Telstra and Vodafone join the "unlimited" mobile data fray, with new plans from $60

Following on from Optus' brief re-introduction of its Unleashed plan, which offered unlimited mobile data on a SIM-only plan to eligible customers, Telstra and Vodafone have now thrown their own unlimited data offers into the ring, and as you might've expected, they're not entirely limited.

While it's indeed true that customers on the unlimited plans will no longer receive excess data fees, every plan still comes with a monthly gigabyte allowance, and customers who go over that limit will find their transfer speeds capped to a rather sluggish 1.5Mbps.

Thankfully, the limits themselves are still comparatively large, meaning most users will likely fall well short of reaching their monthly allowance anyway.

Telstra's new unlimited plan will be available from this Thursday, May 3, while Vodafone's plans will kick off from tomorrow, May 2.

Telstra unlimited

Dubbed the 'Endless Data BYO Plan', Telstra's single offering provides customers with 40GB of data at uncapped speeds before being capped at 1.5Mbps once that limit has been reached.

As the BYO part of the name implies, you'll have to bring your own phone for this SIM-only plan. It also comes with unlimited calls and texts within Australia, as well as data-free streaming for a number of sports apps.

Telstra's Endless Data BYO Plan is priced at $69 per month on a 12-month contract, bringing the total minimum cost to $828 over the contract period.

Vodafone is Vodafiiine

Offering a little more variety than Telstra's single 40GB option, Vodafone is launching three different unlimited plans with varying uncapped data allowances, each of which will also be capped at 1.5Mbps once that initial limit has been reached.

Vodafone's $60 per month plan offers 30GB of 4G mobile data, while its $80 per month option gives you a whopping 60GB before you're slowed down. If that's not enough, Vodafone's third and final unlimited mobile data plan gives you 100GB of uncapped data for $100 per month.

Each of the plans include unlimited standard national talk and text within Australia, and like Telstra's offering, can only be acquired on a 12-month contract.