Best prepaid data SIM plan for Australia/NZ visit

June 25, 2015 1:16 AM

What are my SIM options for a two week visit to Australia (Sydney) followed by a 1 week visit to NZ (Wellington then drive down west coast of south island to Queenstown)?

I am primarily interested in data - i won't need voice minutes for anything than emergency situations, in all likelihood, but data will be useful for maps, emails, whatsapp, etc. It needs to be a nano-card (iPhone 5S).

(nb I am not that a single card will do the job I need for both Aus and NZ. Picking up 1 card in each is totally fine).

posted by modernnomad to Travel & Transportation (6 answers total)

I can only offer this tip about Australia: city coverage is pretty standard with Telstra, Optus or Vodafone so you can shop on price if you're truly sticking around Sydney. Once you get out in the hinterlands a bit - and I don't mean suburbs, I mean truly outside the metro areas into the bush - Telstra is really the only option. They're likely to be more expensive, but from a coverage perspective they stand head-and-shoulders above the competition.
posted by GamblingBlues at 3:26 AM on June 25, 2015

Response by poster: The two weeks in Sydney are work-related, so will definitely be there the entire time.
posted by modernnomad at 3:30 AM on June 25, 2015

I don't think that data only plans are very common in Australia, so I don't know if you'll be able to find anything without minutes. You're probably looking at around $30 for ~1GB of data, and more minutes than you will ever need. The main options are Virgin, Telstra, Optus and Vodaphone.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 4:20 AM on June 25, 2015

Data point: recently got a Telstra PAYG for a visit to Australia - functioned perfectly well in Sydney, was utterly useless/non functional in North Island NZ.
posted by AFII at 4:49 AM on June 25, 2015

Best answer: For Australia: prepaid high data phone plan round up. As others have mentioned, the big players are Telstra, Optus and Vodafone. Those will be easiest to get.

Looks like Vodaphone will do you 2 gigs for $35. If I recall corrrectly there is a Vodafone stand in Sydney airport - you could likely pick up a SIM card there. Otherwise, there are stores all over the place and plenty in the city.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:44 AM on June 25, 2015

When I was there earlier this year I used Amaysim. They are on the Optus network so service is reliable, and they were cheap - around $20 for talk, text and about 2GB data.

I think you may need separate service for NZ.
posted by Shal at 10:16 AM on June 25, 2015