Mobile plans in Australia

Once you arrived in Australia, you will need to get an Australian phone number to provide to your potential employers, new friends and to keep in touch with your Italian friends and relatives. Go in one of the many mobile shop available in each corner and get an Australian SIM card. Which are the most popular phone companies in Australia? You need to to give a look on Internet to get an overview of the offers. Among the principles companies, there are Telstra, Lebara, Vodafone Australia, Amaysim, Virgin Mobile and Optus.

The latter two (which are pretty much the same company with different products and prices) are very popular between travelers because they offer good services at affordable costs. In general, the difference between a company and the other is the price and Internet coverage, which in Australia can be absent. If you are in the middle of nowhere,no matter which company you have, the phone just doesn’t receive any signal.

Mobile phone plans

Each telephone operator, in Australia, offers different tariff plans, both rechargeable or under subscription. If you arrive with a WHV or a tourist visa, the most convenient option is to buy a SIM card with a rechargeable plan. For the subscription plan, you need to provide at least one year stay in the country. Most of the phone companies offer prepaid plans, where you can choose the value and get a package of phone calls, SMS, Internet and free data traffic.

For recharging your Australian SIM card, you need to go to any store of your phone company, supermarket, petrol station and 7-Eleven, where a receipt with the instruction will be issued, or simply download the app and recharge directly from your phone.

Calling Italy from Australia

Some companies offer you free call minutes to Italy, so you just need to add 0039 before the number. In some cases you may need to type the international prefix code 0011 then 0039 followed by the Italian number (so it would be 001139 plus the number).On the other hand, who calls you from Italy, have to type the prefix 0061 plus your phone number without the first zero.

Calls from Italy to Australia

On the contrary, many Italian phone companies offer affordable packages for calling overseas, including Oceania, so Australia. Another option is to buy a prepaid card called Edicard at 5, 10, 20 Euro with hundred minutes available. How does it work? You need to buy credit online or at tobacco shop and then type the local number, the card code followed by the Australian phone number. With 10 Euro you can get about 600 minutes, not bad!

By now with Skype, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, none uses the phone to call in Italy. Moreover with all these new technologies you can have free calls if you have Wifi. Skype, also, offers the possibility to buy credit and call mobile and fixed phones all over the world: it doesn’t cost much, and works very well!