Boost says Phuket to travel bans with new international roaming offer

Boost Mobile is launching international roaming, just in time to bag those cheap pandemic flights.

Soon customers will be able to grab a Boost Anytime Plus International Roaming recharge to use in 15 selected countries. The recharge gives customers 5GB of data, 100 SMS messages, and 30 minutes of calls to standard numbers for just $60.

Travellers heading off to China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, UK, and the USA will be able to access the deal from March 31.

The Telstra MVNO will continue to utilise Telstra's international carrier partners within these destinations, offering the wide coverage overseas that customers are used to at home.

Fifteen countries might not seem like much, but the chosen destinations account for approximately 60% of all Australian tourism, and according to Boost founder Peter Adderton, this is just the beginning.

“We have a vision that ultimately nobody pays roaming rates to be able to travel globally, that the price is the price whether you’re in Australia or traveling Europe. That’s how it should be. We’re pushing this every single day with our partners and the industry,” said Adderton.

The idea of standardised global rates is both lofty, and intriguing, but putting that pipe-dream aside, the Boost offering is pretty decent compared to other international roaming deals.

With the 14-day expiry period, the cost comes to around $4.20 per day while you’re abroad. To get near the same value on a prepaid Optus SIM, you would need to bundle two $10 international recharges, and add on a $20 data roaming deal, on top of any usual plan costs. That comes to a minimum of $60, putting Optus on par with Boost, although that is assuming that you don’t go over any limits or incur any pay-as-you-go usage charges.

Likewise, similar Vodafone prepaid roaming options would set you back around $70, and Telstra's prepaid roaming deals are steeper still charging $85 for 300MB of data.

Even plan options are difficult to compare, on Telstra and Optus plans you’d be looking at $10 a day for your 14 day trip, and $5 per day with Vodafone. 

Unless you have a roaming allowance included in your plan, purchasing a local SIM upon your arrival tends to be more competitive than most international roaming options, but Boost’s addition looks like a solid choice for travellers.

Anula Wiwatowska

Offsite Editorial Lead | Instagram

Anula is the Off-Site Editorial Lead for WhistleOut Australia, and an award winning tech journalist. She has been writing about the Australian telco industry, and consumer technology for over five years, and has been known to tell her Uber driver which phone they should upgrade to next.

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