Cancel a mobile service and cancel a device are different acts with different consequences, and the published schedule for one of them is unusually steep. It is worth knowing before you buy, not after you decide to leave.
The unlocking fee schedule
| Period since purchase | Unlocking fee |
|---|---|
| Within the first six months | $80 |
| After six months | $25 |
| After 2 years | $0 |
That is a device unlocking fee, and the pattern is clear: it exists to recover part of the cost of a subsidised handset, and it steps down to zero after two years. It is not a contract termination fee and it does not apply to prepaid credit.
The other side of the same question
The Boost cancellation field reads not applicable, and the Optus prepaid data plan states there are no cancellation fees associated with this plan. So there is no fee to end the service on either of those. The money at risk is the unused balance, as covered separately in the prepayment article, not a cancellation charge.
What is not published
We do not publish the conditions attached to the unlocking fee, such as whether the device must be fully paid or whether the fee applies per device, because they are not stated in the source document we hold. Check the current summary on the day you need it rather than planning on our reading.
What we could not verify. Where a provider has not published a figure we mark it unknown rather than estimate it. Re-read the provider page linked below on the day you decide.