1 month
Go to site
MYOB Logo

Business Pro

For growing businesses with multiple employees wanting more advanced reporting

  • Track income and expenses
  • Create and send unlimited invoices and quotes
  • Create advanced reports and budgets
  • Connect unlimited bank accounts
  • Employee rostering
  • Save $282 over first 6 months
  • $8.00 per month for first 3 months. New customers only. T&Cs Apply.
from $8.00/month
min. cost $55.00 $8.00 over 1 month
Go to site
MYOB Logo

Business AccountRight Plus

For larger businesses that want a powerful desktop and web app

  • All the benefits of Business Pro
  • Unlimited payroll at no extra cost
  • Add unlimited inventory items
  • Bill projects and clients by time
  • Try FREE for 30 days
  • Save $204 over first 3 months
  • $68.00 per month for first 3 months. New customers only. T&Cs Apply
from $68.00/month
min. cost $136.00 $68.00 over 1 month
Go to site

Best business mobile plan providers

  1. Vodafone
  2. Telstra
  3. Optus

1. Vodafone

Ratings result

Vodafone came out on top for the second year in a row, scoring five stars for overall satisfaction. It also scored five stars for value for money, client service, billing and plan flexibility, while it scored four stars for network coverage.

Editor’s notes

Vodafone offers the option of SIM-only plans or plans that can be bundled with a device. All that you need to do is supply your ABN/ACN on sign up, or link it to an existing Vodafone mobile plan account, with additional business plans also able be added.

2. Telstra

Ratings result

Telstra took out second place with four stars for overall satisfaction, value for money, client service, billing and plan flexibility, while it scored five stars for network coverage.

Editor’s notes

Telstra offers a range of SIM-only plans or plans with a phone, with the option to bundle services onto the one plan. Its plans and device selection are essentially the same offerings as what you’ll get if you sign up to a non-business plan. If you bundle a phone with a plan, you’ll choose from a 12, 24 or 36-month device repayment period.

3. Optusoptus-transparent-logo-compressed

Ratings results

Rounding out our ratings in third is Optus with three stars for overall satisfaction and billing, while it scored four stars in the remaining categories — value for money, network coverage, client service and plan flexibility.

Editor’s notes

Optus offer a range of options for its business phone plans. While you can pick a similar selection of SIM-only plans and devices to its non-business phone plans, Optus does offer McAfee protection on up to 20 devices on its Business Choice Plus plans. Optus also offers a ‘team plan’ which includes four SIM plans with data to share and flexibility, along with the option to add on additional SIMs for an extra cost per SIM.

Other business phone plan providers

Apart from the above-mentioned providers, there are several other telcos also offering phone plans for businesses, although many of these providers might only offer SIM-only plans and no handsets for bundling. These telcos include:

  • Aussie Broadband
  • iiNet
  • Southern Phone
  • SpinTel

Choosing a phone plan provider

Access to a phone and/or phone plan for work can be an essential part of a business. Of those surveyed, 27% provide employees with a mobile phone for work use and 33% upgrade handsets every one to two years.

Despite several providers offering mobile phone services to businesses, 50% of respondents have always been with the same business phone service provider. A big reason for this could be that almost a third of respondents (31%) believe the provider offers good value, while 26% believe their provider offers the best coverage or is the only provider with coverage in the area.

When choosing a provider for your business mobile phone services, there can be a lot to consider. 17% of survey respondents claimed that they don’t find the time to compare other offers and switch providers, so it might seem like a lot to think about on top of operating a business.

However, when you break it down to a few points, comparing business mobile phone plans might be more simple than you think.

Phone with a plan or SIM-only

The first thing to consider is whether you’ll need phones bundled with a phone plan — such as an iPhone or Samsung phone — or if you simply need the phone plan on its own. If you need handsets with a plan, your provider choices will mostly be limited to the big three telcos (Telstra, Optus and Vodafone).

If you just need the SIM cards with a phone plan, then you have a wider range of options to choose from.

Additional extras

Some providers will offer business-related extras such as the ability to bundle multiple services, data sharing across plans, device security software and more. If these extras are important to you, you can then compare providers to see what is available and which telco will offer the best value for you.

Data

How much mobile data you need for your plans is pretty important. Consider what your team will be using their phone plans for — such as working on the go, accessing emails, video conferencing, making calls, etc — will help determine whether you need a plan with lots of data or not. If phones will be used primarily for making and receiving calls and accessing emails, a smaller amount of data, or a data-sharing plan, might work best. Otherwise you’ll need bigger data plans for working on the go and video conferencing.

Mobile coverage

Of course, for some workers, a phone plan can be essential when travelling for work. If your team frequently needs to travel, especially to regional and remote areas, ensuring your choice of provider has good mobile network coverage in that area is essential.

While the Telstra, Optus and Vodafone networks all offer coverage to the majority of the country, it’s worth checking the mobile coverage map before signing up to a provider to ensure that the areas your team will be working from are covered by the mobile network.

About our telco experts


Emma Bradstock: Senior Telco Specialist

Emma-Circle

Emma Bradstock has been an authority on consumer phone, internet, technology and streaming markets in Australia for the last 4 years, with a dedication to providing Aussies with all the information they need to make better purchasing decisions. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Media from Macquarie University and has a decade of professional writing experience in print and digital media.

Meet the Editorial Team

 

Samantha Howse: Consumer Research Specialist

Sam Howse Research Specialist

Samantha Howse is Canstar Blue’s Consumer Research Specialist, coordinating the consumer research program behind our customer satisfaction awards across Canstar and Canstar Blue in Australia and New Zealand. Sam has earned a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) from Griffith University and, with seven years in market research and 2 years in marketing, she is experienced in survey design, implementation and analysis, coupled with an understanding of marketing principles and best practice.

Meet the Research Team

Frequently asked questions

Canstar Blue surveyed 2,022 Australian small business owners and key decision makers across a range of categories to measure and track customer satisfaction, via ISO 26362 accredited research panels managed by Qualtrics. The outcomes reported are the results from customers within the survey group whose business currently pays for a mobile phone plan that is used for business purposes– in this case, 580 people.

Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included. Results are comparative and it should be noted that brands receiving three stars have still achieved a satisfaction measure of at least six out of 10. Not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The ratings table is first sorted by star ratings and then by mean overall satisfaction. A rated brand may receive a ‘N/A’ (Not Applicable) rating if it does not receive the minimum number of responses for that criteria.

Here are past winners of Canstar Blue’s Most Satisfied Customers – Business Phone Plans Providers ratings:

  • 2022: Vodafone
  • 2021: Optus
  • 2020: Vodafone
  • 2019: Vodafone
  • 2018: Optus
  • 2017: Vodafone
  • 2016: Optus
  • 2015: Optus

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