Aussie Cell Phone-SIM Card Advice

[glutenhab]

We are from Canada & will be cruising Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific Islands & Southeast Asia for 10 weeks starting on Nov 25/11 and I would like to carry a basic cell phone for emergencies.

I do not want to worry about roaming chargers etc. so I am thinking of buying an unlocked phone to carry with me.

Should I buy one before I leave or when I get there?

Are unlocked phones &/or SIM Cards readily available there & if so can I use the same SIM Card for all areas.

 

Any & all advice would be most welcome.

[newgirl2201]

Yes they are readily available. They sell them in the Post Office and phone shops. As fas as SMS depending on where you are travelling i would choose a Telstra SIM. They are anational carrier and they have the best coverage nationwide There are places in Autsralia where you will get no mobile reception. Telstra has some coverage in most towns. Main providers are Vodaphone, Optus and Telstra. Their websites will have coverage maps and you can purchase a prepaid sim and top it up with credit at most gas stations.

Hope that helps

[newgirl2201]

I am not sure about Asia or New Zealand.

[goose30]

See your other post!

[Globaliser]

I am not sure about Asia or New Zealand.

A Telstra pre-paid SIM will roam in New Zealand, at typical international roaming rates.

 

I don't normally spend enough time in NZ to worry about getting a NZ SIM, but on a longer-than-usual trip earlier this year (and with the current exchange rates) I did finally notice that my Telstra SIM was costing me more than my UK SIM so went back to using the UK SIM.

[bobhsv]

See your other post!

 

 

Hi,

That's exactly why I posted that site to read, on the other post. Most good aussie phones will work in NZ with roaming, but when we were in Asia, we had times where it just didn't pick up, something to do with the frequency:confused: This site explains all of this, for dummies like me:eek: It is worth a read, I thought.

Jen

[partymarty4878]

you can ghet a telstra prepaid phone for under $50 (sometimes as low as $29) in most supermarkets. It will be locked to telstra though.

[moet's sister]

Pre paid sims are definitely the way to go, so you can still use your normal phone and just swap them around. Post Offices and supermarkets are the easiest places to purchase these, they usually cost about $2 or so. I can't speak for other companies, but Vodafone have fairly decent service in South East Asia and in Sydney. Again, depending on where you go, you may not have any reception in some parts of Australia and if you do a south pacific cruise there is a great chance that except for NZ and New Caledonia, you will not have reception. Good luck.

[Globaliser]

Pre paid sims are definitely the way to go' date=' so you can still use your normal phone and just swap them around.[/quote']Provided, of course, your phone is compatible with the local network. Some North American phones may not be compatible with the usual mobile phone systems in the rest of the world.

[circuitrider]

We are from Canada & will be cruising Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific Islands & Southeast Asia for 10 weeks starting on Nov 25/11 and I would like to carry a basic cell phone for emergencies.

I do not want to worry about roaming chargers etc. so I am thinking of buying an unlocked phone to carry with me.

Should I buy one before I leave or when I get there?

Are unlocked phones &/or SIM Cards readily available there & if so can I use the same SIM Card for all areas.

 

Any & all advice would be most welcome.

 

Might look at Optus for Australia. They currently have a $2 days plan, you pay $2 per day you use your phone, and it's completely unlimited. Calls, texts, AND internet. Assuming you have a smartphone, you could probably tether with your laptop. Would sure beat paying high internet prices on the ship, or trying to find a free wifi hotspot somewhere. Signing up was as easy as walking into a store, giving proof of ID, an address (not sure how they'd handle using a ship as an address), and I was out within 15 minutes (included time it took to activate the plan).

 

Make sure your phone is unlocked, and will work on all the bands needed (if you have a tri-band phone it MAY work...a quad-band phone would almost definitely work). And make sure it's unlocked.

 

If you can get a Google Voice number setup, then you can call back to Canada for free as long as you have a fast internet connection. I use a program called GrooveIP. I also use a SpeedTest app to check the internet speed, long as I get 200kb/s or higher (both down and up), should be good to go. Note...I've made numerous calls over the mobile internet using the Optus prepaid plan I mentioned above...sometimes it was a bit choppy, most of the time it was at least 75% as good as a regular call.

 

No experience with New Zealand, but it appears Optus doesn't have prepaid coverage there. Looks like Vodafone does, so I guess I'd check them out.

[bobhsv]

Might look at Optus for Australia. They currently have a $2 days plan, you pay $2 per day you use your phone, and it's completely unlimited. Calls, texts, AND internet. Assuming you have a smartphone, you could probably tether with your laptop. Would sure beat paying high internet prices on the ship, or trying to find a free wifi hotspot somewhere. Signing up was as easy as walking into a store, giving proof of ID, an address (not sure how they'd handle using a ship as an address), and I was out within 15 minutes (included time it took to activate the plan).

 

Make sure your phone is unlocked, and will work on all the bands needed (if you have a tri-band phone it MAY work...a quad-band phone would almost definitely work). And make sure it's unlocked.

 

If you can get a Google Voice number setup, then you can call back to Canada for free as long as you have a fast internet connection. I use a program called GrooveIP. I also use a SpeedTest app to check the internet speed, long as I get 200kb/s or higher (both down and up), should be good to go. Note...I've made numerous calls over the mobile internet using the Optus prepaid plan I mentioned above...sometimes it was a bit choppy, most of the time it was at least 75% as good as a regular call.

 

No experience with New Zealand, but it appears Optus doesn't have prepaid coverage there. Looks like Vodafone does, so I guess I'd check them out.

 

 

I use my Optus prepaid mobile when we go to NZ, no problems at all. Have done this several times over the last 6 years.