Roaming Mobile Data Packs

With everything on the internet now, it feels a little insecure to be living without the web. For us, we’re not social media addicts but it seems a good idea to have the internet at hand in case of any train timetable changes, delays etc.

Here’s a comparison of roaming data packs we found in our research:

Carrier	Product Name	Price (AUD $)	Allowance	Countries included*	Validity	Speed
Optus	Prepaid Travel Pack	$45	90MB	Wide range of countries in Oceania & the Pacific, Europe, North America and Asia.	30 days	4G where available
		$85	170MB
Vodafone	$5 Roaming	$5	Your domestic plan inclusions	Over 50 countries	Per day (only available on eligible plans)	4G where available
Telstra	Prepaid Travel Pack	$29	100MB	Wide range of countries globally	30 days (for prepaid customers)	Does not specify
		$85	300MB
		$160	600MB
	Travel Pass Zone 3 incl. voice & SMS (Zone 1 or 2 available - pls refer to their site)**	$45	225MB	Wide range of countries globally	3 days
		$105	525MB		7 days
		$210	1.03GB		14 days
		$450	2.20GB		30 days
Globalgig	Go Global Plans	$30	250MB	Over 80 countries	1 month (minimum 3 month contract)	4G where available
		$50	1GB
		$100	3GB
		$170	5GB
Go-Sim	Global Data	$68	200MB	Over 55 countries	30 days	3G
		$138	1GB
Cover More	Data Pack Zone 3 (Zone 1 or 2 available - pls refer to their site)***	$33	100MB	Over 70 countries	Does not specify (looks like monthly)	Does not specify
		$78	250MB
		$150	500MB
		$290	1GB

We have opted for the Globalgig 1GB plan, which will cost $150 altogether ($50 * min. 3 months). We will provide a review of how it goes later on (fingers crossed!).

*For a full list of countries, please refer to the source sites below

Source:

Optus: http://www.optus.com.au/shop/broadband/optusprepaiddataroaming

Vodafone: http://www.vodafone.com.au/personal/international-roaming

Telstra: https://www.telstra.com.au/international-roaming/pre-paid-mobile

**https://www.telstra.com.au/international-roaming/mobiles-on-a-plan

Globalgig: https://www.globalgig.com/au/en/plans#section3

Go-Sim: http://www.gosim.com/data-sim-card.html

***CoverMore: https://covermoreglobalsim.com/en/Shop/ProductsList?cat=DataPack

Information correct as of 7 December 2015. Please note we are not affiliated with any of the above companies. It is up to you to choose the plan you believe best suits you. Please let us know what other roaming sims you have tried or reviewed.

Review

Now that we have finished our holiday in the following countries, United Kingdom, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, France, Germany, and Belgium.

Here's a brief rundown as to how the roaming sim performed from Globalgig.

In summary, the sim card didn't work in most of the countries and performed best only in London and Paris where Wi-Fi was also readily available so it kind of defeated the purpose of it. We would get signals here and there in other places such as Budapest but none of which were reliable when we were desperate to find a bus timetable.

Hence, after travelling for the last two months, we have noticed Wi-Fi is available at all McDonalds and most restaurants/cafes so a roaming sim card is probably not at all necessary as long as you are prepared knowing which train/bus/tram you're catching.