Find out how to recharge a Pre-Paid service

When your recharge expires, if you don’t recharge your service you move into a ‘recharge only period’ until you recharge.

During your ‘recharge only period’, you’ll still be able to receive calls, but won’t be able to access data, and you can only make calls to:

• 125 8887 recharge online. It’s a free call from your Telstra Pre-Paid service
• Emergency numbers like 000 and 112. Find out more on the Triple Zero (000) website
• Freecall phone numbers, like Telstra Customer Service.
   

You’ll have 6 months to recharge. If you don't recharge within that time, your service will be deactivated, and you’ll lose your mobile number. 

Your recharge should show in your account balance in a few minutes.

You may experience one of the following issues when trying to redeem your voucher.

My 12-digit voucher PIN is showing as ‘invalid’

If you’re seeing this error, please check that:

• You’ve entered the 12-digit PIN exactly as it’s printed on the voucher
• Your recharge voucher has not expired
• The voucher has not already been redeemed.
   

 If you’ve confirmed all this and the voucher still isn’t working, you’ll need to take your recharge voucher and receipt back to the place of purchase for a refund.
 

My recharge voucher is for the wrong amount

If the amount on your recharge voucher is wrong, you’ll need to take the voucher and receipt back to the place of purchase for a refund.
 

My voucher is barred

This may occur if you have tried to enter your voucher PIN multiple times without success.

To resolve this, please contact us.

When you recharge before expiry, you’ll still have access to your previous recharge inclusions, up to the original expiry date. Depending on which Pre-Paid plan you’re on, your unused data may roll over to use with your new recharge.

Your new recharge period starts from the date you recharge your service.

For example, if you recharge your service 5 days before expiry of your old recharge, you’ll have access to the inclusions of both your old and new recharge for 5 days. Then, you’ll have access to the inclusions of your new recharge, plus any unused data that has been rolled over, until the expiry of the new recharge period.

Note: Inclusions for your old recharge will be used first.

Tip: The best way to maximize the benefit of your recharge days is to set up auto recharge.

There could be a number of reasons why your recharge has run out so quickly:

• Your Pre-Paid offer may not include enough data
• There was a software update which was downloaded using your Pre-Paid service
• You’ve updated apps or sent/received large files.
  
  

You can view and manage your data usage in My Telstra. You can also check whether your Pre-Paid offer has enough data for you and consider increasing to a higher recharge with more data.

Even if you don’t know the service number of your mobile broadband service, you can recharge it in My Telstra. Go to Services and you’ll find a list of your Pre-Paid services. Select the mobile broadband service to recharge and follow the prompts.

If your service hasn’t been recharged for six months or more, you'll need to buy a new SIM.