As readers of my travel adventures over at Shredquest.com know, and as most Australians know, the Australian mobile market, as with most things telecommunications (and the “market” in general), is highly uncompetitive, particularly in the data space.
No one in the market provides either a prepaid or postpaid data cap for overseas data roaming. Telstra used to offer one through their Browse Plus prepaid product, but this does not (perhaps wisely) include overseas roaming anymore.
Vodafone has from what I can tell the best overseas data roaming – AUD$200 gets you 120MB – this is only for a wireless broadband data product though and doesn’t apply to phone data, like data used on an iPhone [update 9 Aug 09] this product applies to the iPhone and other mobile plans (with some plan limitations). You also need to be a Vodafone customer (post-paid), which is a bit of a bummer, but, all things considered, it’s a great addition.
Optus? No product.
Telstra? No product.
Virgin? Also no.
Three? Nope as well.
I hunted around specialist providers like Vroam, who aren’t in this space yet.
So basically? Here in Australia, you’re screwed. Your best bet is via a Vodafone data cap, or, don’t data roam overseas.
Maybe you were expecting more, ja? Sorry about that, if there’s nothing provided by the market, that’s all I can tell you about.
I’ve emailed Virgin about this and it’s on their radar, whatever that means.
So what does all this mean? You need to walk your legs into Virgin (which is owned by Optus), Optus, Telstra and Three (joint venture now with Vfone, so something may happen but product alignment takes a lonnnng time) and ask them what’s up.
And if any Telco Product Managers or Product Engineers are reading, get your bums into gear and get more post-paid and pre-paid overseas data roaming caps and bundles onto the market, because we need them, now (why are you letting Voda get such a march on the market anyway?!).
Mailing List
If you haven't, please sign up to the TDF Tips mailing list for all the great tips and tricks delivered straight to your inbox (once a week usually).
Did I Answer Your Question? Tell Me What Information You Need!
If you have a question, please ask me here!
