Google play and Telstra pay on the iPhone

If you live in Australia and you have a pre-paid Telstra Plan you can use your spare credit to make purchases.  And by spare credit, I mean the entire amount that you top up your phone with each month.  For example, I am on a $30 a month prepaid Telstra plan. I get $700  worth of calls plus  3 GB of data, Yet, at the end of the much I still have that $30 in my Telstra account, and  I can use the entire $30 to buy movies with for ‘free’.  It sound strange  I know but that’s how it works.  It only works on Android phones. It does not work on an iPhone.  But there is a way to get the best of both worlds…

For  some strange reason, if you are a Telstra prepaid customer, and you are on an automatic top up,  and you don’t go over your usage limit,  the amount you top up keeps rolling over.  The $30 does not get used up each month,  it just sits there, accumulating. You can use this accumulated credit to purchase things on Google Play.

This does not work on an iPhone, only on an Android phone. Telstra seem to have done a deal with Google to allow Telstra payments on Google Play, but not on the iPhone even though the iPhone has a Google Play App.

There is a way to use the credit from your iPhone Telstra SIM card to make Google Play purchases –  but it requires you to get hold of an Android phone.  You can then link the android phone to the SIM card in your Telstra iPhone.   This means you can make Google play movie purchases ( or other purchases)  from the Android phone,  using the credit from your Telstra prepaid iPhone.

You can even then watch these movies on your iPhone, from Google Play,  Even though you purchased them using the Android phone. Yes – it sounds complicated.  But it allows you to use your iPhone on a Telstra plan, but then use your spare unused Telstra credit to buy movies.  For me,  I’m on a $30 Telstra prepaid plan,  so that means $30 worth of free movies for me.  Seems worth it.

Here is how to do it:

1. Purchase any cheap Android phone
2. Remove the SIM card from your iPhone
3. Put the SIM card  in an Android phone
4. Open the Google Play App and pay for anything using your Telstra Credit
5. Remove the SIM card from your Android
6. Put the SIM card back in your iPhone

Your Google account is now linked to your Telstra Sim card.

Now you can:

1. Buy a movie on the Android phone. ( using the excess credit from your iPhone)
2. Watch the movie on your iPhone  at any time.

For example if you go into Google Play TV on the Android Phone, you can sign up for a series which you can then watch one episode at a time from your iPhone  (or Apple computer) from the Google Play website or app.

Or you can sign up for a Google Play music subscription or a Google Newsstand  magazine subscription that you can then access from your iPhone or Apple computer.

You can’t make purchases from the iPhone.

It would be nice to be able to make purchases from the iPhone, but in the meantime get your hands on a cheap Android phone. I picked one up for $30.

Here are some pictures: