Why I Ditched the $5 A Day Roaming Plan (And What I Use Instead)

I travel overseas four or five times a year. Europe for skiing in winter, Asia on the way through, New Zealand for a quick escape, and whatever else the points and the calendar conspire to produce. My wife Julie travels with me on most of it. My daughter joined me on a recent cycling trip.

For years, the answer was simple: activate the Vodafone or Telstra $5 a day international roaming plan, try not to think about the bill, and hope you didn’t accidentally stream something. It worked, but at $5 a day per person it adds up fast — two weeks in Europe for two people is $70 before you’ve had a coffee. In Switzerland we used to rent a portable Wi-Fi hotspot device, which solved the problem but added another thing to carry, charge, and return at the end of the trip.

We even wrote about the Vodafone $5 roaming plan back in 2020 — and at the time it genuinely was a good option. That review is still up here if you’re curious how it compares. But the world has moved on.

A few years ago I switched to eSIMs and haven’t looked back. And for the last twelve months I’ve been running one plan that’s changed how the whole family connects on the road — the Airalo Discover Global 365-day eSIM.

Here’s what I’ve actually learned from using it.

The setup that works for our family

Julie has an older phone that doesn’t support eSIM. This is more common than people think — eSIM requires a relatively recent handset, and if you upgraded your phone in 2019 or earlier there’s a good chance you’re in the same boat.

Our solution is simple: my phone runs the Airalo eSIM, and Julie’s phone and both our Macs hotspot off me. Airalo doesn’t throttle or ban hotspotting on the global plan, which makes this genuinely practical rather than a workaround that technically works but burns through data. We’ve run two laptops and two phones off one Airalo plan in a Swiss ski chalet with no issues.

My daughter used her own Airalo eSIM when we rode together recently — she’s set it up on her own now and messages me when she has questions. That’s the other thing about Airalo: it’s simple enough that you can recommend it to family and friends without then spending the next hour on the phone walking them through it.

The other thing that makes this setup work particularly well is that my Australian number stays active on my primary SIM the whole time. All the Australian websites and banks that send you an SMS verification code — and there are more of them every year — still come through on the Aussie number as normal. Then I toggle to Airalo for data. Two lines, each doing what it does best, no compromises.

What I actually use it for

European ski trips and cycling — This is where a global plan earns its keep fastest. Switzerland sits outside the EU roaming zone that catches most cheap European SIMs off guard. Airalo works across Switzerland, France, Italy, Austria seamlessly. When the train crosses the border from Zurich into Germany, the connection doesn’t drop. That matters when you’re navigating to a ski resort on an unfamiliar road in the dark with fresh snow.

This year Annalise and I cycled the EuroVelo 7 from Burghausen down to Bolzano. When you’re navigating crushed limestone trails in rural Bavaria, rerouting Strava maps and checking live weather radars, you need data that actually works away from the main highways. The Airalo eSIM latched onto regional cell towers without complaint — and because Airalo doesn’t throttle hotspotting,

→ Read our EuroVelo 7 Burghausen to Bolzano cycling guide

Singapore stopovers — I’m in Singapore three times this year alone. The Airalo plan activates the moment the wheels hit the tarmac at Changi. No setup, no waiting for an SMS verification code on airport Wi-Fi, no hunting for a 7-Eleven. By the time I’m at immigration, WhatsApp is already working. If you do the free Singapore city tour on a long layover — which I recommend — you want data before you leave the terminal, not after.

Short hops to New Zealand — Before Airalo, I wouldn’t bother buying a SIM for a three or four day trip. I’d just manage on hotel Wi-Fi and hope for the best. Now my phone just works when I land at Auckland. It’s a small thing that genuinely changes how relaxed the start of a short trip feels.

At home as a backup — The global plan sits silently on my phone when I’m in Sydney. If my primary network goes down — and it does occasionally — I toggle Airalo on and have data immediately. It’s happened twice in the last year and both times it saved me from a meeting without connectivity.

The honest numbers

The 365-day Global Plan is currently around USD$66 for 20GB. That sounds like a lot upfront compared to a USD$20 single-country eSIM for one trip.

But across four or five trips a year, the maths is straightforward. I’m not buying a SIM card at every airport. I’m not paying $10 a day Australian telco roaming fees. I’m not running out of data in the middle of a multi-country trip and scrambling to top up.

The 20GB rolls over within the 365 days too — if I use 4GB in Europe in January, that data is still sitting there when I transit Singapore in March. I’ve never come close to running out.

What it doesn’t do

Calls and SMS don’t come through on the Airalo line — it’s data only. This is fine for most travellers in 2026 given WhatsApp and iMessage handle voice and messaging over data. But if you need a local number for booking restaurants or hotels that don’t take online reservations, you’ll still need your Australian number active (which it will be — your regular SIM stays in the phone alongside the eSIM).

Speeds vary by country and network, as they do with any carrier. In major cities across Europe and Asia I’ve consistently had strong 4G or 5G. In more remote areas — Swiss mountain valleys, rural Bavaria on a cycling route — coverage is reasonable rather than excellent. But that’s true of any data plan in those locations.

Before you buy — check your phone

eSIM requires a phone that supports it. Most iPhones from the XS (2018) onwards are compatible. Most Android flagships from 2019 onwards are compatible. If you’re not sure, check your Settings app — on iPhone look under Settings → General → About → Available SIM. If you see “eSIM” listed, you’re good.

If your phone doesn’t support eSIM — like Julie’s — the hotspot solution works well, particularly if you’re travelling with someone who does have a compatible device. One Airalo plan between two people is still cheaper than two individual roaming packages.

My recommendation

If you travel internationally two or more times a year, the Airalo Global 365-day plan makes sense. It removes the decision-making, the queues, the running out at inconvenient moments, and the per-country shopping around. It just works.

If you only travel once a year to a single country, Airalo’s individual country plans are the better value — they’re genuinely cheap and you only pay for what you need.

I recommend Airalo to every travelling friend and family member who asks what I use for data overseas. My daughter is now on it independently. That’s a more useful endorsement than anything else I can write here.

→ Check current Airalo pricing and plans

Use code DREW0096 at checkout and you’ll get AUD $5 off your first Airalo purchase — and I get $5 credit too. That’s the deal, full transparency.

Where eSIM fits into your travel setup

A few places where having data sorted before you land makes a real difference:

Related reading

Disclosure: If you use code DREW0096 at checkout, you get AUD $5 off your first Airalo purchase and I get AUD $5 credit. I’ve been using Airalo for over a year — it’s genuinely the first thing I tell travelling friends and family to sort before any overseas trip.

Drew
Drew

Drew spends 3 months of the year travelling, and 9 months working which is just enough to support a credit card application habit. Destinations are chosen around cycling, hiking or skiing opportunities. For Drew it's as much about the deal as the destination!

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