Optus Donate your Data helping students stay connected

These days access to the internet is a requirement for most students to complete their coursework. Unfortunately, not everyone has regular online access which can put them at a disadvantage.

Optus, working with partners like The Smith Family is helping people experiencing disadvantaged access to the internet through the Donate your Data^TM program.

The program provides free calls and text, and much needed internet access to young people, their families and other Australians who might be doing it tough, so they can study, work, and connect with programs and services, and friends and family.

For Iesha, having a good education means everything because she knows it’s her path to a better future. Seeing the struggles of her family growing up has inspired her to focus on her studies and pursue her dream of helping other people.

Since high school, The Smith Family has supported Iesha to achieve her educational goals, not only helping to ease financial pressures at home but opening up opportunities she didn’t know were possible. Now Iesha is studying law at university and exploring her career options.

“My family means the world to me,” Iesha says. “I look up to my dad because he inspires me to keep pushing.

“My dad was a refugee. He didn't have an education. So now that I can have that education, I can make him proud but also do something for myself.

“When my dad came to Australia, he was working three jobs but in one of those jobs, he had a work injury that made him bedridden for one whole year.

“My parents applied for The Smith Family in order to give them some financial help because my dad wasn't able to go and work, and my mum was looking after two little children. That money went towards anything that I needed for school, so it took that strain off my family,” she says.

“That support changed things for me, by allowing me to continue my education and making me not feel like I'm different to any other student.”

The support Iesha has received from Optus and their customers has been critical for her university studies. The free data, calls and texts from the Donate Your Data^TM initiative means she no longer has to worry about running out of data each month.

“Before joining Donate Your Data, I had limited access to the internet. I only had a few gigabytes to use each month and when they would run out, I'd have to wait for the next month,” Iesha recalls.

“That made it so hard for me to study because once your internet would run out, you couldn't access it. And now you need internet everywhere you go.

“With Donate Your Data, it's helped so much at uni everything runs online now – your textbooks are online, lectures are online, exams are online. So, without internet, you don't have access to education.

“Now I can go anywhere and use that data and not have to wait for the next month to come. To not have to worry about not having enough data feels so good,” Iesha says.

Looking ahead, Iesha is excited about what the future holds beyond her university studies.

“My dream for the future is to be able to help people,” she says. “I want to give back to the community. I want to represent people who are at a disadvantage because I was at a disadvantage once in my life.”

“I want to say thank you to Optus and all of their customers for making a difference in my life and helping me pursue my dream.

“If I didn’t have internet, I would not be able to continue my education,” she says.

The initiative enables Optus customers with an eligible mobile plan to donate some of their data.

Donate a portion of your monthly data allowance if you're an eligible Optus customer with one of the options below.

Customers can donate data via My Optus app, tap the banner and then use the slider at the bottom of the screen to donate any remaining data before the end of the month. If they want to donate again in the future, they can simply donate from their remaining data.

If you’re on an eligible Optus Prepaid plan, simply SMS the word 'donate' to 4567 to receive instructions on how to donate.

Available to eligible Postpaid & Prepaid mobile customers only. Donation not reversible.