What is roaming?
Roaming is the word used to describe using your mobile phone on another network for a short period, while still being billed by your existing provider. Your mobile phone number remains the same while roaming. When you are roaming on another network the temporary mobile phone company will bill your usual mobile phone company for calls you make while roaming on their network.
Where can I roam?
Two things to check before deciding to use your phone overseas are:
- that the technology you currently use (for example, GSM) is supported in your destination country; and
- that your Australian-based mobile phone company has an agreement with a mobile phone company in the country you wish to use your phone. Australian mobile phone companies are continually negotiating roaming agreements with other mobile phone companies around the world.
Do I have to do anything before I depart?
You will need to talk to your mobile phone company before you depart to confirm that they have a roaming agreement with a mobile phone company in your destination country and if this is the case, activate roaming on your mobile service. You will also need to check whether there are any costs for using the roaming service and whether you need any special information regarding your mobile phone and what to do on arrival at your destination.
How much will it cost?
Receiving calls while overseas
When you arrive in your destination country, having confirmed that your mobile phone company has a roaming agreement in place with a local mobile phone company, turn your phone on and wait while it scans available coverage and logs onto the network.
You will be charged at the international mobile call rate of your Australian mobile phone company for the international leg of the call and at the mobile call rate of the local mobile phone company for the leg carried on that network. This differs from receiving calls while not roaming, where the caller pays for the calls.
It is also important to remember to turn off any diversions you have to services provided by your Australian-based mobile phone company, for example, voice messaging or paging services. If your calls normally divert to an answering service they will continue to do so while you are overseas. This means that calls to your mobile phone that you miss will have the initial international leg of the call charged to you, as well as the diverted leg back to Australia to your message service. This can become very expensive.
Making calls while overseas
When you make local calls while overseas (within the country you are in) you may still need to enter the international dialling prefix before the number you wish to call. Check with your local provider.
International calls you make while roaming internationally will be charged at the rates of your host mobile phone company. These charges will then be converted to Australian dollars and billed to you.
Minimising the cost of roaming
It is important to discuss ways to manage the costs of roaming with your mobile phone company before departing.
There are several ways you can minimise your spending on calls while away. For example, you can use short message service (SMS) or set an unconditional diversion to your message service before departing, which means that calls from Australia go straight to messaging rather than to your mobile phone. This unconditional diversion means that you will not receive any calls even if your phone is turned on in a coverage area. The advantage is that you won't pay international call charges when calls you can't take divert to your Australian based messaging service. You can then check your message service periodically and return important calls.
How else can I keep in touch if I don’t use international roaming?
There are a number of ways of staying in touch other than using international roaming. You might prefer to use a pre-paid or post-paid international calling card, which allows you to make calls to local or overseas numbers from a mobile or fixed line phone. Short message services (SMS) are often much cheaper than voice calls. Alternatively, hotel telephones or the local telephone networks of the country you are calling from may be more suitable. If you have access to the internet, you may find email is a more convenient option.
Calling someone who is roaming overseas
If you call a friend who is roaming on an overseas network the international leg of the call is charged to them.
Can I roam within Australia?
Networks within Australia have limited roaming agreements with other carriers and mobile phone companies. As part of the Rural Highways Project Vodafone was selected to extend GSM coverage to highways across Australia. Users of other networks that have made agreements with Vodafone will be able to roam onto the Vodafone network along highways where Vodafone is the only network with coverage.
Further information
The ACMA has fact sheets on a range of topics.
Please note: this document is intended as a guide only and should not be relied on as legal advice or regarded as a substitute for legal advice in individual cases.