Aussies feeling the sting when travelling overseas with Telstra
Telstra have shaken up their mobile phone plans and have ditched excess data fees and restrictive lock-in contracts.
However, there is bad news for Telstra customers who travel internationally as some customers were disappointed that none of the new plans come with included overseas data roaming.
Many old Telstra plans included allowances for international data roaming, such as 2GB per month. However, on all new plans announced by the company, international data roaming is an add-on.
Telstra customers who travel overseas will have to buy an international $10-day pass, which offers a paltry 200MB of data and unlimited calls and texts in more than 70 selected countries.
The 24-hour expiry available on the pass is based on AEST, and not the time zone of the country it’s being used in.
If you’re worried about exceeding your 200MB per day allowance, Telstra have a solution. You simply pay another $10 for an extra 500MB that has to be used within 31 days.
The company also offers pay-as-you-go roaming for destinations where the international pass isn’t available.
It’s interesting to note that Telstra’s cheaper rival Vodafone offers a roaming add-on that lets customers use the data, calls and texts on their existing plan in 80 countries for $5 a day.
Telstra told news.com.au that the new plans addressed customer “pain points” and eliminated bundles that customers felt they didn’t need.
“Customer expectations are changing, and larger companies have got to be prepared to be bolder in terms of disrupting themselves before somebody else does it to them,” Mr Penn told News Corp.
“We’re taking on that challenge and trying to lead the way in transforming the telecommunications industry and how we serve our customers.”