Vodafone joins Optus and Telstra in mobile data bonus for April

Vodafone has joined Telstra and Optus in providing some bonus data to see its mobile customers through April.

The telco’s offer is in a slightly different category to those of its rivals since its current mobile plans offer a set amount of data at full speed, and then “endless” usage at a speed-capped 1.5Mbps.

For customers not on these kinds of plans, Vodafone said it would provide an extra 5G of data for postpaid and 3GB for prepaid.

“That data will be added to all plans by Friday 27 March,” Vodafone said in a statement.

“Customers won’t need to do anything to activate this bonus data.”

However, Vodafone also urged these users to consider upgrading to a more current plan beyond April.

“To ensure customers always have enough data to meet their needs, we encourage them to consider endless data plans,” it said.

Vodafone also extended unlimited standard national calls to all Vodafone postpaid customers and active prepaid customers between Friday 27 March and the end of April.

“The majority of our postpaid customers already have unlimited standard national calls as part of their plan, but we want to ensure all customers can continue making calls,” it said.

Additionally, Vodafone said it would free-rate access to “federal Health Department and state-based health department websites” from Wednesday 18 March, 2020.

It gave this list as: “https://www.health.gov.au, https://www.health.nsw.gov.au, https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au, https://www.health.qld.gov.au, https://healthywa.wa.gov.au, https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au, https://www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/, https://health.nt.gov.au/, https://www.health.act.gov.au/

Vodafone chief customer officer Ana Bordeianu acknowledged the present situation is “unprecedented” and likely to be a “challenging time” for customers as they are increasingly forced to rely on home and personal connections to perform work.

“We want to make sure all Vodafone customers can stay as connected as possible to support their changed circumstances,” Bordeianu said.

“As many customers are spending more time at home, including remote working, we are providing extra mobile data, unlimited standard national calls and free-rating official health websites.

“We can also assure our customers that our mobile and fixed networks are well-equipped to manage additional traffic during the day, however speeds may vary as usage patterns fluctuate from normal conditions.”

Optus was first to provide its customers with extra data, offering one-off additions of between 10GB and 20GB for April.

Telstra followed suit yesterday with between 10GB and 25GB extra for mobile subscribers.