We recently saw an ad for Medibank Private’s travel insurance and heard the phrase “free Global SIM card”. While we’re not experts on whether the travel insurance is good value, we do know that there is no such thing as a free ride when it comes to roaming telephony costs.
As it turns out, it is only the SIM card itself that is free, i.e.: the tiny plastic rectangle. The service costs are as you’d expect: pretty expensive.
The SIM and services are issued by insurance company Covermore, not Medibank. The SIM card is free so long as you pay for one of a number of travel insurance products. The service is prepaid, which is good for the peace of mind that you can’t unwittingly overspend at those exorbitant roaming rates.
So is it good value?
If you’re not familiar with the cost of making calls and using data overseas, then you might be shocked at the costs, especially the price of data use. We’ve compared the rated on the Medicare/Covermore Global SIM to those of similar services from Australia Post and Woolworth’s.
| USA | Calls to Aus (per min) | SMS to Aus | Data (per MB) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medibank | 53c | 37c | 25c |
| Aust Post | 64c | 54c | 85c |
| Woolworth's | 55c | 19c | 45c |
| UK | Calls to Aus (per min) | SMS to Aus | Data (per MB) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medibank | 36c | 25c | 25c |
| Aust Post | 51c | 52c | 25c |
| Woolworth's | 18c | 14c | 45c |
| NZ | Calls to Aus (per min) | SMS to Aus | Data (per MB) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medibank | 36c | 59c | NA |
| Aust Post | 64c | 78c | $1.25 |
| Woolworth's | 55c | 34c | 45c |
| Thailand | Calls to Aus (per min) | SMS to Aus | Data (per MB) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medibank | 53c | 32c | $2.15 |
| Aust Post | 85c | 52c | $1.25 |
| Woolworth's | $1.05 | 53c | $1.55 |
| Indonesia | Calls to Aus (per min) | SMS to Aus | Data (per MB) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medibank | 38c | 34c | NA |
| Aust Post | $1.12 | 52c | $1.25 |
| Woolworth's | 34c | 34c | 45c |
The Medibank travel SIM definitely isn’t the worst deal in town, though it all depends on where you intend to travel to. The exercise above proves to us that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all option.
The only option to consider is Vodafone’s $5 per day Red roaming feature available in all postpaid Red plans. We’ve written about this a number of times, so we won’t repeat ourselves here, but this is a great option, especially in countries where data costs are more than $1 per MB.
Joseph Hanlon
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