Australian Data Roaming Cap Plans
Australian Data Roaming Plans are very expensive.
And if you're not careful, you'll come back to a huge bill. In fact, one of my first articles on VeloNomad was about Mobile Data Roaming Tips for Aussies so they could avoid a $2200 bill like what I came home to in 2009. (On telly the other night, The Project had a story about someone coming home to a $95,000 – that's NINETY-FIVE THOUSAND – dollar roaming bill. Needless to say, they didn't mention VeloNomad's excellent tips to help prevent this happening!)
I think data roaming is your last resort. As mentioned above, it's very expensive.
To save hundreds of dollars, and get much more generous data allowance, you're better off getting a local prepaid SIM for the country you're in, and adding data. These are readily available for many countries and you can even buy them before you go.
To find out how you can get a prepaid local SIM card for a wide range of countries, read the overseas prepaid mobile internet information page.
Australian Data Roaming Plans
After I returned home to a AUD$2000 mobile phone bill I had a look around for an international data roaming cap plan from the Australian carriers. At the time, only Vodafone had a plan (see below).
Telstra also now has a plan, though it's quite expensive (see below).
| Provider | Cost | Data Included | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vodafone | $49 | 25MB | |
| Vodafone | $199 | 120MB | |
| Vodafone | $329 | 200MB | |
| Vodafone | Call Vfone | 1GB | |
| Vodafone | Call Vfone | 2GB | |
| Telstra | $160 | 60MB | 50c session flagfall |
I am pretty sure Optus (still) don't have an international roaming cap for data, but I could not confirm as their website was throwing errors when I clicked through to the page.
The downside a data roaming cap plan is of course that you need to be a Telstra or Vodafone post-paid customer. To my knowledge, there is no prepaid data cap plan available in the Australian market.
Here are the links for Vodafone and Telstra.
Getting a local prepaid SIM instead
As I mentioned above, the smarter, more cost effective way to get internet on your phone when travelling overseas, is to get a local prepaid SIM and add data.
Find out how to do that from the VeloNomad overseas prepaid mobile internet information page.
Buy before you go
The smart thing to do is buy a prepaid SIM (perhaps with pre-loaded data) before you go. You can get prepaid SIMs with data loaded before you go, from MobiPassport.
Of course, you could always try your luck when you land.
However, you probably ought to speak a little French, though, if you want to try for a data card from a French provider.
In 2010, we bought prepaid data cards from Orange. This turned out to be a debacle, as my mate's data allowance was used with a couple of Tweets; a good way to burn 40 Euro (I think for a couple of hundred MB). You really need a shop assistant who understands what you need – a prepaid data plan in the order of 200MB or whatever your requirements are.
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