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We are planning a trip to NZ for Christmas, and want to be able to be contacted while we're away. Does anyone know of a phonecard system we can get here or over there that won't cost us too much and means we can call people and they can call us? We have looked into getting our mobile attached to an overseas network, however the call costs are huge.
Not sure about NZ, but whenever we are in Bali we simply grab a local sim card for about $13 (that's 100,000rp of credit) then use that for caloling local in bali & SMSÃ*ng home in OZ!
I went through 2 lots of credit in a month! Dh called many more ppl, but not as many SMS's & he used up 2 lots too!
Find out if you can do the same!???
You can usually pick up phone cards in the destination country. Probably difficult to actually get one in Australia for use overseas.
I recommend you get incoming & outgoing calls blocked on your mobile phone - but allow SMS's.
Every time I travel o/s we SMS back and forth and it's the same cost.
Then if you grab a phone card in NZ - you can use any public or private phone - and dial out for the cost of a local call... then the credit comes off the phone card to call o/s. Rather then using your mobile to make calls or receive calls.
We use phone cards to call my DH's family in Israel. A $20 card lasts us about 9 months - with heaps of phone calls.
i would be checking to make sure your phone isn't locked to your network in AU (and that it runs on the right frequency to work in NZ) - and then, as tracey suggested - grab a pre paid sim card over there. you don't want everyone contacting you while you're away, so it's not like you need to tell heaps of people the number once you get there - and it will be cheaper for you that way. it will also stop people calling "just for a chin wag" cos they'll be paying for an overseas call
good luck - and enjoy your holiday
Not sure which carrier you're with, but generally speaking the mobile phone costs are that you pay for calls you receive ... so if your neighbour calls your mobile, they pay to call your mobile as if its in Oz, and then you pay for the international leg of the call. And that's at standard Oz rates.
calling from overseas to Oz is more exie generally, as the call costs are set by the international carrier, with a surcharge from your carrier here.
Messagebank can be very confusing to use, but as suggested, SMS is the way to go both to & from Oz.
good luck and enjoy your trip :D