ALDI’s 1 Year Mobile Data Pack Is A Challenge In Self-Restraint

ALDI are about to launch a new prepaid mobile pack that’s aimed at those of us who don’t want to recharge every month. All you have to do is pay once, and you’re covered a whole year. Oh, and you also get all of the data upfront, which makes me wonder how fast people will use it.

Available from April 18, the ALDImobile 1 Year Super Pack will offer customers unlimited national calls, SMS and MMS for 365 days for a one-off cost of $299. They’ll also get 80GB of data which equates to roughly 6.66Gb per month. But it will be delivered up front “for use throughout the year.”

And that may work just fine for a lot of people, particularly if they don’t use much data and appreciate the convenience afforded by a 12-month prepaid plan. It also works out cheaper than purchasing $30 of credit every month, and you don’t have to worry about unused data being voided at the end of the month.

These are all good things, but there’s also a very real possibility that people could burn through all of their data before the 12 months are up. Unsurprisingly, customers can buy top ups if they’re running low – $15 a pop for 2GB. But there there are some interesting caveats around them.

Firstly, data top ups will expire after 30 days, when a 1 Year Super Pack expires, or if another data add-on is purchased – whichever happens first.

Secondly, you can only buy 10 data-add on packs throughout the 12-month duration of a 1 Year Super Pack plan. We have reached out to ALDI for clarification around this limitation, and will update if and when we hear back.

So while this plan is undeniably convenient, potential customers should probably audit their data habits before committing – particularly in regards to their average usage a month. Will 6.66GB be enough? And will having 80GB available from the get-go lead to a lax attitude that results in burning through the data too quickly?