Unlike Europe, the US & elsewhere, mobile phone use in Australia tends to be expensive. Telstra, Optus and Vodaphone are the big three operators for mobile telephony in Australia. Telstra, the once dominant monopoly in the country still offers uncompetitive rates and restrictions. Optus is little better, helping to keep high charges for everyone. Vodaphone is trying to lower the bar, offering better prices and more independence, but doesn’t have as wide a coverage as the other two. Virgin is another recent entry to the market in Australia.

When you buy a new phone and opt for any of the companies except Vodaphone, you’ll be committing yourself to using their service as they don’t let you switch sim cards without an extra fee (around A$80). If you already have a GSM phone, you can purchase a sim card from any of the companies for use in your phone. They usually come with $A25-$30 phone credit since they cost the same to buy.

In my experience mobile phone charges run about $1 per minute, and some even charge you extra for retrieving your voice messages. Text messages run around 25 cents unless you purchase a plan that gives you a better deal. So that $30 of credit can easily be used up with just a few calls.

If you’re going to be in Australia for awhile, it may be worth it to signup for a long-term contract, as the rates will be far cheaper than the prepaid plans. You can also get a better deal if you include your home phone and internet access on the same account.

Be aware that rural areas are not always covered by the major companies. Vodaphone in particular seems to concentrate on the major cities and towns, with poor service elsewhere. Hopefully this problem will be eliminated once the companies learn how to play together and share their lines without charging exorbitant rates.

Both GSM and CDMA mobile standards are in use in Australia. Supposedly the CDMA offers better rural coverage, but CDMA phones don’t use sim chips which means they won’t work in Europe and other areas.

We encourage you to not use Telstra as it costs the most, unless it is the only carrier available for your area.