What would you recommend as the best plan or prepaid option when moving to Europe for an extended period? Not so much to take and receive calls but more for 2FA authentication (receiving sms). In other words, not that interested in the cheapest call rates, more about easy/non-expiring plans where you only get charged when you actually start sending sms or make/receive phone calls (wifi calling would be a bonus). Amaysim’s pay as you go, zero dollar plan looks like a good option on paper? Do they still offer this as postpaid (ie never having to worry about recharging to keep your sim alive)?
Best Prepaid or $0 Plan for Extended Time Overseas
bozbargain on 22/01/2022 - 11:34
Comments
Surely connecting to wifi with an Apple phone to send and receive imessage and facetime or otherwise Whatsapp, Viber, Facebook messenger etc,
Then you also have email as well
No need for any phone plan these days with widespread Wifi and these wonderful messaging platformsJust tell everyone how to contact you
AU phone numbers dont connect OS without very expensive roaming option
It's more for 2FA and for bank transfers etc.
I am with Telstra and am currently overseas. After I arrived here and my flight mode remained on, I connected to WiFi and to my surprise I received a text from my family. This was despite me not enabling Telstra's international day pass. If you are with a carrier that supports WiFi calling (which Telstra does), you can make and receive calls to and from Australia and also receive text messages over WiFi. My understanding is this is at no additional cost. If you are with Telstra read this.
Is yours Pre-paid or Post-paid Telstra?
Post-paid
Currently with Telstra postpaid but not planning on staying with them when going overseas as I don’t want to continue to have fixed monthly fees. I would consider Telstra prepaid if they also support international wifi calling but I can’t find a clear answer on this (other than that it didn’t work back in 2017 but may work now).
@bozbargain: According to Telstra's FAQs on Wi-Fi calling
Can I get Wi-Fi SMS on Telstra Pre-Paid?
Yes, if you have a device compatible with Wi-Fi SMS. It’s currently supported on Telstra Pre-Paid and Boost. However, it’s not currently available on Belong.
But if it is critical you can get SMS overseas, best to have a backup.
@bluesky: Thanks, that doesn’t specify overseas usage though. What do you mean with a backup? I think most prepaid plans (smaller MVNOs and Belong excluded) allow you to activate roaming and receive SMS anyway, right?
Thanks, that doesn’t specify overseas usage though.
Yes, you have a point. Would not rely on it, unless you can get firm confirmation it works.
What do you mean with a backup?
Telstra Prepaid removed global roaming late 2020 - and quite a few people overseas were caught out at that time. I think that includes not just sending, but receiving SMSes as well.
It was supposed to be brought back sometime in 2021, but that has not happened yet when I asked a Telstra personnel the other day. Still hopeful that Telstra will bring this back sometime, since I saved up lots of credits for this purpose before that.
I think Aldi prepaid does have global roaming, you just need to turn it on. As for others, I am not too sure.
@bozbargain: WiFi calling did not work for me either on Telstra a few years ago. Might be a recent thing. Did you see this?
@hashtagbargain: Good to know this. If it works for boost prepaid, it will almost certainly work for Telstra prepaid.
Optus Flex - 1$ every 6 months.
I can’t find this advertised, only the $1/day flex plan?
Correct - pay for one day - then cancel.
Number is reachable for 186 days (6 months).
Recharge again 6 months later and cancel it.Been using it in the UAE / France and Spain to receive SMS.
Thanks, this is a great idea. Can you easily recharge while overseas?
Based on this, I could stay with Telstra and when I leave the country, ask them to turn my ETC (~$200) into prepaid credit. It looks rather expensive though to keep prepaid credit ‘live’ after 12 months by having to do regular top ups. The Optus Flex idea could be easier but then I’ll lose out on the $200.
You mentioned Amaysim. That is a good backup option. I have a prepaid number on Amaysim Pay-As-You-Go, did not intend to keep it, and let it expire; a few months after that, I changed my mind, precisely due to the Telstra debacle. Went on to Amaysim's online chat, personnel helped me recharge $10 for another 365 days. If the auto-renew setting was on, it will probably renew by itself. But I had turned that off from the beginning.
I'm in a similar situation. Was on Telstra prepaid but got caught out when they disabled international roaming and was forced to convert to post-paid. When I went back to Aus last year I immediately switched to Vodafone prepaid and now I pay $10 every 60 days (there are cheaper options if you want a longer credit period e.g. you know you won't be going back to Aus in the next 2 months).
Thanks for sharing. What option would you go for it you were to go overseas now for at least 2 years, perhaps longer?
Vodafone offers a 365-day credit for $40, which is their cheapest long-term option.
Another consideration was (perceived) reliability/stability — I didn't want to go with a MVNO like Aldi so only considered the 3 main operators (Telstra, Optus and Vodofone).
… was forced to convert to post-paid
Hope they showed goodwill and did not make you pay more than you otherwise would. They sprung this on people rather suddenly.
Yeah I was super pissed off. They did offer a $20 (or $30?) monthly credit for 6 months, but the cheapest post-paid option was like $55/month, so still more expensive than the previous pre-paid option. I couldn't switch away from them fast enough when I got back to Aus.
Your 2FA authentication should accept inputting manual codes from the app, you don't need to rely on push notifications which need connection to an active network. This may vary with what you are logging into so confirm before you leave
In my experience, despite using push notification where possible, I still need to revert to sms for certain providers like government, PayPal and certain banks.
Lived in SE Asia 5 years using the Amaysim prepaid PAYG prepaid system. Wanted to keep my Australian service active and would receive Sms soley for internet banking. Never had any issues with the service and found it to be the cheapest price.
Saw your comment, after I commented on Amaysim above. Did you have the auto-renew on by any chance, and if so, did they only take $10 (I assume you were also on Pay-As-You-Go)? I feel a bit insecure that they may charge more than $10 when it is due :-). Hence, I have the auto-renew off, and have to handle that manually.
I never had the auto recharge. Would log in on app and see when my credits would expire then add the minimum as per the PAYG prepaid system manually via a creditcard. If recharging before the expiry the credits would accumulate. Had the same number which was originally Optus from 2002 and this was the cheapest option to keep that number.
How frequently did you have to recharge if order to keep the service live? Once every 6 months or annually?
I am living in Thailand, and use a dual SIM phone.
One of the SIMs is my local provider, and the other one is for my Aldi SIM.
The Aldi is purely for Oz bank and other 2FA SMSs, and works perfectly. After purchasing the initial $5 SIM, which lasts for 12 months, I need to make a $15 top up to PAYG each 12 months. When I am back in Oz (not so much these days) I use the credit in my PAYG account to purchase a $15 mobile plan, which lasts 30 days, and includes as much data (3GB) as I need, plus calls and texts.
I don't have data turned on for the Aldi SIM in Thailand. I have been using this setup now for several years.
Sounds like a good setup! Perhaps not as cheap as the $1 per 6 month Optus Flex (and no Wifi calling/sms I suppose), but at least you get to reuse your topups when you’re actually back in the country.
I am planning to do this, but in Japan long term(and not coming back yearly). Just deciding between Aldi's or Amaysim.
What’s your thought process so far, weighing up both options?
I might go with amaysim for ease of use since it's easy to reload online.
Wow cool, how long have you been living there? Thailand seems such an interesting place.
Would also like to try living there some time in the future.
I have an Optus post paid plan called Optus One, it is supposed to be $119 per month but is discounted quite often. The Plan name is $119 Optus One, it is month to month, monthly data 500 GB, the 500 GB data in Australia can be shared with other data only sims on the same account. Calls & texts in Australia unlimited, roaming overseas every day the is included in the price with a 10 GB per month roaming data limit. Unlimited calls and SMS to Zone 1 areas are included (you would need to look it up on the Opus website but zone 1 covers many, many countries) . With a special offer received I am only paying around $60 a month for this plan and can cancel at any time. I had a quick look and cant see it on the Optus website and looks like there might have been a plan name change in June but maybe you could email them - [email protected] - and see if there are any similar plans. I really like this package as you don't need to buy roaming packs etc and it works well. I just copied plan details - see below
Minimum monthly charge
Minimum term one month $119/mth
Monthly data to share
for use in Australia 500GB
Standard national talk & text Unlimited
Standard international talk & text
to 35 Selected Destinations from Australia Unlimited
Standard roaming calls and SMS for use while overseas
in Zone 1 destinations (subject to change) Unlimited
Roaming data for use while overseas
in Zone 1 destinations (subject to change) 10GB
Cancellation fees
There are no plan cancellation fees. If applicable, you’ll need to
pay out any remaining device payments in full and all charges
incurred up to the end of the bill cycle in which the service was
cancelled.
EligibilitySounds like a good plan if you’re based in Aus and frequently go overseas. I’m looking for a simple service where, at minimal costs, I can keep my number live and receive sms once a month max (not interested in included data as I’ll have plenty of that on my primary sim).
Your goods are on the way!
no tracking number
How about Aldi's?