Optus launches the first reasonable global roaming data offering

It’s a tried and tested rule – when you travel overseas, you turn off data on your smartphone or you’ll end up with an extra couple of hundred dollars on your phone bill. But Optus has taken the first baby steps to change that with its Bridge DataRoam packs.

Available for travellers to Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, the Bridge DataRoam packs include unlimited data consumption on selected Bridge Alliance networks for a period of days. Because it only works with selected networks, users will have to manually set the network when they arrive at their destination to avoid exorbitant charges.

Once the pack expires, travellers will go back to their old excessive roaming rate of $0.15 per kilobyte. That might not seem like a problem, but you can’t actually daisy chain the packs together, so after five days, you’ll want to switch off your data anyway to avoid the excessive charges.

Pricing starts at $27 for a three day pass, or $40 for a five day pass. That’s pretty pricing compared to local data packs, but when compared to traditional roaming passes, it’s an absolute bargain and well worth every cent.

Price: From $27
Web: Optus