Roaming to Australia

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#1287673 20-Apr-2015 12:40

jtan: +1 for the Optus prepaid sims.

Have always used these when we have been visiting Australia and $2 a day gave us all we ever needed while there (unlimited calling, text and 500mb data). A couple of times we were over for a music festival and data there was a little temperamental but that was likely due to the sheer number of people at the event overloading the network.. On a standard day, no issues.

Also believe that they have a 'top up' with their $2 days (Daily Plus) for another 524mb for an extra $2 if you are feeling particularly data hungry that day. When you arrive in Aus, just pop to the Optus counter at the airport (they have them in Sydney and Melbourne, but likely at the other ports too) and they'll have you set up and activated in no time. Usually takes about 5-10min after clearing customs and you should be on your way.. :)

One thing I might add, is I do not believe that tethering is available using this SIM's. It might be possible that that is an iPhone limitation, but from memory when I tried to set up a wireless hotspot using my phone with one of these SIMs the setting was unavailable. Just FYI in case you are looking for this functionality. If you have any queries, I've sent the Optus team queries in the past via. Twitter and they've been quite quick to reply. Good luck!

Another +1 for the Optus prepaid sim.

My wife and I used them at Easter last year in Sydney with no issues. I'm also reasonably sure that I did also use it to tether to my laptop. I have an Android phone.

As we are with Vodafone and calls to Aus are included within our monthly minutes, we call forwarded all calls made to our NZ numbers to the Aus numbers. I also have a cheap dual sim phone, so placed our NZ sims in that phone so as that we still received texts that were sent to our NZ number.

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#1287895 20-Apr-2015 17:33

kiwiharry:
As we are with Vodafone and calls to Aus are included within our monthly minutes, we call forwarded all calls made to our NZ numbers to the Aus numbers. I also have a cheap dual sim phone, so placed our NZ sims in that phone so as that we still received texts that were sent to our NZ number.

Are you sure Call Forward uses your included minutes? I'm pretty sure this has certainly never been the case historically, and typically isn't the case with most telcos whether fixed line or mobile.

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#1289702 22-Apr-2015 19:29

sbiddle:
kiwiharry:
As we are with Vodafone and calls to Aus are included within our monthly minutes, we call forwarded all calls made to our NZ numbers to the Aus numbers. I also have a cheap dual sim phone, so placed our NZ sims in that phone so as that we still received texts that were sent to our NZ number.

Are you sure Call Forward uses your included minutes? I'm pretty sure this has certainly never been the case historically, and typically isn't the case with most telcos whether fixed line or mobile.

I've had it enabled on my phone a few times and the forwarded calls have never been charged for so it does look like it deducts from my minutes. Vodafone Red plan here so it may differ for other plans.

- James

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#1289703 22-Apr-2015 19:30

alasta: Personally I have had nothing but trouble when I've used Optus over there. Last time I went to Australia I bought a Telstra SIM and found their service to be a hundred times more reliable.

I've had good experiences with Telstra as well. Avoid Vodafone, they're pretty crap. No comment on Optus but their $2 deal sounds good so might give them a try next time I'm over for a holiday.

- James

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#1289751 22-Apr-2015 20:26

sbiddle:
kiwiharry:
As we are with Vodafone and calls to Aus are included within our monthly minutes, we call forwarded all calls made to our NZ numbers to the Aus numbers. I also have a cheap dual sim phone, so placed our NZ sims in that phone so as that we still received texts that were sent to our NZ number.

Are you sure Call Forward uses your included minutes? I'm pretty sure this has certainly never been the case historically, and typically isn't the case with most telcos whether fixed line or mobile.

I just checked my bill for that month, and it shows $0.00 for all the calls forwarded to the Australian mobile number. I'm on a Business Basics plan.

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#1289767 22-Apr-2015 20:49

KiwiSurfer:
alasta: Personally I have had nothing but trouble when I've used Optus over there. Last time I went to Australia I bought a Telstra SIM and found their service to be a hundred times more reliable.

I've had good experiences with Telstra as well. Avoid Vodafone, they're pretty crap. No comment on Optus but their $2 deal sounds good so might give them a try next time I'm over for a holiday.

- James

Vodafone is in many ways a vastly superior network to Optus with better coverage in many areas, and far better speeds. The $2 is a bargain - but you get what you pay for. My experiences on Optus have been one of incredibly sluggish data, and all data is also metered mer 1MB session meaning you can go through data incredibly quickly.

People love bashing Vodafone AU but much of it is totally unjustified. They have a great network and great performance because they have no users.

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#1289808 22-Apr-2015 22:12

sbiddle:

People love bashing Vodafone AU but much of it is totally unjustified. They have a great network and great performance because they have no users.

Totally dependant on where you are. I have mates in cities that can't even get reception on VFAU using iPhone 6 and 6+.

OP, $44.90 will get you 4Gb of 4g on Amaysim with unlimited calls and texts and data billed in 1Kb increments. They also do straight data plans. Does run on Optus so you'd have to check coverage

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#1289929 23-Apr-2015 08:32

sbiddle:
KiwiSurfer:
alasta: Personally I have had nothing but trouble when I've used Optus over there. Last time I went to Australia I bought a Telstra SIM and found their service to be a hundred times more reliable.

I've had good experiences with Telstra as well. Avoid Vodafone, they're pretty crap. No comment on Optus but their $2 deal sounds good so might give them a try next time I'm over for a holiday.

- James

Vodafone is in many ways a vastly superior network to Optus with better coverage in many areas, and far better speeds. The $2 is a bargain - but you get what you pay for. My experiences on Optus have been one of incredibly sluggish data, and all data is also metered mer 1MB session meaning you can go through data incredibly quickly.

People love bashing Vodafone AU but much of it is totally unjustified. They have a great network and great performance because they have no users.

In the Gold coast July last year Vodafone was crap with data speed. Like waiting for paint to dry. Optus and Telstra were both good..

Regards,

Old3eyes

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#1289958 23-Apr-2015 09:22

blakamin: OP, $44.90 will get you 4Gb of 4g on Amaysim with unlimited calls and texts and data billed in 1Kb increments. They also do straight data plans. Does run on Optus so you'd have to check coverage

Absolutely. If Optus looks to have good coverage where you're going, then for anything up to 22 days the Optus $2 a day option works out great. If you're staying for 23 days or more, the Amaysim certainly seems to be the better option. I looked at Amaysim and 4GB would have been enough for us, but the $2 a day was a fair bit cheaper due to our length of stay, so we went with Optus. We never had any problems with the 1MB increments on the $2 a day plan, and the only times I got close to 500MB in a day was when I had heaps of data to spare and did some speed tests on 4G.

The main thing is to check the coverage maps!

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#1290004 23-Apr-2015 10:14

I don't use Voda roaming because half the time, mobile data it is not usable in the subways in Sydney, especially the T4 eastern line towards Bondi, and can almost guarantee a drop on the green line from airport towards Redfern. I acknowledge there are dark spots from different carriers to another and full coverage is not possible - roaming on Voda AU is not acceptable for my needs and other carriers meet them better like Optus

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#1290402 23-Apr-2015 20:57

BREAKING: Amaysim updated the data cap to 5GB today for the same price.

old3eyes

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#1290418 23-Apr-2015 21:30

blakamin: BREAKING: Amaysim updated the data cap to 5GB today for the same price.

Looking at their data plans it's a pity NZ carrier don't offer 10Gig for $99 that lasts 365 days. Quite handy for someone with a data stick or tablet who doesn't use it all the time..

Regards,

Old3eyes

blakamin

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#1290420 23-Apr-2015 21:32

old3eyes:
blakamin: BREAKING: Amaysim updated the data cap to 5GB today for the same price.

Looking at their data plans it's a pity NZ carrier don't offer 10Gig for $99 that lasts 365 days. Quite handy for someone with a data stick or tablet who doesn't use it all the time..

Yup, that's what I had in my old Nexus 7 3g.

Awesome customer service too.
I even paid out a 12mth Optus contract to switch 2.5 years ago.

tieke

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#1290426 23-Apr-2015 21:52

old3eyes:
blakamin: BREAKING: Amaysim updated the data cap to 5GB today for the same price.

Looking at their data plans it's a pity NZ carrier don't offer 10Gig for $99 that lasts 365 days. Quite handy for someone with a data stick or tablet who doesn't use it all the time..

If you're not roaming onto other networks, 2degrees have a prepay "Mobile Zone Data Pack" which does exist although I can never easily find on their site - it is $99 for 12GB, but renews 6 monthly rather than yearly.

alasta

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#1290428 23-Apr-2015 21:54

old3eyes: In the Gold coast July last year Vodafone was crap with data speed. Like waiting for paint to dry. Optus and Telstra were both good..

Optus was absolutely atrocious when I was in Labrador on the Gold Coast about 18 months ago.

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