Smart Tips for Cheaper Roaming Abroad

Have any of these questions occurred to you when travelling overseas?

• Worried about massive bills after getting back from your overseas travel?
• But you still need access to your phone and data?
• What’s the best way to call the hotel reception, restaurant or local business to confirm that activity you have booked?
• You don’t want to swap the sim in your phone to a local foreign one, as you still might need occasional access to your Australian number while travelling. Do you have to juggle two sim cards?

Using your phone overseas can be costly, but staying connected is essential—whether it’s booking transport, calling your hotel, or dealing with unexpected delays.

There are ways to solve all of this.

The Costly Mistake

Many travelers unknowingly rack up massive bills—often thousands—due to background data, app activity, and high roaming charges, especially with Telstra. Enabling International Roaming and turning on “Data Roaming” means even a single SMS or call can trigger daily fees.

A Smarter Approach

1. Get an international eSIM before you go.
2. Use WhatsApp.
3. And buy some Skype to Phone credit ($10 should do) for those unexpected calls you will need to make.
4. Turn off Data Roaming.

Backup plan:

• Enable International Roaming before you leave – but turn off Data Roaming in your phone settings.
• Only use your Australian SIM card if you desperately need to get a verification SMS. Most companies are realising this limitation and provide other verification steps in their apps.
• If you need to turn on roaming – Avoid answering non-essential calls – even receiving a call can trigger charges.
• Use Skype to Phone to call anyone that doesn’t have Whatsapp, including anyone while you’re abroad or anyone back home.
• Don’t fall into the roaming trap—stay connected without the shock bill!

 

But not everyone has WhatsApp?

This is the reason to buy some Skype to Phone credit. This is not the old Skype to Skype we used to use. This is using Skype as a normal phone for those unexpected calls you will need to make.

In other words, you open the Skype app, click on the dial pad and call any number directly, anywhere in the world.

Can I get my voicemail messages?

First up, before you leave we recommend setting up a voice message to say something like: “I can’t take your call as I’m currently overseas/away. Please call or send me a WhatsApp message instead.”

Try to avoid getting or retrieving all voice messages. To get voicemail you would need to enable roaming which ultimately means enabling a big bill shock when your holiday is over!

What about receiving SMS verifications while overseas?

This is the only thing that should cost you money. Some companies still don’t have very good verification options, however most are changing and allow verification through their apps or email.

If you really need to receive a verification text message and there is no other way, you can periodically enable Data Roaming for your Australian number under your settings, but it will cost you.

Try and only do this when connected to Wi-Fi (e.g. in a hotel or cafe to avoid using Australian mobile data), then wait for the SMS to come through and then turn off Data Roaming once you have received it.

Is WhatsApp the best option?

Yes!! Use WhatsApp…always!!

Everyone has it, it’s easy, it’s free. Why wouldn’t you use it?

You can communicate mostly using WhatsApp and call anyone who doesn’t have WhatsApp using Skype.

We strongly recommend getting WhatsApp if you don’t already have it. Also educate anyone that doesn’t have WhatsApp before you leave.

Skype to Phone

Who said Skype was dead?

It is still excellent for calling directly.

Download the Skype app before you go and top-up with Skype-out credit. This will allow you to call any mobile or landline directly anywhere in the world for a few cents. Call any number in Australia or anywhere else in the world, just like you would make a normal phone call (but from the Skype App rather than your usual dial pad). As an example, calling your elderly parents’ landline in Australia, who don’t use mobiles, while you are overseas would cost between 1c and 4c per minute. In other words, an hour catchup would cost about $1 or $2.

If you cannot call someone with WhatsApp, Skype to Phone allows you to make an old fashioned call directly to a phone (anywhere in the world) for a few cents.

 

Managing Data Usage While Traveling

Staying connected abroad requires data—whether for WhatsApp, Skype, or browsing the internet. While Wi-Fi makes things easy, what happens when you’re not connected?

The Best Solution: eSIMs

For seamless mobile data without crazy roaming charges, Airalo is a great option that many travelers swear by. It works just like your regular mobile data at home.

How to Set It Up:

1. Download the Airalo App on your phone.

2. Purchase an eSIM (local, regional, or global) for the duration of your trip.

3. Before you leave:

   • Redo your voicemail message.

   • Set your phone to use data from the eSIM.

4. Once abroad, disable your Australian SIM entirely, only turning it on for emergencies.

This way, you stay connected without the risk of a massive bill!

 

Want to go old school?

We seriously recommend against it!

Your mobile provider could just enable International Roaming for you and then you enable Data Roaming on your phone, but we’ve seen bills get into the thousands of dollars!

If we are your provider, and you insist on this option, once we’ve enabled International Roaming for you, we would add Excess spend limits to your mobile, ranging from $50 to $1000, to be paid upfront. The benefit of this is to avoid bill shock as the spend limit will cut off once the limit is reached (so you know what you’re in for). But it is still a really bad option. International roaming chews through data so quickly it is really not worth it. The Telstra network still charges per KB and MB for data when overseas and it really is not recommended when there are other great ways to get around it.

Let us know if you want to understand more.

Safe travels :-)