Taking your Australian phone overseas used to be so prohibitively expensive that I would get a local SIM card with data in places like Singapore, the US and the UK where I would be visiting for more than a few days or more than once.
But since Vodafone introduced $5 A Day Global Roaming in 2013, I’ve been able to access the full call and data limit (which for me is 30GB) of my post-paid plan in 80 countries for an extra $5 a day.
Gone are the random assortment of international SIM cards in my travel kit, and the need to seek out a mobile phone store upon arriving in a new country.
In this post:
How do I Register?
If you’re on a current post-paid plan with Vodafone, then you should be eligible for $5 Roaming.
Check in the My Vodafone app under Account Settings:
How does Vodafone $5 Roaming work?
It’s as simple as turning on your phone (or toggling off Airplane Mode) when you land and within a few minutes it should be connected to the local roaming network. Your emails, notifications and text messages should update automatically.
You’ll also get a text message from Vodafone welcoming you to the country and confirming it’s a $5 Roaming destination.
Having personally used $5 Roaming across England, France, Germany, Portugal, the US, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and even South Africa it really is as easy as that.
Vodafone Global Roaming Does Not Cover Dubai Or Abu Dhabi
The United Arab Emirates is not covered by $5 Roaming so for Emirates and Etihad passengers transiting in Dubai and Abu Dhabi respectively it’s best to use airport or airline lounge Wifi.
As you still get mobile reception in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, make sure you toggle off Data Roaming on your phone before you land to avoid extra charges.
How does it compare to Telstra and Optus?
In a nutshell, very favourably.
Telstra offers an International Day Pass for $10 per day which includes 200MB of data per day, with extra usage charged at a further $10 for 500MB (valid for 31 days). At twice the price for significantly less data (based on my current Vodafone plan I have an average of 1000MB per day, but can adjust for lumpy usage as Drew might say), the only benefit I can see is coverage in the United Arab Emirates.
Optus offers an Optus Travel Pack for $10 per day which includes a stingy 100MB of data per day, though you can purchase extra days and use the data as needed over that time period (e.g. buying 5 travel packs will give you 500MB of data to be used as needed over those 5 days).
You can only purchase a Travel Pack within 3 day of use, which is another inconvenience.
Vodafone Global Roaming Summary
Vodafone has the best international roaming offering in Australia.
Essentially you would be paying Telstra and Optus twice the price each day for a fraction of the data allowance you would get with an average plan on Vodafone.
It’s the reason I moved carriers and have stayed with Vodafone since 2013.
