Vodafone’s $5 a day doesn’t give you any extra data. Here’s what that means

What $5 Roaming actually is

From Vodafone’s international roaming page:

“Use your plan’s included data, calls and texts in over 100 destinations. Excludes data capped at speeds of up to 1.5Mbps, 2Mbps, 10Mbps and 25Mbps.”

And from Vodafone’s master roaming terms, which is the clearest statement of the mechanic:

“As a Vodafone $5 Roaming customer, while in an Eligible Roaming Destination, you’ll only be able to use the included shared data allowance of the plans on your billing account. For the avoidance of doubt, you can only use your included data allowance while $5 Roaming, and data which is capped at speeds up to 1.5, 2, 10 or 25Mbps (if any) that may be included in your plan will not be accessible while $5 Roaming.”

So the arithmetic is different from the other two carriers. You are not buying data. You are unlocking yours.

If you are on a 100GB plan and you use 10GB on a two week holiday, $5 a day is excellent value and you still have 90GB left at home. If you are on a 20GB plan, you are spending $5 a day to eat into the allowance you also need for the rest of the month.

The speed cap exclusion, which catches a lot of people

This is the most important sentence in the article and it is easy to skim past.

Many Vodafone plans are structured as a chunk of full speed data followed by unlimited data at a capped speed, usually 1.5Mbps, 2Mbps, 10Mbps or 25Mbps. That capped portion is what makes the plans look large.

None of it is available while roaming. Vodafone says so in four separate places, including its July 2026 postpaid terms:

“You can only use Included Data allowance while $5 Roaming, not the remaining data which is capped at speeds up to 1.5Mbps, 2Mbps,10Mbps or 25Mbps depending on your chosen plan while in Australia.”

So if you are on a plan advertised as, say, 50GB then unlimited at 2Mbps, the number that matters overseas is the 50GB, and the “unlimited” part simply does not exist while you are away. Work out your real full speed allowance before you decide $5 a day is enough.

When you get charged, and what a day is

Only on days you actually use the service, and the trigger list is published in full:

“$5 Roaming will be activated, and you will be charged the Daily Charge if you’re in an Eligible Roaming Destination and you or one of your connections: i. send a text; ii. send a MMS; iii. make a call; iv. receive a call; or v. send or receive data in excess of 50KB per day (Trigger Events).”

“Receiving a text or MMS is free and is not a Trigger Event.”

Two useful details in there that the other carriers do not offer.

There is a 50KB daily data floor. A phone that sips a few kilobytes in the background does not start a charge. Telstra and Optus have no such floor, and any background data at all triggers theirs.

Receiving texts is free. Same as Telstra and Optus. Receiving a call, however, is a trigger even though the call itself is not charged:

“When roaming in an Eligible Roaming Destination, you will not be charged for receiving calls, however receiving calls will be a Trigger Event and you will be charged the Daily Charge.”

Voicemail is handled better than by Optus. Forwarding to voicemail is free and does not trigger. Forwarding to any other number does.

A day is a rolling 24 hours from first use, not a calendar day:

“Days are calculated in 24 hour blocks from when you first use your phone overseas.”

Worth knowing that Vodafone’s prepaid add-ons work completely differently, on Australian midnight. More on that below.

The 90 day limit

Vodafone caps roaming at 90 days per calendar year, per service. This is not a soft guideline:

“Vodafone $5 Roaming is available to Australian Permanent Residents only and is not available to Permanent Residents of other destinations. Vodafone $5 Roaming is limited to a maximum usage of 90 days per calendar year, per connection.”

What happens on day 91 is the part worth knowing, because it is not a cutoff:

“You can use $5 Roaming for up to 90 days per calendar year. If you’ve used your 90 day/year allowance for $5 Roaming, you’ll then be charged at our Pay As You Go Roaming rates.”

Vodafone’s stated pay as you go rate is $1 per MB. Under $5 Roaming, extra data is $5 per gigabyte, which is $0.005 per MB. So day 91 is a two hundred fold jump in the data rate, applied automatically, on a service that has been working fine for three months.

If you are a long stay traveller, a digital nomad, or somebody who does three or four decent trips a year, that 90 day figure deserves a note in your calendar.

What happens when you run out of your own data

“If you go over your included data limit, we’ll automatically add 1GB for $5.”

“Once Included Data allowance has been exhausted, any additional data usage in that billing month on your account while $5 Roaming will be charged in blocks of 1GB for a cost of $5 per block ($0.005/MB) (Additional $5 Roaming Data). There is no limit to how many Additional $5 Roaming Data blocks you can trigger.”

$5 a gigabyte is a fair rate as top ups go, and considerably better than the $10 per 2GB Telstra charges. Note the last sentence though. Like Optus, Vodafone publishes no ceiling on how many blocks can be added.

One inconsistency worth flagging if you are relying on that top up data lasting: Vodafone’s marketing page and postpaid terms say it expires at the end of your next billing month, while its master roaming terms say the end of your current billing cycle, and its support page says it is not shareable while the marketing page says it is. Three Vodafone documents, three answers. If it matters, ring them.

Check whether you are actually eligible

Vodafone’s exclusion list is the longest of the three carriers and much of it is not on the marketing pages.

Excluded outright, from Vodafone’s own roaming terms: Holding Plans, Holding Plan 200MB, Assured Plans, Stay Connected Plans, Red Cap Plans and Relief MTM Plans.

Also excluded, from the roaming FAQ: anyone who “signed up to a Red or SIM Only Modem plan after 2 July 2020” or “signed up to an eligible Mobile Broadband plan between 31 August 2016 and 12 April 2017”. Business Flex Mobile Broadband month to month and 24 month SIM only plans are out as well.

And the speed capped data on any plan, as covered above.

If you signed up after 23 April 2014 on an eligible plan, $5 Roaming is switched on by default. There is still one thing to check before you fly, and Vodafone tells you to do it:

“Log in to My Vodafone and check that you’ve got your ‘International roaming network’ turned on in your ‘Roaming settings’. When your international roaming network is turned on, $5 Roaming will automatically activate when you turn on your phone in eligible destinations.”

So it is automatic, sitting behind a toggle you are expected to verify. We have put the eligibility rules for all three carriers in one place in which Australian phone plans actually include roaming.

Two phones, two charges

Vodafone is unusually clear about this, and it is worth knowing before you hand a second SIM to a travelling partner:

“If you have 1 plan active on an eSIM and another plan loaded on either a physical SIM or an eSIM, then you’ll be charged $5 extra a day if you use only 1 plan in a $5 Roaming eligible destination and $10 extra a day if you use both plans in a $5 Roaming eligible destination.”

The charge is per service, including inside a data sharing group:

“The $5 charge is for each plan that uses $5 Roaming. For example, if you have three plans on your shared account and two of them use $5 Roaming on the same day, $10 will be charged to your account.”

For a family of four travelling together on a shared Vodafone account, that is $20 a day, all drawing from the same pool of plan data.

When Vodafone $5 Roaming is the better buy

If you are on a big plan and travel occasionally. This is the case Vodafone’s product is built for and it is a good one. A large included allowance, $5 a day, and you keep your number for calls and texts. Nothing we sell competes with that on convenience.

On Ultra+ plans. Unlimited phone data while roaming, plus 30GB of hotspot. That is a genuinely strong roaming product and the most generous thing any Australian carrier offers.

Short trips. At $5 a day the break even against a travel eSIM sits around four days on most destinations, and you get calls and texts the whole time.

When someone needs to ring your actual number. A travel eSIM is data only and does not replace this.

When a travel eSIM makes more sense

If your plan’s data is speed capped. The capped portion is unavailable overseas, so the plan you are paying for is smaller abroad than at home.

If your plan is on the exclusion list. Holding, Assured, Stay Connected, Red Cap, Relief MTM, and post July 2020 Red or SIM Only Modem plans get nothing.

If you are travelling more than 90 days a year. The cap is per calendar year and day 91 costs $1 per MB.

If your plan allowance is small. Spending $5 a day to consume the data you also need at home is a poor trade on a 20GB plan.

If you are on Vodafone prepaid. Different product, below.

Here is the arithmetic on the destinations Australians actually go to, using our prices from 17 August 2026:

The “plus your own data” column is the point. With Telstra or Optus you are buying data. With Vodafone you are paying for access and spending your own allowance on top.

If you are on Vodafone prepaid

Prepaid gets add-ons rather than $5 Roaming, and the allowances are published, contrary to what several comparison sites will tell you:

That is $5 a gigabyte flat across all three, in 80 destinations, handsets only. It is a reasonable product.

Two things to know. Prepaid roaming is handset only, so no tablets or mobile broadband. And the expiry mechanic is genuinely confusing, because Vodafone contradicts itself on its own page. The body copy and the Critical Information Summary both say the clock starts at Australian midnight:

“The expiry period for the Add-on will begin from midnight Australia Eastern Standard Time on the day of purchase.”

The plan cards immediately below that sentence say “1 day expiry from time of purchase”, and the footer terms say “expiry after purchase”. Those are different things. On the midnight reading, a $5 one day add-on bought at 11pm AEST expires an hour later. We would buy early in the Australian day rather than late, and we would not rely on getting a full 24 hours.

Also worth knowing what happens if you skip the add-on: prepaid pay as you go roaming data is $51.20 per MB. That is Vodafone’s published figure and it is not a typo.

We have written that comparison out properly in Vodafone prepaid roaming vs a travel eSIM.

Running both

Because receiving texts is free and does not trigger a charge, you can keep your Vodafone number alive for bank codes while a travel eSIM carries the data.

Buy the eSIM before you fly and check your phone is compatible and unlocked. On arrival, install it over airport wifi, set it as your mobile data line, and turn data roaming on for that line only. On the Vodafone line, turn data roaming off, and avoid making or answering calls and sending texts.

Vodafone’s 50KB daily floor makes this more forgiving than the other two carriers, since a small amount of stray background data will not start a charge. Watch the dual SIM behaviour though, since Vodafone charges per service and using both lines on the same day is $10. Our dual SIM setup guide covers the settings.

The verdict

Choose Vodafone $5 Roaming if you are on a large plan or an Ultra+ plan, your data is not speed capped, your trip is short, and you want your own number to keep working.

Choose a travel eSIM if your plan’s data is speed capped, your plan is on the exclusion list, you travel more than 90 days a year, your included allowance is small, or you are on prepaid.

The honest summary is that Vodafone’s product is the best of the three for a certain customer, and worth nothing at all to another, and the difference is buried in the words “included data”. Check what your plan actually includes at full speed before you decide.

If a travel eSIM suits your trip, our destination pages have the plans and every price is in Australian dollars.

Questions people actually ask

Does Vodafone $5 Roaming give me extra data?

No. It lets you use the data already included on your plan while overseas. Telstra and Optus both add a daily allowance instead.

Why can’t I use all my plan data while roaming?

Because data capped at 1.5Mbps, 2Mbps, 10Mbps or 25Mbps is excluded. Only your full speed included allowance is available overseas.

What happens after 90 days of roaming in a year?

You are automatically moved to pay as you go rates of $1 per MB. The service does not stop, it just costs two hundred times more per megabyte.

Will I be charged if I do not use my phone?

Only if you send a text or MMS, make a call, receive a call, or use more than 50KB of data in a day. Receiving texts and MMS is free and does not trigger a charge.

How much is extra data if I run out?

$5 per gigabyte, added automatically in 1GB blocks. Vodafone publishes no limit on how many blocks can be added.

What if two of us are travelling on the same account?

$5 per service per day. Two phones used on the same day is $10, three is $15, and they all draw from the same shared data pool.

Do the prepaid add-ons include data?

Yes. $5 gives 1GB for one day, $15 gives 3GB for three days, and $35 gives 7GB for seven days, across 80 destinations, handsets only.

When does a prepaid add-on expire?

Vodafone’s page says two different things. The body copy and the Critical Information Summary say the period starts at midnight AEST on the day of purchase. The plan cards on the same page say it runs from the time of purchase. Assume the midnight version and buy early in the Australian day.

Sources

All Vodafone figures, quotes, eligibility rules and exclusions retrieved 17 August 2026 from Vodafone International Roaming, Vodafone Prepaid Roaming Add-ons, Vodafone roaming support, the Vodafone International Mobile Roaming Product terms, January 2026, the Vodafone Postpaid Plans terms, July 2026 and the Prepaid Roaming Add-ons Critical Information Summary. Our prices from our own product pages, same date.

Written by Lachlan, who runs The SIM Shop from Brisbane and answers the support email himself.