Spark revamps overseas roaming charges, cheapest option no longer available
Spark customers travelling overseas for the school holidays face new charges to stay connected, with the telco scrapping its cheapest $25 fortnightly roaming pack.
The company is overhauling its roaming plans, with the new charges taking effect this Friday, including an automatic $10-a-day fee if customers don’t turn roaming off.
A spokesperson for Spark said the packs are “designed to better reflect how customers use their phones overseas”.
Previously, pay monthly customers could use 2GB of data on one of the provider’s 14-day roaming packs, priced at $25 and $30.
But the company said travellers were frequently using more than 2GB within the first week of the existing plans.
This meant many customers were buying a second pack, raising the total price to between $50 and $60 for two weeks of use.
Three new packs will replace the old plans, alongside a new daily roaming option.
A $30 14-day pack will still be available to prepaid customers.
The other options will provide travellers with 20GB to use over 30 days, a change the company believes will make roaming simpler and more predictable.
“This helps our customers to stay connected for longer, with fewer top-ups, less uncertainty, and greater confidence about what they’ll pay.”
While the $50 and $65 packs have a higher upfront cost, customers would receive five times more data to use than under the previous plans, the spokesperson said.
They said Spark recognises the changes will affect customers differently, depending on their travel habits.
“That’s why we’re offering a mix of daily roaming and roaming packs, so customers can choose the option that best suits their trip and usage.”
The daily roaming service will activate automatically when travellers make calls, send texts or use data, allowing them to use their local plan for $10 a day across more than 100 eligible countries.
“If you’d prefer not to use daily roaming, you can buy a roaming pack before you go. That will activate instead as soon as you start roaming in an eligible destination.
“If you don’t want to incur roaming charges at all, keep your phone turned off or in flight mode,” an update on Spark’s website reads.