This was published 2 years ago
Best global roaming plans for Australians: A quick guide
Setting global roaming up on your smartphone is essential for post-pandemic travel.Credit: iStock
Travel during the pandemic has made a smartphone an essential tool.
Not just for posting your adventures to social media and lighting the cobblestones while showing you the way back to your hotel, but also for the apps many countries require you to have to establish your vaccination status at indoor venues.
You might even need to download a specific app as a condition of entry to some countries.
That requires a global roaming service, and there are several options.
AUSTRALIAN TELCOS WITH GLOBAL ROAMING PLANS
One is to stick with your standard provider. Those with Telstra get an automatic 500MB of data, valid for 24 hours at a price of $5 when the telco detects you're using your phone overseas.
For customers on most of its mobile plans, Optus global roaming costs $10 for 1GB of data in more than 90 countries, valid for 24 hours.
GLOBAL ROAMING SIM CARDS IN AUSTRALIA
For either of those providers, the costs mount up quickly on an overseas holiday, and if you're away for anything more than a week, there are cheaper options.
One is to replace your standard SIM card with a global roaming SIM.
Online retailer Simcorner (simcorner.com) will sell you a 12GB Europe SIM card for $32, or a whopping 100GB for $67, valid for 30 days.
For the US, Canada and Mexico, unlimited 4G data for 30 days over the AT&T network costs $79.
The Orange Holiday SIM Card (orange.simoptions.com) gives you 20GB of 4G internet everywhere in Europe with unlimited calls and SMS within Europe, valid for 14 days for $49.90.
Flexiroam (flexiroam.com) is another worthwhile option and while the cost of data is higher, there's no need to change SIM cards if you're hopping between continents.
GLOBAL ROAMING SIM CARDS OVERSEAS
Another option is to buy a local SIM card at your destination. In places such as the UK it's relatively straightforward, and cheap.
In some countries where it should be both, such as Canada, it's not necessarily so. In countries where you're on shaky ground with the language, beware. Having been through this process in Italy and India, a word of advice – don't.
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