Vodafone $5 international roaming

[OATEK]

Your lucky.. I always go over my data when travelling with the family.

Little Miss 7 wanted a game for her IPad when OS and I forgot to turn it off and she found her Favourite YouTube videos and cost me about $30 in excess data. We went about 3gb over...

I have 5gb data, and haven't yet reached 2gb usage either at home or abroad.

I just used my phone exactly as I would back home. Left it on, left data on, used it for trivial searches on the one hand and maps on the other. Used it as a hotspot for my Toshiba laptop etc. But not to stream anything much in the video line, just a couple of short news reports about wild storms at home.

 

[2tall4Y]

Something not right on your phones settings there. I have a 6 and haven't had this issue at all. On a 2 week trip I might use it 2-3 times but the rest of the time just use wifi and it doesn't activate the roaming charge.

I also have a iPhone 6 and on a recent trip to the US was definitely only charged on the days I made calls/received or used data.

N860CR, apologies if I'm pointing out the obvious here, but the key here is to make sure 'Data Roaming' is turned off under 'Mobile' in settings:

 

[Mattg]

I've used Vodafone's $5 roaming in several countries and it's been great. One of the main reasons I changed my contract recently to Vodafone.

I just wish they would expand it to more countries! I'm in Chile right now and just discovered it's not available here, which is somewhat disappointing.

 

[medhead]

Interesting about UAE, I was in transit in DXB in May and was charged standard (exorbitant) roaming rates, only place I've been that it hasn't been $5/day.

Worked great in Singapore, Japan, China, Italy & NZ for me. Most city locations I had 4g on a local carrier...

Actually, I was wrong. Just realised that I was stuck trying to do something on wifi, trying to not roam. This was in Abu Dhabi.

Ive recently switched to Vodafone for thos reason. Used it in bangkok, prague, paris and london. In the old days id carry around a separate ipad with a local sim. Much easier.

A few minor issues:

The service in paris was really slow. I assume that this is due to the local network partner but was really bad.

Why isnt Canada included? Heading there and the US next month and its bloody annoying!

In theory you can roam to any network for $5 a day. The concept of a local network partner shouldn't come into it. Having said that I think I switch off a slow network to a local Vodaphone network.

VF are the leader in the Australian market for International usage for your phone. $5 a day and free in NZ. Telstra has travel pass which is great but is a lot more expensive than VF $5 a day rate. I live in a Telstra only coverage area so I have no option.

It's a bit of a balancing act. I'm with Telstra, but signed up for a no contract red plan for my europe trip because even with the monthly fee it was cheaper than telstra travel pass. Since then, for short trips to Korea, New Zealand and South Africa a one week data pass has been the least resistance option and also comparable cost to signing onto a Red plan for a month. The one downside with Telstra is the poor data limit with the travel pass.

I've found that with my iPhone 6, even with data turned off and no incoming/outgoing calls, it basically activates the "day" as soon as you turn your phone on as you get off the plane. Not an issue if you intend to use it anyway, but there have been times when I haven't wanted the $5 charged (i.e. If you arrive/depart on a transfer) and I've been stung it

Data roaming has to be off. Also check you don't have push email turned on or some other automatic network connection thing.

 

[marki]

Telstra is however. The only place that I found where Telstra does not work is Tahiti.
The problem its a premium plan costing 195 per month so not everybody's cup of tea but comes with generous amounts of data for overseas roaming. 1.5 gig YMMV

I've used Vodafone's $5 roaming in several countries and it's been great. One of the main reasons I changed my contract recently to Vodafone.

I just wish they would expand it to more countries! I'm in Chile right now and just discovered it's not available here, which is somewhat disappointing.

 

[hummel]

Telstra is however. The only place that I found where Telstra does not work is Tahiti.
The problem its a premium plan costing 195 per month so not everybody's cup of tea but comes with generous amounts of data for overseas roaming. 1.5 gig YMMV

Maybe I'm in the wrong camp but I find 1.5gb bugger all. I find when I'm in China I can easily do 4-6gb in a week as I prefer to use data than hotel wifi as it's normally blocked etc

 

[marki]

Yea I have to switch it on for only when required "short Bursts" so not to go over the included limit, but at least with this plan the charge for (excess data 3c/MB), probably not the place to play Pokemon lol

Maybe I'm in the wrong camp but I find 1.5gb bugger all. I find when I'm in China I can easily do 4-6gb in a week as I prefer to use data than hotel wifi as it's normally blocked etc

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Maybe I'm in the wrong camp but I find 1.5gb bugger all. I find when I'm in China I can easily do 4-6gb in a week as I prefer to use data than hotel wifi as it's normally blocked etc

You cannot be in a 'wrong camp' hummel just a 'different camp'. I never turn off data roaming in any country and never exceed data allowance - we are all different.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

IMHO the Vodafone $5 per day Intl roaming plans are still best option available for anybody with a business or needs to be continually contactable - BUT - still a trap or 2 can trip you up - these plans not covered in UAE so the Ette and I both copped ~$80 extra fees for a 2.5hr stopover in DXB returning to MEL from EU Jun 25 - win some lose some huh?

 

[Simo]

IMHO the Vodafone $5 per day Intl roaming plans are still best option available for anybody with a business or needs to be continually contactable - BUT - still a trap or 2 can trip you up - these plans not covered in UAE so the Ette and I both copped ~$80 extra fees for a 2.5hr stopover in DXB returning to MEL from EU Jun 25 - win some lose some huh?

I bet you won't do that again!!!!

And you are not the first one to get caught out by it and won't be the last

 

[SeatBackForward]

IMHO the Vodafone $5 per day Intl roaming plans are still best option available for anybody with a business or needs to be continually contactable - BUT - still a trap or 2 can trip you up - these plans not covered in UAE so the Ette and I both copped ~$80 extra fees for a 2.5hr stopover in DXB returning to MEL from EU Jun 25 - win some lose some huh?

Yep have to be careful of that - full list of $5 roaming options here: International Roaming.

The other thing I consider is that the $5 starts from the first activation overseas and is based on 24hr increments from then. So if you're only having a short stopover for a few hours, it might be worthwhile not activating the roaming until you reach your final destination to avoid slipping into an extra days cost.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Tks for the response guys but seriously not worried - I got more than the $80 worth of value out of seeing mates piss themselves with laughter as I tell them - AND - was way cheaper than the $600 I copped in Canada a few years back - it’s all tax deductible and I have a very understanding boss - life is not a box of chocolates or something like that ll

 

[SYD]

Tks for the response guys but seriously not worried - I got more than the $80 worth of value out of seeing mates piss themselves with laughter as I tell them - AND - was way cheaper than the $600 I copped in Canada a few years back - it’s all tax deductible and I have a very understanding boss - life is not a box of chocolates or something like that ll

I’m still on the Optus $50 pm plan with global roaming / international calls from Oz built in but it has similar oddities. I can be in the NL and phone Oz for free but calling the NL from Oz - not covered! Tripped me up doing a phone in interview. They offered to call me but I said I had it covered… The ATO also paid for that mistake.

 

[qaz]

IMHO the Vodafone $5 per day Intl roaming plans are still best option available for anybody with a business or needs to be continually contactable - BUT - still a trap or 2 can trip you up - these plans not covered in UAE so the Ette and I both copped ~$80 extra fees for a 2.5hr stopover in DXB returning to MEL from EU Jun 25 - win some lose some huh?

not sure how much you use/spend with Vodafone, but you now might like to consider changing to Amaysim - they even cover UAE and Canada