Optus rolls out new international roaming deals

The telcos wars are well and truly alive and this time Optus is the latest carrier to wheel out new deals.

• Stop pestering customers to switch to the NB
• More Aussies to have 5G within weeks

EXCLUSIVE

The nation’s second-largest telco has wheeled out new deals to help jetsetters slash their overseas phone costs.

In a sign of heated competition among the country’s telcos, Optus has today introduced new plans with roaming inclusions giving customers the ability to save themselves a small fortune while travelling abroad.

Using the new Optus Roaming Pass customers can on specific deals can now access a $10 per day pass with unlimited standard talk and text (SMS not MMS) and 1GB of data.

This offer kicks in once the customer exceeds the amount of applicable data on their existing plans including international roaming caps.

And for heavy data munchers if they exceed the 1GB of data they’re automatically be charged another $10 pass and the 24-hour timer resets.

The pass is available to customers on the $59 100GB or $79 120GB plans.

Telco comparison website WhistleOut’s spokesman Kenny McGilvary said it was “good news for those Optus customers already on some of the bigger more expensive plans”.

“It provides a safety net for those consumers to keep using data while abroad without having to worry too much about bill shock from international roaming charges once they’ve used up their plan’s roaming data allocations,” he said.

The Optus Roaming Pass only applies when the customer users data, makes or receives calls or sends a text while overseas and will help those who accidentally leave their roaming on while overseas to avoid exorbitant costs.

Optus has now rolled out international roaming deals that will make it cheaper for customers who use their phones overseas.

Customers will not be charged for the pass on days they don’t use their phone.

But Mr McGilvary said there was cheaper options for customers available in the market.

“When it comes to accessing data internationally it can often pay to get a local SIM covering the locations you’re going to visit,” he said.

“With a little research you’ll often find deals that offer stacks of data and can also be the cheapest option, so we’d still recommend people check what’s available in their chosen countries.”

Boost Mobile founder Peter Adderton said its important travellers kept on top of how much data they are using overseas.

“Make sure your provider has the ability to tell you how much data you have used in real time whilst you are overseas so you can manage and monitor otherwise massive bill shock risk,” he said.
He also said look for a provider that “bills in kilobytes not megabyte increments” because it could save you money.

The nation’s third-largest telco Vodafone has a $5 per day roaming deal which eligible customers can use in up to 80 countries.

While on some plans you can get free $5 roaming for up to seven days.

And the country’s biggest telco Telstra offers applicable customers a $10 a day pass in more than 70 countries or $5 a day in New Zealand.

This allows customers unlimited calls and SMS and 200MB per day.

Once customers go over this Telstra charge customers another $10 for 500MB which is valid for 31 days.

@sophieelsworth