Recommended eSIM provider for holiday in Australia?

Forums › Travel (planes, train, cruise) › Recommended eSIM provider for holiday in Australia?

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1524 posts

Uber Geek

#3360337 3-Apr-2025 22:23

I looked at getting a local SIM for our recent 16-day Aussie holiday, but in the end just decided to pay the $9 per day roaming fee from One NZ. The $144 wasn't much extra to pay for the ease of use.

Worked out better as everyone could still ring me on my normal number, and I didn't have any issues with my contacts not accepting calls from an unknown number.

shk292

2856 posts

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#3360341 3-Apr-2025 22:40

SpartanVXL:

If using iphone and you have wifi calling enabled on your nz sim, remember to set your Network Selection setting to manual on your NZ carrier. When you land and have your aus/roaming e/sim connected and set as primary data use your nz sim will fail to connect, but fall back to using wifi calling for calls and txts. Theres no setting in ios unlike some other androids, but this method does work as long as your carrier allows overseas wifi calling.

I think that would work with my Samsung also, I'm going overseas on Saturday so will give it a try

noroad

951 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#3360413 4-Apr-2025 07:41

djtOtago:

I've used https://www.airalo.com/ last time I was in Australia. Worked fine.
Note. Usually you can't activate the eSim until you are in the target country, and you usually need an internet connection to activate. I just connect to the airport's Wi-Fi to carry out the activation.

You can activate it on the app at home the day you go but the actual activation (the days of valid use) won't kick in until the phone sees a compatible roaming network when you land.

Handle9

11391 posts

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#3360418 4-Apr-2025 08:31

djtOtago:

Note. Usually you can't activate the eSim until you are in the target country, and you usually need an internet connection to activate. I just connect to the airport's Wi-Fi to carry out the activation.

You can almost always install and activate the esim at home. It doesn't work until you connect to the correct network but I always install esims at home then just switch them on when I land.

caffynz

274 posts

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#3360596 4-Apr-2025 11:38

k1w1k1d:

I looked at getting a local SIM for our recent 16-day Aussie holiday, but in the end just decided to pay the $9 per day roaming fee from One NZ. The $144 wasn't much extra to pay for the ease of use.

Worked out better as everyone could still ring me on my normal number, and I didn't have any issues with my contacts not accepting calls from an unknown number.

I rarely use texts or calls, 95% use data. I do videocalling, and messaging on platforms such as Messenger, Whatsapp etc. Texts are usually associated with work, and I am on holiday so wouldn't be answering these texts lol (nor should I be receiving them either!!).

I called 2degrees to enquire about the roaming. Their $8/day roaming gives me 1gb data at max speed, then once 1gb is used, the speed slows down to 128kbps (?!) so this is not viable for me.

eSIM definitely the way and I've gotten so much good advice here about options, really appreciate the input. I'm leaning towards Optus' Traveller plan for 60GB for AUD25.

razor2000nz

218 posts

Master Geek

#3360673 4-Apr-2025 12:37

I used https://felixmobile.com.au/ lasy year, just activate once your in the country and past immigration. Also need to remember to cancel so you don't keep paying after you leave the country.

SpartanVXL

1316 posts

Uber Geek

#3360826 4-Apr-2025 16:35

Felix is good, you can pause the plan and keep the esim to reactivate later if you want. It gives you a aussie phone number and overseas roaming as part of the plan which you can use back in NZ or other countries too.

Optus traveller plan is good, can try use their trial plan which is the same data amount for free one time.

Roaming is still a ripoff, especially with One since they allow wifi calling overseas. Grab a plan at the airport and follow the steps I posted to get wifi calling working. Bonus point, since it will never connect to a overseas network you don’t have to worry about it ever charging you for roaming rates. Calls and txts (2-factor txts too) work without issues. I had all the qantas flight updates come through when I was in Melbourne.

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Asteros

263 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3360859 4-Apr-2025 18:50

You must be on ONE NZ or 2Degrees or one of their Virtual Networks for voWifi calls and SMS roaming on an esim in Australia to work. Spark doesn't allow this. Also I don't know definitively if all Androids will allow this - someone previously said some Samsungs don't.

lNomNoml

1807 posts

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#3360862 4-Apr-2025 18:55

I used amaysim and were really happy with the cost to value ratio at the time.

ANglEAUT

2325 posts

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#3361061 5-Apr-2025 20:26

Never used them, but saw their adverts: https://tripsim.com.au/

Please keep this GZ community vibrant by contributing in a constructive & respectful manner.

caffynz

274 posts

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#3366054 20-Apr-2025 18:39

Just to update this post for any other future queries.

Couldn't buy the Optus Traveller eSIM online prior to going to Queensland, due to weird problems with verifying my passport (similar with Circles.Life...something's buggy there - presume they use the same platform?) so after back and forth with Optus' online live chat, gave up trying to buy it online and just picked up the eSIM at the airport upon arrival, all set up under 15 minutes by the helpful staff.

AUD$25 for prepaid 60gb data (for 28 days) was great, ended up using about 15gb over 10 days - so I could have gotten a smaller plan but for AUD$25 and the no-fuss set up upon arrival, I don't have regrets.

Everywhere I went in South East Queensland, we had good data coverage.

davidcole

6036 posts

Uber Geek

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#3366065 20-Apr-2025 21:44

I just came back from Melbourne. Both the wife and me iPhone 15s.

I bought an airalo for her (3gb) and I bought a revolut for myself. Both about 15 for 30 days . But I didnt care about the age. Had no problems. Mine I could activate in nz. Hers had to be done there and needed a restart. Just turned off mobile data and roaming for our 2degrees connections

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noroad

951 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#3366101 21-Apr-2025 08:50

shk292:

Senecio:

You can turn off roaming at the SIM level. Disable roaming on you 2Degrees SIM before you leave the country.

Unfortunately that doesn't apply to samsung phones; roaming is on or off and can't be controlled per SIM. I got caught out by this on a recent overseas trip where despite setting the overseas sim as preferred for data, when it lost connection due to coverage, my nz sim happily roamed onto the local network. The only way to be safe is to turn off the nz sim when overseas, but then you don't receive SMS

Did you have data switching disabled? If not that will be the cause of the roaming to the non preferred sim.

Potek

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3367984 27-Apr-2025 15:33

I've been looking at eSIMs for a trip in July. Because I'll be in North Queensland, I think that Telstra will be the best carrier for me, as they provide better coverage outside major cities.

I'm wondering if anyone has experience with getting a Telstra eSIM? I understand Telstra doesn't tend to have stalls at airports and I will probably have to visit one of their shops.

larknz

1695 posts

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#3368111 27-Apr-2025 20:59

Be aware that the coverage can be patchy for some networks. If you are staying in a major urban area you should be fine, otherwise it would pay to check a coverage map before selecting a provider. Telstra has the best coverage.

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