Because we feel that we are paying too much for our 2 (owned) mobiles on a Telstra BYO (non-contract) plan we decided to try Boost Mobile and save around $900 pa. Now because we are moving Telstra to Boost you have to phone Boost and ask for a blank sim card. We phoned and the first question we were asked was, “are you on a prepaid or postpaid plan with Telstra”? We said postpaid and we were then told to contact Telstra and request they change us to a prepaid plan and then phone Boost back to get the blank sim card. Does anyone know why we need this prepaid plan from Telstra to swap to Boost? How much will it cost us as it is prepaid? Why is this not mentioned amywhere in the Boost mobile blurb/conditions, etc. I should have perhaps entitled this, “why is it so hard to move from Boost to Telstra?”
pH
That is truly bizarre. Curiously there are many posts on the net in various places indicating people seem to have trouble porting their numbers between any two MVNO services that both use the Telstra network.
You normally could go to a grocer or C-store and buy a Boost SIM for $2 but this question from the Boost site suggests there is a special SIM involved, not just ‘any’ Boost SIM.
I presume you meant from Telstra to Boost?
In my experience, it does not matter if you are moving from a prepaid or postpaid Telstra plan to Boost if you want to keep your existing mobile number.
I have experienced this both with our own mobiles, and when helping out another person who was with Telstra prepaid.over 5 years ago
For reasons known only to Boost, only the SIM they will send to you will allow you to use your existing number.
The same thing happened when wanting to replace handsets which use a diffrerent physical size SIM, but staff at JB HiFi had a handy little special punch which would cut a SIM into a smaller size SIM.
Fortunately I kept the off-cut so when my nano SIM handset went belly up on Monday, I popped the SIM back into the off-cut to reform a micro SIM for my spare handset.
But why are you wanting to move to Boost anyway when we have people claiming that they are paying the same or less for Telstra prepaid?
Perhaps you just need to switch from Telstra BYO plans to Telstra prepaid plans, although in my experience, Boost has vastly better customer service.
I changed from Telstra to Belong (which is another ‘Telstra-by-another-name’ prepaid plan) - had zero problems with porting my number, but they do send out a new Sim card. I now pay $10/calendar month, automatically debited, for unlimited calls/texts. BUT - the $10 only gets you 1GB data/month… this is fine for me, because I have unlimited data at home.
Any unused data rolls over; you are able to increase it if needed.
Maybe give Boost the flick, and try something else??
BBG thanks for pointing out my obvious error you are correct it was Telstra to Boost.
The reason we chose BOOST is that buying a 12 month plan gave us the best data use (80Gb/pa) plus international calls whereas the cheapest 2Gb/month data and NO international calls was $40 pa more expensive. Our research for us showed Boost to be OUR best option.
pH
This has nothing to do with telephone number porting. It sounds more like sales.
I would suggest that you tell them that if you can’t port over with post paid, then you will go somewhere else. There’s lots of choice! Have a look at the Choice article on comparing SIM only plans.
Meltham
Find us a plan that comes close to the Boost $150 pa x 2 and saves us $900 pa on our present BYO Telstra plan and we’ll take it. We carefully researched all of the available options and that is what we found. I was merely asking WHY, Boost needed us to change to prepaid and “Sales” makes sense - so thanks for that. Plus it should be easier to change mobile phone carriers. Tx for your input!
pH
It appears the reason Boost want you to go to prepaid is that they do not appear to offer post paid.
You are right. The $12.50/mth is very cheap, but there is very little data allowance (=6.66GB/mth) with it. I assumbe that is enough for your needs otherwise you wouldn’t have selected it.
Alternatives are available at WhistleOut prepaid mobile phone plan filtering. (Choice uses WhistleOut to do the phone & broadband plan selections)
Meltham,
Thanks but it got worse. We changed our Telstra plan to prepaid at the local Telstra Shop - very easy. We then rang Boost Mobile and asked to be sent the blank SMS cards as they had said were needed in a previous conversation. They replied, “Oh, we are not sending out blank SMS cards any more - there is no security, etc etc. What you need to do is visit one of our local suppliers and buy a $2 pre-paid Boost card and come back and have it activated.” At this point we asked (very politely but seething in the background) why do we need to do that if all that we want is a Boost pre-paid plan. The reply from Boost, was gob smacking, “In that case, all you need to do is purchase a plan on our website and then phone us when the SIMS arrive so they can be activated.” So we didn’t need to do anything about changing to pre-paid or anything but just go to the Boost website and buy a plan.
So off we go to the Boost website and we purchased 1 sim for my wife’s phone using her credit card. I then tried to buy a sim card for my phone, using the same card - failed. Using a different credit card - failed. Using paypal - failed. Back to Boost by phone - ah yes you need to wait at least 20 minutes or 2 hours to clear your credit card details. 3 hours later credit card(s)- failed, paypal - failed. Grrh!
It gets worse - after 24 hours of not being able to purchase this card - I rang the Boost ‘help’ line and finally was told that the offer my wife had subscribed to was limited to 1 plan per household - that’s why I couldn’t download the same plan for my phone. However, if I went to a local Boost supplier, eg Woolies, JBHiFi, Caltex, etc I could purchase exactly the same plan at the same price and with the same benefits! Do these people really want our business? We are asking for a refund and switching to another plan, which will unfortunately cost more. Thanks for reading this tale of woe - may be a salutary warning for some other poor consumer,
pH
… it can always get worse - rock bottom is just a concept to make us feel better 
I’d question them that one - but I’m not sure on what grounds … you cannot get the deal because another person has it? I’m not sure they can discriminate because of where you live or whether a relative has a particular contractual arrangement … something about it doesn’t sound quite right.
I went to Boost some time back - they sent me a SIM card but could not explain why it was necessary. I asked why they didn’t know, as it seemed unlikely it wasn’t a common question and was met with ‘the reasons are technical’ … ok, try me … they didn’t …
The 100$ for 6 months I took, which expires soon - I have over 40 GB left of the 60. Might do the 12 months since they now roll over.
A couple of things with Boost - there doesn’t appear any way to recharge just some data, and your call history you were used to seeing on Telstra is now fairly basic and on the phone app only (no online account so to speak - not that I’ve found anyway) - suits me though …
Interestingly, though Telstra doesn’t own Boost, the charge was on my credit card as “Telstra” … curious …
It seems Boost contracts everything to Telstra excepting their logo and the copyright on their web page.
BBG
If you pay by paypal (or attempted to in my case) at the end of the transaction it says that it is returning you to tesltra.com. Must be a link somewhere?
Yes, Telstra appears to do their accounting and billing under contract. It is curious Boost’s name is not used, but. I rang Boost a few months ago to enquire about a plan detail and the CSO answered ‘Telstra’. Very strange, but they both state they are separate companies.
I think Boost is the letterbox outside the Telstra house, trying to convince everyone it is the house … virtual letterbox at that … essentially a separate marketing entity only?
I find it interesting that Boost and Telstra seem so intimately connected. According to Wikipedia, Boost is a privately owned entity that until 2013 used the Optus network (and uses Sprint in the US):
The Australian Business Register (ABR) and ASIC public records shine no further light on any control relationship with Telstra.
As Boost is a privately owned entity, it is not required to publish annual reports. Telstra does (PDF), and Boost Mobile does not appear as either a controlled entity or a joint venture/associated entity (beginning on page 76 of the PDF, and incorrectly referenced in the index to the financial statements as commencing on page 149 - it is actually 151*).
This means there is no ‘ownership’ stake by Telstra in Boost, but does not mean that they do not share resources that are significant for Boost (were they significant for Telstra they would be disclosed). Boost’s annual report may identify the company as being economically dependant upon Telstra - but that is not a public document.
*Guess who has a habit of finding errors in published annual reports?
My wife bought a boost sim card from Coles. $150 I think for 80gb over 12 months and had absolutely no problems porting the number over. She uses very little data but the bonus with Boost is that she has unlimited calls to her family and friends back in Brazil.
We both are using the same numbers we had 15 years ago when we first sign up to Crazy Johns 
I have had the same number for over 20 years started with Orange which became 3 tried to change from 3 to Vodaphone prepaid when the takeover happened but because I still had 3 days left on my contract with 3 they wouldn’t change me over so then compared plans and went to Amaysim then changed to Optus because they had a good deal have now gone back to Amaysim never had a problem porting except I haven’t had a phone for a couple of hours when the change over is happening.
The thing that amazes me is that these companies will offer deals for new customers but offer nothing for existing customers to recontract
The role of a “captive audience” who have no impetus to change, rules why they don’t incentivise current customers, why would they spend money thus profits on keeping what isn’t moving?
