We all know that using your phone on a roaming plan overseas can be a fast way to run up ludicrous bills, especially if you use data services as well. Who is the biggest offender in that field right now? It turns out the answer is Optus.
Using your mobile on an overseas trip seems like a good idea right up until you get the hideously expensive bill filled with call and data roaming charges a few months later. Short of leaving the phone switched off altogether, what tricks do you prefer for minimins bill shock after an overseas trip?
Newly launched mobile company Tru offers you numbers for multiple countries on a single prepaid SIM, potentially saving you a fortune on roaming charges and insane data charges. However, the structure of the plans is quite complex, and whether you’ll save money might depend a lot on your usage habits.
Hi Lifehacker, I’m soon to be travelling, first to Japan then to Europe (6 weeks in total). I am sick of being stung with stupidly high international roaming rates when overseas, and am looking at a prepaid SIM card option, such as TravelSIM or GOSIM. Call rates seem to be much more reasonable, but data is still stupidly expensive. Are you able to advise what’s the best way to go? As I will be travelling through multiple countries, buying a local SIM card when I’m in that country isn’t really viable unfortunately. Cheers, Steve
New Zealand is one of our closest neighbours, yet if you start using your mobile once you touch down, the pricing feels like you’re on the other side of the world. A joint Australian and New Zealand government investigation is now seeking consumer feedback on whether roaming arrangements need to be altered.
The ludicrous rates charged for using mobiles overseas have long been a subject of complaint amongst Aussie travellers: the best budget approach is to only use text messages and to minimise those, lest you cop a ridiculous bill at the end of your trip. Vodafone today launched new roaming plans under the Vodafone Traveller brand for post-paid users which (depending on your usage patterns) could make life a little cheaper.If you sign up for the service (a no-charge option you can switch on and off at will), then you get charged a connection charge for making calls (between $1 and $4 depending on location). The call is then charged at the standard call rate for your plan, and can be included in standard call credits if you’re on a cap plan. Call receipt incurs a $1 each time charge.Calling this way still isn’t super-cheap — even at $1 a pop, the costs will mount up — and at 75 cents, texting is cheaper on some existing overseas deals. And to be honest, we’d find it easier to recommend these plans if Vodafone wasn’t being so evasive, mendacious and confused about its current iPhone data plans: it’s hard to take a company seriously when it can’t sort out what its own policy is. But if you’re already a Vodafone post-paid customer and looking to travel, this is probably worth a look. (Vodafone is also jumping on the Olympic discount bandwagon by cutting roaming rates for visitors to China during August.)
Australian data rates for iPhone users have been an ongoing source of controversy, but they look like positive bargains compared to the roaming charges you’ll face if you take your beloved new 3G model overseas. David Flynn at APC has analysed the deals being offered by the three local carriers, and concludes that for overseas travellers, Vodafone is the best value for money — though still far from cheap. Of course, Vodafone’s own inability to work out what its plans cost locally might give you pause for thought. If nothing else, the prices serve as a reminder that using your iPhone as a modem, while possible, is unlikely to be cheaper overseas than hooking into the nearest Wi-Fi hotspot, even if it charges for the privilege.The best global roaming deals for your iPhone [APC]
