Vodafone mobile in Australia

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OnceBitten

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#230762 12-Mar-2018 13:34

I asked this in the Vodafone forum on their website but no-one has answered

Wife and I are off to Sydney at the end of the month - we're on a cruise from Sydney to great barrier reef and back over 12 nights

Anyway we both have Vodafone prepay mobiles and will be taking our phones with us

We don’t plan to txt or phone anyone from NZ while on holiday, but if someone phones us or txt’s us and we want to reply, I assume we will be charged roaming rates?

Wife went to a Vodafone store in the weekend and they recommended she buy a new sim card or cheap phone in Aussie…. I would have thought it we keep our phones topped up with more $ than we need we should be ok?

Also the Vodafone person said if we take our phones to Australia we need to put them on airplane / flight mode otherwise they will automatically connect to Vodafone Australia and we’ll get charged roaming rates if our phone is switched on normally – does anyone know if this is correct?

Any help would be great

sbiddle

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#1973198 12-Mar-2018 13:41

I find it quite remarkable that Vodafone customer support has got to the level of not actually being able to answer questions.

The answer to your questions are all on this page on their website

https://www.vodafone.co.nz/prepay-roaming/

Outgoing calls per minute TXTs per message Incoming calls per minute Data

Australia

$0.79

80c

50c / MB

Despite the common misconception you don't pay for incoming SMS messages and never have done (on any mobile network anywhere in the world)

Details for the $5 add-on which you can also subscribe to if you don't want casual rates are also listed on that page.

Linux

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#1973199 12-Mar-2018 13:42

Vodafone New Zealand prepaid connections just roam like postpaid. Roaming is on by default

Open the Vodafone NZ App select roaming and you will see everything you need to know much quicker than asking staff and posting on Geekzone

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stinger

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#1973201 12-Mar-2018 13:47

OnceBitten:

Wife and I are off to Sydney at the end of the month - we're on a cruise from Sydney to great barrier reef and back over 12 nights

Australian roaming rates won't apply while you are on the cruise, and the call rates is much more expensive ($5 per minute) https://www.vodafone.co.nz/roaming/maritime-coverage/

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#1973202 12-Mar-2018 13:49

OnceBitten: Also the Vodafone person said if we take our phones to Australia we need to put them on airplane / flight mode otherwise they will automatically connect to Vodafone Australia and we’ll get charged roaming rates if our phone is switched on normally – does anyone know if this is correct?

Any help would be great

Either your handset is off or on has zero to do with flight mode the staff member should be walked. Flight mode is for use on planes if required

I don't get how roaming could be so difficult to understand

If you turn your phone off when roaming then the roaming carrier tells the home carrier as in your case Vodafone NZ hey phone is off don't route any incoming calls / SMS to the roaming carrier till the person turns their handset back on

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stinger

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#1973211 12-Mar-2018 13:52

I don't get how roaming could be so difficult to understand

Take the first reply as an example. They quoted the roaming rate for Australia, which won't apply for 12 days of their trip.

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#1973221 12-Mar-2018 13:54

One tip make sure you understand how to do a manual network selection on your handset. This maybe required if your handset does not lock onto a network in the first few minutes of turning on your handset in a roaming location

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#1973224 12-Mar-2018 13:55

stinger:

I don't get how roaming could be so difficult to understand

Take the first reply as an example. They quoted the roaming rate for Australia, which won't apply for 12 days of their trip.

It's still roaming I was not talking about the rates

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Edit: My point is as well everything a customer needs to know is on the Vodafone site or in the App in very good detail

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quickymart

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#1973506 12-Mar-2018 19:39

"Walked" as in walked out the door and given the boot?

sbiddle

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#1973517 12-Mar-2018 20:02

stinger:

I don't get how roaming could be so difficult to understand

Take the first reply as an example. They quoted the roaming rate for Australia, which won't apply for 12 days of their trip.

The trip is all in Australia and will have mobile coverage at all day stops and coverage along quite a bit of the coastal route while you're at sea if you're on a deck as the ships stays pretty close to land heading up from Sydney to Brisbane. Once you get further north you'll have pretty extensive maritime coverage from all 3 Australian networks.

Most cruise ships have satellite GSM networks these days if you really want to attach to them and pay satellite rates. The Vodafone website has pretty clear details covering all maritime roaming which you posted.

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#1973518 12-Mar-2018 20:03

quickymart:
"Walked" as in walked out the door and given the boot?

Yes cause if staff don't understand how roaming works / charged then it's all down the toilet and it's not that difficult to understand even at a technical level

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