Optus new $50 SIM only with roaming

[SYD]

Just be aware, I signed up for this early in the year and got it at the $40 price.

When outside Australia, you can all Zone 1 countries for unlimited time.
With inside Australia, you can only call the listed 35 destinations in the T&Cs. This caught me out as I was ringing PNG and ended up with $250 in excess charges. Vietnam is another, its included in the 35 destinations, but when outside Australia is a Zone 2 and not eligible.

Yes, the two lists are quite seperate and there are some real oddities. e.g Spain, Netherlands, Belgium are not in the “35 counties” so no free calls from Oz. But all three are Zone 1, so when roaming there, you can call back to Oz.

The Optus “Yes” app is good for tracking any charges above and beyond your plan (as well as data usage - both domestic 80GB and roaming 4GB).

 

[AIRwin]

Optus have a new $50/mth SIM only plan with unlimited calls and data in “Zone 1” countries, and 4GB Roaming Data a month.

I noticed all SIM plans no longer include any roaming data?

 

[SYD]

I noticed all SIM plans no longer include any roaming data?

I guess they figure that no ones roaming much so snuck in an enhancement….

 

[exceladdict]

I noticed all SIM plans no longer include any roaming data?

I wonder if my existing contract has been changed without telling me.

 

[AIRwin]

I wonder if my existing contract has been changed without telling me.

Apologies I meant new contracts...

 

[SYD]

I wonder if my existing contract has been changed without telling me.

It shouldn’t have. My plan still shows 4GB. You can see that through the app or online.

 

[VPS]

I wonder if my existing contract has been changed without telling me.

Telstra told me they were stopping roaming

 

[SYD]

Telstra told me they were stopping roaming

We’ll that would be a great way for Telstra to lose business (and personal) customers as travel returns!

Meanwhile, specific to this thread topic, Optus appear to be shunting new customers or people changing plans to their $10 roaming passes.

Their websites reiterates some plans with roaming inclusions:

https://www.optus.com.au/mobile/plans/international-roaming/optus-roaming-pass

”Eligible Postpaid mobile plans offer unlimited standard talk, SMS and monthly data inclusions to use in Zone 1 destinations (subject to change). Once you’ve used your plan's roaming data and continue roaming in eligible destinations, you can add an Optus Roaming Pass for $10 per 1GB of data or 24 hours (whichever comes first).”

I believe the “subject to change” is a reference to Zone 1 countries in/out.

As per my previous comment, my plan (contract) still states 4GB roaming inclusion.

I believe Optus would have to notify us if they cancelled our contracted plans and try to shift us onto an ‘enhanced’ plan?

 

[DeKa]

I’m still on this plan.

At the 2 year mark I lost the 10% discount and 20GB bonus but the international calls and 4GB roaming data are still there. New monthly fee is $50.
I was able to switch on 5G access in the app when I got a 5G capable phone, and used live chat to enable Visual Voicemail when that became available recently.

 

[exceladdict]

I believe Optus would have to notify us if they cancelled our contracted plans and try to shift us onto an ‘enhanced’ plan?

Hopefully!

Just checked my app and it's still there too. Wonder how many years it will be until I can use it

 

[DeKa]

Hopefully!

Just checked my app and it's still there too. Wonder how many years it will be until I can use it

It’s still “reasonable” value for me so I plan to keep it. Can call almost anywhere in the world (which I do need to), have 5G access and for the same price or less as “current” plans with no international calls and no roaming.

 

[SYD]

It’s still “reasonable” value for me so I plan to keep it. Can call almost anywhere in the world (which I do need to), have 5G access and for the same price or less as “current” plans with no international calls and no roaming.

I would have said that’s it’s still very good value even without being able to use the included international roaming (for the time being) - which was the main point of the OP and this thread.

5G has come in since and an added bonus. I upgraded my iPhone in March and I’m seeing more and more 5G access as I move around town within my 10km exercise limit…

I rarely come even close to using my 80 GB data limit. When I remember, I donate 10s of GBs via the app.

There’s no risk I’ll be changing plans for the time being. With daily roaming add on packages ($5 to $10 per day) in vogue, they‘ll be significantly more expensive when travel restarts.

 

[SYD]

Looks like Optus are starting to *try* and entice customers off these plans but they‘re not off to a good start. SYD+1 (who scored the 2x years @$40 pm until May last year before reverting to $50 pm) just got an invite to switch to “a great new plan”.

For $5 pm more, you get no roaming data or calls but basically the rest is the same (UL local/int calls from Oz and the same 80 GB data).

PASS!

 

[DeKa]

I got the same offer. No thanks. I’ll stay with what I have even though there’s no discount anymore for me.

One thing to note is if you have data pooled between this old plan and other SIMs on your account, and you add a new plan, the data pooling doesn’t work anymore.

 

[SYD]

I got the same offer. No thanks. I’ll stay with what I have even though there’s no discount anymore for me.

One thing to note is if you have data pooled between this old plan and other SIMs on your account, and you add a new plan, the data pooling doesn’t work anymore.

Unfortunately, I just missed out on the discount promo by about a month but still got it at $50 pm before it went to $59 pm and only 2GB data. It still works out pretty good but obviously frustrated that we have got a lot of roaming value for almost 2 yrs come March.

Now it looks like Optus have removed roaming inclusions on all their plans and only offer rather expensive add ons.

I guess the concern will be if they cancel the plan entirely and force us into something else. Anyone had that experience on other pans?

 

[DeKa]

Unfortunately, I just missed out on the discount promo by about a month but still got it at $50 pm before it went to $59 pm and only 2GB data. It still works out pretty good but obviously frustrated that we have got a lot of roaming value for almost 2 yrs come March.

Now it looks like Optus have removed roaming inclusions on all their plans and only offer rather expensive add ons.

I guess the concern will be if they cancel the plan entirely and force us into something else. Anyone had that experience on other pans?

Optus have a history of not forcing you to change plans but who knows I guess.

I found the post about no data sharing between these old plans and new plans here.

 

[SYD]

Optus have a history of not forcing you to change plans but who knows I guess.

I found the post about no data sharing between these old plans and new plans here.

Fortunately(?) we don’t have data sharing anyway. Not being glued to video content means we rarely come close to each of our 80GB limits!

 

[tlspambait]

I used to be on one of these plans with roaming included (I think I was paying around $80 a month for 200gb domestic + 5gb roaming /month for 2 years that included an iphone x). The price jumped dramatically once the phone was paid off and I dropped the plan.

It does look like there is one plan with roaming still available on month-to-month, for $79/month with 150GB domestic + 5GB roaming in zone 1.

The link to it is here: https://www.qantas.com/au/en/frequent-flyer/member-offers/optus-plans.html

Hopefully it's of some use to someone!

 

[daft009]

if you're a small business you can still get this plan with roaming,

https://smb.optus.com.au/opfiles/Shop/All/cis/Cis%20Documents/CIS_$55_Biz_Plus_SIM_Only_24M_0221.pdf

 

[SYD]

I used to be on one of these plans with roaming included (I think I was paying around $80 a month for 200gb domestic + 5gb roaming /month for 2 years that included an iphone x). The price jumped dramatically once the phone was paid off and I dropped the plan.

It does look like there is one plan with roaming still available on month-to-month, for $79/month with 150GB domestic + 5GB roaming in zone 1.

The link to it is here: https://www.qantas.com/au/en/frequent-flyer/member-offers/optus-plans.html

Hopefully it's of some use to someone!

Just received a QF email offer for this plan (still has 5 GB roaming data/calls) and a shed load of QFF points.

My original $50 sim only plan is still running for the time being - so obviously not a good enough deal for me to switch.

https://www.qantas.com/au/en/frequent-flyer/member-offers/optus-plans.html