Optus to offer Top Ups for customers close to excess charges

Optus will soon offer a Top Up option for customers who are concerned that they will exceed their monthly plan allowance, in addition to introducing a new alerts system.

To be available in "the near future", the Optus Top Ups will apply to both calls and messaging, and data usage. AU$5 and AU$10 Top Ups will add either AU$40 or AU$100 worth of calls and messages, while data Top Ups of 100MB, 500MB or 1GB can be purchased for AU$2, AU$5 or AU$10, respectively. Customers who exceed their monthly data allowance are currently charged at 50 cents per MB on AU$30 and AU$35 plans, and 25 cents per MB on all higher plans.

Optus has also developed a new alert system for its customers, and will send text messages at several monthly usage milestones. An SMS message will be sent to customers as they pass the 50 per cent, 85 per cent and 100 per cent marks of usage each billing month for calls, messages and data.

There are also alerts in place for customers using international roaming packs.

The new alerts system works in unison with the new My Optus app, which users can download for iOS and Android via the app stores.