Australian roaming vs a travel eSIM: what Telstra, Optus and Vodafone charge

RoamMore wrote this page, and we sell travel eSIMs, so read it knowing that. To keep it fair, everything we say about Telstra, Optus and Vodafone comes from their own websites, read on 16 October 2026, and every carrier name links to the page the prices came from. Carrier prices are in Australian dollars and ours in US dollars, and we say where roaming is the better buy.

The short version: roaming from Australia is cheaper than it was a few years ago. Each of the three carriers now sells a day of roaming for A$5 to A$10, and for a weekend that is hard to beat. The cost adds up by the day, though, and a travel eSIM is priced for the trip, so for a week or more the eSIM usually wins on data, and by more the longer you are away.

What each carrier charges to roam

Read on 16 October 2026. Each carrier's name links to the page the prices came from.

A few details change the sums:

• Telstra's zones. Zone 1 is New Zealand, Fiji, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu. Zone 2 is more than 80 destinations, among them the USA, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, China, the UK and most of Europe. Zone 3, where the Day Pass carries no data, is Jamaica, Gibraltar, Guernsey and Jersey. A Day Pass starts the moment your service is used in an eligible destination, ends at 11:59pm Australian Eastern Standard Time on most plans and 24 hours after first use on an Upfront plan, and unused data expires with the day.
• Telstra Pre-Paid packs start when you buy them, so Telstra itself says to wait until you land. They work in 38 destinations, which include New Zealand, the USA, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Fiji, the UK and France, and allowances do not roll over.
• Optus Daily Roaming switches itself on the first time you use talk, text or data overseas, and airplane mode switches it off. Optus charges another A$5 for 5GB each time you use the 5GB up or every 24 hours, whichever comes first. In a Zone 2 destination Optus says you cannot roam on your service at all.
• Optus Prepaid add-ons are bought through the My Optus app once you are in a Zone 1 destination, and the app needs wifi or data to do it.
• Vodafone's $5 Roaming charges only on days you use data, make or receive a call or send a text, in 24 hour blocks from the first use, and it stops at 90 days in a calendar year. Data capped at a lower speed on your plan does not count, and once the plan's data is used Vodafone adds 1GB for A$5. Its list of more than 100 destinations includes New Zealand, the USA, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Fiji, the UK and France.
• Vodafone's Prepaid Add-ons start their expiry at midnight Australian Eastern Standard Time on the day you buy them, wherever you are, and work in more than 80 destinations, the eight above among them.

What happens if you do nothing

Roaming without a pass or a pack can cost far more than any of the above:

• Telstra charges A$3 per MB of data at its pay as you go rate, so a 100MB morning is A$300.
• Optus charges A$1 per MB in Zone 1 and 2 at its standard roaming rates on the postpaid plans that have them.
• Vodafone charges prepaid international roaming rates outside its add-on destinations, listed on its rates page.
• On a plan with any of the three, the daily charge starts on its own the first time your phone uses data, makes or takes a call or sends a text, which an app refreshing in the background can do before you have left the plane.

A 7 or 14 day trip with your carrier

New Zealand and Fiji are in Telstra's cheaper zone; the USA, Japan, Bali, Thailand, the UK and France are in Zone 2. Vodafone names all eight on its list and charges the same in each; Optus charges the same in every Zone 1 destination, and its list of more than 150 sits behind a picker on its page, so check yours there. Daily options are counted once per day of the trip, and packs as the fewest that cover it. The plan's own monthly fee is not included.

Daily options run in 24 hour blocks or Australian calendar days, so a trip can touch one more day than you spend away. Telstra's Day Pass days end at 11:59pm Sydney time on most plans, which lands in the middle of the afternoon in Europe and the early morning in the USA.

The same trips with a RoamMore eSIM

Our prices are in US dollars and come straight from our live catalogue (updated 13 Oct 2026), so they change when the catalogue does. The site does not convert currency, and we do not either: carrier prices here are in Australian dollars and ours in US dollars, so compare them at the day's exchange rate.

One shortcut needs no exchange rate. A US dollar costs more than an Australian dollar, so if our figure in US dollars is higher than a carrier's figure in Australian dollars, the carrier is cheaper. If ours is lower, convert it before you decide.

Fixed data plans, which start counting days when the eSIM first connects in your destination:

Endless, our unlimited eSIM, at 1GB a day at full speed and then a cruising speed shown on its page, priced for the whole trip:

Which carrier option is the nearest match for each column:

Which to choose

• A weekend or a few days. Roaming wins. A$5 a day on Optus Daily Roaming or Vodafone, or Telstra's A$5 Day Pass in New Zealand, costs less than any eSIM for two or three days, and nothing to install.
• A week in New Zealand or Fiji. Close. Telstra's Zone 1 pass, Optus and Vodafone come to A$35 for the week; put our New Zealand or Fiji week beside it at the day's rate and the cheaper one is usually ours at 1GB a day, by a little, and roaming at 2GB or 5GB a day if you will use that much.
• A week or more in the USA, Japan, Bali, Thailand, the UK or France. A travel eSIM usually wins, and on Telstra by a wide margin: A$70 a week for the Day Pass against our fixed plans and Endless trips above. Optus Daily Roaming at A$35 a week with 5GB a day is the roaming option to beat, so compare it with our Endless row for the same length.
• Two weeks or more anywhere. The eSIM, unless your plan is Optus Choice Plus and you want 5GB a day, every day, for A$70 a fortnight.
• Calls and texts on your own number. Keep the Australian SIM for those and use the eSIM for data; our guide to keeping your home number shows the settings. If you want the carrier's calls as well, a Day Pass day or an Optus or Vodafone day covers both.
• Heavy use. Optus Daily Roaming's 5GB a day is more than our Endless 1GB a day; our bigger Endless sizes are on the Endless page, priced for the trip.

How did we check these prices?

We read every carrier price on 16 October 2026 on the carrier's own page, in Australian dollars, and read each page a second time to confirm it. We did not sign up to any plan. Prices change, so each one links to the page it came from, and we check them again each month. For New Zealand's carriers, see NZ roaming vs a travel eSIM. For what a travel eSIM costs by trip, see travel eSIM cost and data.

Prices for popular trips

• New Zealandfrom US$3.90
• Indonesiafrom US$3.60
• Japanfrom US$3.60
• United Statesfrom US$3.80
• Thailandfrom US$3.60
• Fijifrom US$5.70
• United Kingdomfrom US$3.30
• Francefrom US$3.60

Cheapest plan with 1GB or more, in US dollars from our catalogue, updated 13 Oct 2026.