Australia SIM card or eSIM from the UK: what roaming costs and what to choose
In short
Tesco Mobile charges 1p a MB in Australia, EE £26.50 for a 7-day pass and Vodafone £8 a day of use (checked on 24 October 2026, Tesco roaming). Our Australia eSIM from the UK is £2.99 for 1 GB over 7 days, data only. You have four ways to stay connected: your UK network, a travel eSIM, a local SIM or pocket Wi-Fi.
Information verified on 24 October 2026 at the official sources listed below. This is not immigration or legal advice; check GOV.UK and the official website of your destination before you travel. How we check information.
On this page
eSIM for Australia from £2.99 — see plans At a glance
- Purchase QR code by email · after payment
- Installation profile on your phone · up to 365 days
- Activation first network on the trip · the clock starts
Get an eSIM for Australia — from £2.99
This site is not affiliated with any of the networks mentioned here; we sell eSIMs. How we compare
You may not need an eSIM. At Tesco’s 1p a MB, 1,000MB costs £10 (our sum). Sky VIP Diamond customers roam there free, Vodafone Global Roam plans include Australia, and so do O2 Volt, selected Plus and Ultimate plans. Check your own plan before you shop for the best eSIM for Australia.
What do UK networks charge in Australia?
Roaming in Australia on UK networks runs from 1p a MB at Tesco to £8 a day at Vodafone and Three (checked on 24 October 2026). On EE, O2, Talkmobile, VOXI and SMARTY you get no data there until you buy a pass, bolt-on or add-on.
| Option | Price | What you need | Weak point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roaming on your UK network | Included on 1 of 15 UK networks, within fair use otherwise £2.00 to £60.00 a day or pass from about £1.35 per GB | Data roaming on; on some networks a pass bought before you fly | Paid passes cost more per GB than the eSIM |
| Pocket Wi-Fi router | Not verified | Collect it, keep it charged and return it | One connection for the group, only while you stay together |
| Local SIM bought on arrival | Not verified | A free SIM slot and a shop after landing | On a one-slot phone it replaces your UK SIM |
| Travel eSIM from this site | from £2.99 by card; from £0.85 per GB | An eSIM phone that is not locked to one operator | Data only: no calls or texts on your UK number |
Roaming prices as published by the 15 UK networks, checked on 24 October 2026; price per GB is our derivation (price ÷ GB). eSIM prices are in pounds at the day’s rate: your card is charged exactly that amount. This site is not affiliated with these networks; we sell eSIMs.
| Network | Australia charge | Condition | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| EE | £5.50 for 24 hours, £26.50 for 7 days | Rest of World Zone 1 pass; uses your UK allowance from the moment you buy it; no data without a pass | 24 October 2026 |
| Vodafone | £8 a day of use | Zone C, pay monthly plans from 11 August 2021 (£6 on earlier plans); included on Global Roam plans | 24 October 2026 |
| O2 | O2 Travel £7 per 24 hours; Data Roaming Bolt Ons £6 for 1GB, £13 for 3GB, £18 for 5GB | Zone 1, Pay Monthly only; included on Volt, selected Plus and Ultimate; otherwise data stops | 24 October 2026 |
| Three | £8 a day; Around the World pass £12.50 for 3 days, £30 for 7 days | Go Roam Around the World; £8 on Lite and Lite+ joined or upgraded on or after 18 December 2025 (older plans: see the price guide); included on Complete; no daily charge on pay as you go | 24 October 2026 |
| iD Mobile | Roam Beyond add-on: 2GB for £5 over 1 day, 10GB for £20 over 5 days, 20GB for £35 over 10 days | Roam Beyond destination; £45 roaming data limit by default | 24 October 2026 |
| Lebara | 1GB for £4 over 8 days, 3GB for £12 over 15 days | Zone 5 add-on | 24 October 2026 |
| giffgaff | 20p per MB; travel data add-on of 1GB, 5GB or 10GB for 30 days, “From £4” | Zone A; the Australia add-on price is in the app only; 30 days from purchase | 24 October 2026 |
| Tesco Mobile | 1p per MB | Region 3, pay monthly and pay as you go | 24 October 2026 |
| Sky Mobile | £2 a day | Roaming Passport Plus, your UK plan; a call you make, a text you send or over 10MB starts 24 hours; free for VIP Diamond | 24 October 2026 |
| VOXI | 2GB for £16 over 8 days, 4GB for £26.60 over 15 days | Global Roaming Extra, with minutes and texts; runs from purchase | 24 October 2026 |
| SMARTY | 10p per MB | Roaming 1, paid from out-of-plan add-ons; with none loaded, data does not work | 24 October 2026 |
| Talkmobile | 500MB for £5 over 1 day, 5GB for £20 over 8 days, 8GB for £30 over 15 days | World Holiday Booster, Zone B; no data without one | 24 October 2026 |
| Lyca Mobile | 2.5GB for £5 over 7 days, 6GB for £10 over 14 days | Pay as you go Australia pass, paid from top-up credit; up to 5 in 30 days | 24 October 2026 |
| BT Mobile | Travel Data Pass, 500MB for 24 hours | BT’s pages give three different prices, so we print none | 24 October 2026 |
| Asda Mobile | 20p per MB | USA / Canada / Australia / NZ / Switzerland group | 24 October 2026 |
Tesco says it plainly: “Roaming now costs only 1p per MB of data for the USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand – for both pay monthly and pay as you go customers.” At Asda’s 20p a MB, 100MB costs £20 (our arithmetic).
Vodafone, Three and Sky charge per day of use, not per day away, and on most plans Three’s daily charges rise each 1 April by CPI plus 3.9%. Full rates are on our Tesco Mobile, EE, Vodafone and Three pages.
eSIM for Australia: selected plans
The entry plan, our pick and a bigger one. “Our pick” is a mid-size plan chosen by us, not a sales ranking.
Prices are in pounds; you are charged in GBP, exactly the amount shown. The seller is registered in the United States, so your bank may apply its own rules to a payment to a seller abroad — how card payment works. It appears on your statement as JET SHARING. You pay on the secure Stripe checkout page, by card, or Apple Pay or Google Pay if Stripe shows them on your device.
What it costs per day
Plan price in pounds ÷ days, at the rate of 1 Nov. A longer plan usually costs less per day: pick by your trip length, not by the lowest daily price.
Three weeks in Australia: the sums
Three weeks of daily use in Australia come to £42 on Sky, £79.50 on EE and £168 on Vodafone (our arithmetic, checked on 24 October 2026). Our 5 GB plan covers 30 days for £7.99, data only.
Trips there are long. Residents of Great Britain made 788,000 visits to Australia in 2025, stayed 30.1 nights on average, and 71.7% went to see friends and relatives; 66.2% of visits fell between October and March (ONS Travel trends 2025, our sum).
| Network or plan | 21 days | 30 days | How we added it up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sky, not VIP Diamond | £42 | £60 | £2 a day of use |
| EE, Zone 1 | £79.50 | £117 | 7-day passes at £26.50, plus two 24-hour passes at £5.50 for 30 days |
| Three, Lite and Lite+ from 18 December 2025 | £87.50 | £125 | seven, then ten 3-day passes at £12.50 |
| Vodafone, pay monthly from 11 August 2021 | £168 | £240 | £8 a day of use |
| Lyca, pay as you go | £15 for 8.5GB | £25 for 14.5GB | a 14-day pass (6GB, £10) plus 7-day passes (2.5GB, £5) |
| Our Australia plan, data only | £7.99 for 5 GB | the same plan | one 30-day plan; 10 GB is £11.99 |
Prices from each network’s own page, checked on 24 October 2026; the totals are our arithmetic, with use every day assumed.
These are different products. A network pass uses your UK allowance on your own number; our plan is a data-only eSIM on a second line, with calls and texts left on your UK SIM (keeping your UK number). Roaming or eSIM covers the same choice for any country.
A week in Australia: your UK network vs eSIM
A roaming pass is cheaper Included on 1 of 15 UK networks5.6GB for 7 days (0.8GB a day, social media and photos): what it costs on the four big UK networks. We compare each network’s public roaming passes and daily rates. Some plans have roaming built in (for example Vodafone Global Roam, O2 Ultimate, Three Complete and Sky Diamond VIP), so check your own plan. 1 of the 15 UK networks already include Australia in their plans, within a fair use limit.
On roaming your UK number also takes calls and texts; the eSIM is data only. Network prices as published, checked on 24 October 2026; the eSIM at its price in pounds on 1 Nov, charged in pounds by card. This site is not affiliated with these networks; we sell eSIMs. Work out your own trip.
Which eSIM for Australia? What we look at
There is no best eSIM for Australia on price alone, and we hold no Australia price basket, so we rank no seller. Judge any Australia eSIM from the UK on five things: GB, days, network, hotspot and start rule.
Data: your normal week at home is a better guide than a “light” label. Our GB and days plans run from 1 GB over 7 days to 20 GB over 30 days, all data only.
Days: they start on first connection in Australia, not at purchase, and you can install up to 365 days after buying.
Network: our Australia listing names 
Optus, marked 5G; our Oceania plan (4G, data only) lists Vodafone, Telstra and Optus there. We publish no maps or speeds, so check 4G/5G coverage outside the cities on the network’s own map.
Hotspot and tethering: our listing states no rule, so check the plan card before relying on a laptop. To confirm an eSIM-compatible phone, dial *#06#: an EID means it takes an eSIM.
Install before you travel, at home on Wi-Fi, not on the long-haul flight. How to install an eSIM and transfer an eSIM have the menu paths.
Australian SIM card or travel eSIM?
Australia SIM card vs eSIM comes down to the number: a local SIM gives you an Australian number, a travel eSIM gives you data without a shop queue. We have not checked local SIM prices, so we give none.
You buy a local SIM in person after landing, usually with your passport, and prices vary by shop. It takes your UK SIM’s slot unless your phone has a second eSIM line. The local networks: Telstra, Optus and Vodafone Australia, the three our Oceania plan lists.
An eSIM carries data only, with no number. Pocket Wi-Fi is one more device to charge. Read the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) travel advice for Australia before you book.
Stopovers and New Zealand on the same trip
A long-haul stopover is another country for roaming, so check it in your network’s list as well as Australia.
A travel eSIM starts on first connection anywhere in its coverage, so a regional plan that includes your stopover country can start there and use up days. For a few hours at the airport, use the airport Wi-Fi, or keep mobile data off on the eSIM line until you land.
New Zealand is a separate purchase on our New Zealand eSIM; our Oceania plan lists both countries.
Data roaming off on the UK line stops data charges, not every charge: on Sky, a call you make or a text you send still starts the £2 pass for 24 hours; receiving calls and texts does not.
Back to all SIM cards by country
Check before you fly
What if the eSIM doesn’t work when you land in Australia?
Check four settings, in this order, before you write to us.
The first is the line for mobile data. In the phone’s SIM settings, pick the travel line for mobile data; your UK line stays on for calls and texts, with its mobile data off.
The second is data roaming, for the eSIM line only. The eSIM is a foreign profile, so the phone treats Australia as roaming for it.
The third is the APN. On this plan it sets itself, so leave it alone; you don’t need to type one.
The fourth is a restart. Restart the phone or switch aeroplane mode on and off, and let it find Optus; this can take a few minutes after you leave the plane.
Still no data? Write to us on WhatsApp or at support@esimworld.co.uk with your order number, or go through the no-signal checklist. Do not delete the eSIM to “try again”: a deleted profile usually cannot be installed twice from the same code. If the eSIM doesn't work and it isn't your phone's fault, we refund the payment whether or not it was installed.
What I’d choose (and when NOT to buy the eSIM)
For a week of maps, rides and messaging I’d take 1 GB for 7 days, £2.99. For two weeks or more, with photos and social media, I’d go for 5 GB for 30 days, £7.99. If you video-call and stream every day, take the unlimited plan for 7 days, £18.99, with 3 GB a day at full speed, then 1 Mbps.
I would not recommend the eSIM in three cases. If your UK plan already includes Australia and its fair use limit is enough for you, roaming costs you nothing extra and keeps your number (compare the networks). If your phone has no eSIM or is locked to one operator, it cannot take the plan: check your model first. And if your group travels together all day and shares one connection, a pocket Wi-Fi can cover everyone.
Frequently asked questions
Should I get an eSIM or physical SIM in Australia?
An eSIM, if your phone supports it and you need data only: you install it at home. A local SIM gives an Australian number but is bought in a shop after landing; we have not checked local SIM prices.
What is the best eSIM for Australia from the UK?
There is no single answer, and we rank no seller. Pick the GB and days you need on a plan that names its network; ours lists Optus, marked 5G. On Tesco, at 1p a MB, you may not need an eSIM at all.
Can I use my existing phone number with an eSIM?
Yes, on your UK SIM. A travel eSIM is data only, so calls and texts stay on your UK line while data goes through the eSIM. Turn data roaming off on the UK line.
How much is a SIM card in Australia?
We have not checked local SIM prices. On a UK network: Tesco 1p a MB, Sky £2 a day, EE £26.50 for 7 days (checked on 24 October 2026). Our Australia eSIM starts at £2.99 for 1 GB over 7 days, data only.
Sources checked: Tesco Mobile roaming · EE price guide, 31 March 2026 (PDF) · Vodafone roaming guide · O2 data roaming Bolt Ons · O2 Travel Inclusive Zone · Three Your Way price guide, post 19 April 2026 (PDF) · Three roaming destinations · Three pay as you go roaming · iD Mobile roaming · Lebara roaming add-on · giffgaff roaming · Sky Mobile roaming · VOXI Global Roaming Extras · SMARTY price guide (PDF) · Talkmobile Booster details · Lyca Mobile roaming · BT Travel Data Pass · Asda Mobile roaming · ONS Travel trends 2025 · FCDO: Australia travel advice.
Sources are linked in the text; reviewed by Nadezhda Semenova. For the terms of your own contract, check with your network.
Unfamiliar term? See the eSIM glossary.
Get an eSIM for Australia, from £2.99 Pay by card in pounds. The seller is registered in the United States, so your bank may apply its own rules to a payment to a seller abroad. Install the profile at home on Wi-Fi before you fly. The QR code arrives by email after payment. See plans