Optus international roaming. The rates, fees & how it works

One thing that certainly comes in handy when travelling overseas is being able to use your phone, especially when you first touch down in a new destination. Whether it's to find your accommodation, book a taxi or find things to do while you’re out and about, having access to data roaming can be a great help.

If you are an Optus customer, you might be wondering if you can use your phone overseas. This article will answer this question, while taking you through the ins and outs of Optus International Roaming.

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Optus International roaming. What is it and how does it work

Optus International roaming is a service provided by Optus for certain plan holders to be able to use their sim and mobile device outside of Australia. Optus offers different options for those looking to keep their sim on when overseas.¹

We’ll take you through these options now.

International roaming packages are available with Optus

There are four ways to access Optus roaming overseas including Optus Daily Roaming, Optus Roaming Pass and Standard Roaming. We’ll go through each option in more detail below.

Optus Daily Roaming¹

This is the most popular way to roam using your Australian sim with Optus. However, it is only available for customers that are on an eligible plan. These plans include:

• Optus Choice Plus
• Optus Plus Family
• Optus Plus Promo
• Business Choice Plus

Optus customers can find out if they are on one of these eligible plans by going into their settings on the My Optus app. If you are on this plan, you can use your mobile in 100 eligible Zone 1 destinations worldwide and get 5 GB of data per day, with unlimited calls and texts.

Optus Roaming Pass¹

For Optus customers on select postpaid plans, they can purchase a roaming pass that lasts 24 hours in the same Zone 1 countries as the daily roaming. With this option, they’ll get 1 GB of data to use per 24 hour period, and unlimited national call and text.

Prepaid Roaming packs²

For those who prefer prepaid sims, Optus offers four add-on features that customers can purchase to be able to use their prepaid sim overseas. These packs vary from data only, calls, messages and data packs and calls and messages only.

Standard Roaming¹

If by chance an Optus customer does not have an eligible plan for the other available options or does not opt in for a roaming pass on a postpaid plan, then using their phone abroad will subject them to standard roaming rates. This means paying per minute for calls, and higher rates to access data depending on where they are travelling.

Do you get internet data & coverage Internationally with Optus roaming

In most of the roaming options, internet data and coverage comes as part of the package with varying GB limits, however there are roaming packs that only include calls and messages.

What is the cost to use Optus service abroad

When it comes to costs, how much you’ll pay will depend on how much you want to use your phone abroad. We’ll separate the costs into two different tables to correspond with the subscription type plans and prepaid packs.

Optus international roaming fees with upfront/prepaid packages

Here are the different prepaid roaming add-on options.²

Prepaid pack	Talk, Text, Data pack 1	Talk, Text, Data pack 2	Travel Credit	Data only
Price	$5	$35	$10	$20
Validity	1 day	7 days	14 days	14 days
Included	1 GB data 100 texts 100 minutes of calls Zone 1 countries only	7 GB data 700 texts 700 minutes of calls Zone 1 countries only	Credit can be used towards calls, texts or data	10 GB of data Only eligible as an add on in 10 countries

As seen on 31 May 2023

Optus international roaming fees with subscription/contract packages

Below you’ll see the pricing for the three plan based roaming options.¹

Plan	Optus Daily Roaming	Optus Roaming Pass	Standard Rates
Price	$5 per day	$10	Pay per minute calls (rate depends on country) $1 per 1 MB of data or $2 per MB in maritime or aerospace
Destinations	100	100
Data allowance	5 GB per day	1 GB per 24 hours
Calls and Texts	Unlimited standard calls and texts	Unlimited Standard calls and texts per 24 hours

As seen on 31 May 2023

How do you activate roaming with Optus

For those on an eligible plan, Optus Daily Roaming is activated automatically as soon your device detects that you are overseas. Similarly, if your plan is eligible for Optus Roaming Pass and you have international roaming turned on in your My Optus settings, your daily roaming charge will be activated automatically once you make or receive a call, use data or send a text. If you do not want to utilise Optus roaming on your plan, you can turn it off in the My Optus settings.¹

Destinations eligible for international roaming with Optus

There are 100 eligible destinations that you can use if you have an eligible plan to roam overseas. We have broken them down into their respective regions in the table below.¹

Europe & UK	The Americas	Asia	Middle East, Central Asia & Africa	South Pacific
Albania Austria Belarus Belgium Bosnia & Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Faroe Islands Finland France Germany Greece Greenland Guernsey Hungary Iceland Ireland Isle of Man Italy Jersey Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russian Federation San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Ukraine UK Vatican City	Argentina Brazil Canada Chile Colombia Ecuador Guam Mexico Northern Marianas Panama Puerto Rico USA US Virgin Islands	Bangladesh Cambodia China Hong Kong India Indonesia Japan Republic of Korea Macau Malaysia Myanmar Pakistan Philippines Singapore Sri Lanka Taiwan Thailand Timor	Armenia Azerbaijan Georgia Israel Kazakhstan Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Palestine Qatar South Africa Tajikistan Turkey UAE	Fiji French Polynesia Nauru New Zealand Papua New Guinea Samoa (Western) Solomon Islands Tonga Vanuatu Vietnam

As seen on 31 May 2023

How to track roaming usage with Optus

The easiest way to track your usage is through the My Optus app. Your roaming usage will be shown on your homescreen dashboard. Optus will also send you usage alerts when you begin to get close to your roaming limits.¹

What to keep in mind before you travel.

Optus international roaming is not just restricted to mobile devices but can be used on tablets as well. Any unused data when using the Optus Daily Roaming plan will not carry over to the next day.¹

Contacting Optus

If you need to contact Optus for any reason, you can find how to here. Otherwise, you can easily get in touch directly by:

• Calling 133 937 from within Australia
• Calling +61 2 8082 5678 from overseas

For customers, you can easily send a message through your My Optus app too.

FAQs about international roaming with Optus

Here are some quick FAQs about some common things you might also see when it comes to roaming plans.

What is VoLTE International Roaming

VoLTE or Voice over LTE is a way to make calls using new enhanced networks. This way of calling uses an IP network which differs from the traditional way of making overseas calls that uses a circuit switched network. Customers will know if they can access VoLTE calls if they see a 4G on an Iphone screen or VoLTE and 4G for android devices. Not all makes and models will be able to access VoLTE so check with your device provider to see if it has this capability before travelling.³

Making emergency calls while abroad

Having a VoLTE enabled device means you’ll be able to make standard and emergency calls when travelling. If you do not have a VoLTE capability device, you still might be able to make calls, but may attract higher call rates or not be able to access any network at all.

What communication services can you use while abroad with this Optus

Customers with either an eligible subscription plan or prepaid sim pack can access data, calls and messages while abroad if they choose to and pay the corresponding service fee.

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Sources:

1. Optus international roaming
2. Optus Prepaid packs
3. Optus VoLTE

Sources checked on: 31 May 2023