New mobile provider Circles.Life hit the Australian market last Thursday, and to win new customers the telco is offering a free trial of the service to customers who sign up before 30 September.
The free offer applies to the Circles.Life base mobile plan of 20GB with unlimited talk and text. Normally, this plan costs $28 per month.
Circles.Life is offering four months on this plan for free to customers. However, at this point, in practice your trial will be closer to three-and-a-half months for free. That's because, unusually for an Australian telco, Circles.Life starts all customer plans on the 1st day of every month. Signing up for a plan mid-month results in the pro-rating of your first month of service.
That means you get charged less, and you also get less data, until the new calendar month ticks over.
Billshock protection and flexible data add-ons
While the pro-rata plan set-up is more than a little confusing, there are things to like about Circles.Life's new plans.
The first is that, in practicality, the plan actually includes 23GB per month. That's because Circles.Life says its plans come with "bill shock protection". On top of the single base plan, each customer gets an extra 3GB of buffer data, which is free of charge and kicks in if you ever go over your cap.
On top of buffer data, Circles.Life offers customers the opportunity to buy "add-on" data or "boost data" on top of the monthly base plan.
Circles.Life's "boost data" is a once-off purchase of 3GB for $6. Boost data is intended to be used as an emergency top-up if you run over your cap and your buffer data. You can add "boost data" to your plan as many times as you like during the month.
"Add-on" data, on the other hand, is an extra 20GB for $10. You can buy add-on data as a once off, or apply it to your plan every month. But you can't buy it more than once per month.
Add-on data essentially makes your Circles.Life plan 40GB for $38 per month. But here's where it gets interesting: switching on "add-on data" mid-month allows you to get the full 20GB top-up, charged at a pro-rata rate. An example on the Circles.Life website states that "if you turned on the 20GB for $10 add-on on 15 November, you'll only pay $5 for the add-on for that month, but you will still get the full 20GB allocated to your plan."
If you had to take a moment to wrap your head around that, you're not the only one. It takes some mental contorting, but essentially, add-on data is a life hack to score a cut-price 20GB every month, by switching it on only when you need it. Circles.Life says there's no restriction that prevents users from switching "add-on data" on and then off again, every month, to get it for the lower rate.
This is certainly a unique way to set up a phone plan, there's nothing else quite like it on the market right now. And for users who have variable data needs month to month, it could be a tempting offer.
However, there are still other more traditional phone plans on the Australian market that offer better value right now. Here are some competitor prepaid and SIM-only plans that come with 23GB per month or more:
And here are some competitor plans that come with 40GB per month or more:
You can redeem "boost data" or "add-on" data at any time from Circles.Life the telco's app and start using it instantly. But note that the four months free offer doesn't apply to either bolt-on, if you want to use them you'll have to pay even if you're still in your free trial.
If you exceed your base data, 3GB billshock data, add-on data and/or boost data and haven't added any more you'll be charged overage at pay-as-you-go rates of $0.01/MB. All plans and add-ons are postpaid and no-contract.
Circles.Life plans are offered on the Optus 4G mobile network.
Redeeming the free trial
If you want to take up the free trial offer, all you need to do is use the code "4MONTHSOFF" during check-out on the Circles.Life website. Plans are commitment-free so if you don't like the service you can leave at any time, or at the end of your freebie period.
On top of the free trial, Circles.Life is offering customers a free data bonus for referring a friend. If you refer a friend you'll get a 20GB data bonus for one month, and your friend will get a free 20GB bonus for three months.
To keep your existing phone number when you switch, just select "keep your existing number" and follow the prompts during check out.
Circles.Life may be new to the Australian market but the telco is already present in Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, India and the Philippines, with more international markets to roll out in the future.
Jacqui Dent
Editorial Strategist
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