Students aged 8 – 18 years, where one member of the family is receiving a Learning for Life scholarship. For students aged over 18 years, they need to be receiving either a Learning for Life or Tertiary Scholarship from us. Students must have access to a mobile phone to participate.   

Families with eligible children will receive an invitation to participate in this offer. This invite will include a list of their eligible children. To register, you need to follow the instructions in the invite you received.  

No, if you’ve already activated and are using your Donate Your Data SIM from when we offered this previously you do not need to do anything. Your child/ren will continue to receive the free recharges as planned.

Students must have access to a mobile phone to participate in Donate Your Data (see next FAQ for where you can get a low-cost mobile phone). If your child doesn’t have a phone but you will be getting them one, you will need to activate the SIM before getting a mobile phone for them. The SIM can be activated online, over the phone, or in store. 

Please note: the SIM can only be used in a mobile phone. 

Optus also has a number of Prepaid phones available (online or in store) as does Officeworks, Coles, Woolworths or Harvey Norman. Prices start from $79 up to $199 but retailers may have specials on these handsets so remember to shop around.   

The phones available from Optus include; 

Optus X Start 2  

Optus X Sight 

Optus X Go 

Realme C3

 
You may also purchase or use a second hand phone. You need to make sure the mobile phone is “unlocked” (so not locked to another phone company) so you can put the Donate Your Data SIM into it once you have activated the SIM 

If you buy a phone ensure you don’t activate any offers or SIM cards given to you with the phone, instead once you have purchased and received the phone you should put your activated Donate Your Data SIM card into it.   

Yes, you can decide to use your scholarship payment towards purchasing a mobile phone for your child to enable them to participate in Donate Your Data, if you feel this will assist in their education. If you do decide to use your scholarship payment this way, like always, please keep and provide your receipt for audit purposes. 

No, this is a free offer for use in Australia.  All you need is a mobile phone.  If you wish to purchase additional data or activate international calling as offered by Optus, you can do this, but you will be responsible for those additional costs. 

The free recharges will be applied for two years from activation (you must activate the Donate Your Data SIM before 30th June 2021) provided your child/ren remain eligible for the offer. 

At the end of Donate Your Data, or if you stop being eligible, you will no longer receive the automatic free recharges. If you would like to continue using your Optus service you will need to pay any recharge costs charged by Optus. You also have the option to cancel the account.

Watch the participant activation video at www.optus.com.au/getdyd and follow the instructions in the booklet we sent you. You will need to activate your Donate Your Data SIM online at www.optus.com.au/activate by 30th June 2021.  If you have any difficulties with activation you can call Optus on 1300 132 208 and let them know you are ringing to activate a Donate Your Data SIM. 

Please note: that you will need the required forms of ID to activate your SIM.  If you have Medicare as a form of ID you will have to call Optus on 1300 132 208 to activate the SIM.    

The easiest option to activate the SIM/s is to pick a new number; however, you can keep your child’s mobile phone number if you want. If it is a current Optus number, you will need to ring Optus on 1300 132 208 to do this.  

If your current number is with another provider, you will need to opt to keep your number during the online activation process. To switch your current number to Optus, please ensure that: 

• You are the account holder with your current service provider; 
• Your number is currently active; 
• The details you are entering are the same as the ones your current provider has for this number; 
• You have access to the current mobile number; and 
• You check with your current provider about early termination fees. There may be costs involved if you are cancelling a contract.  Please discuss with your phone company. 
  
   

There are two ways you can activate multiple prepaid services (a service for each eligible student) as part of Donate Your Data:  

• Have a different email address for each service, or 
• Activate each service under the same email address using the same personal details and ID.

Please note:  you can only have five services activated under the one email address.  

You need to let The Smith Family know the phone number you picked during the activation process. We will send you a form to update this information two weeks after sending you the SIM card. 

You will be able to monitor data usage via the My Optus app available free to download in the App Store and Google Play (you will use data to download the app though). Once you have this, you can see how much data you have and how much you have used.  

If you use all the included data, you will no longer be able to access the internet until your data is reloaded on your next automatic recharge. You do have the option to top up your data at your own expense via the My Optus app or www.optus.com.au/recharge.