Best phone plan with international calls this month

For those with friends or family overseas, a phone plan with unlimited international calls included could ease your worries so you can talk as much as you want with loved ones without the weight of a hefty phone bill on your mind.

Optus, Telstra and Vodafone all offer a range of popular phone plans with free and unlimited international calls. However, you’ll want to compare the selected international countries that you can call for free. Otherwise, it’s also worth considering one of the many MVNOs who offer some great deals on unlimited international calls.

Let’s take a look at the best phone plans with international calls.

Best Optus phone plan with unlimited international calls

The most popular Optus plan that provides free international calls is the $49 Medium Optus Choice Plan. Available on either a 24-month or 36-month handset repayment bundle or as a BYO phone, SIM-only plan, it offers unlimited standard international calls to 35 selected countries from Australia, along with a generous 60GB data.

Which are the destinations on the Optus international calls country list?

There are 35 countries Optus provides free unlimited international calls to from Australia. They are as follows: Brazil, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, China, Columbia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, USA and Vietnam. Outside of these countries, you’ll be paying Pay As You Go (PAYG) rates.

Prepaid customers, on the other hand, have a couple more options. You can choose the Epic Data plan, which starts from $30 per month and includes unlimited standard international calls to 15 selected countries (Canada, mainland China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, UK and USA), or you can opt to pay $5 per month for 300 international minutes to 50 selected international destinations, which include the following: Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, UK, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela, Vietnam.

Optus international call rates

If you’re on an Optus prepaid plan without the $5 International Talk add-on, your international call rates will vary depending on your specific plan. Typically though, the call rate to most countries will range from 3 cents to $1 per minute. The most common call rate is 10 cents per minute for a majority of destinations.

Otherwise, if you’re on a postpaid plan with Optus that doesn’t include unlimited standard international calls, you’ll be charged PAYG rates. These are typically more expensive, starting at 35 cents per call with an additional charge per second, per 30 seconds or per minute, depending on which postpaid plan you’re on. Usually, you’re looking at charges of around 36 cents to $5 per minute for standard mobile calls, depending on the specific country.

Best Optus MVNO phone plan with unlimited international calls

If you’re sold on the Optus network, you could consider opting for an Optus MVNO instead. With an MVNO, you’ll get the same Optus network access, often at a better price.

amaysim’s $30 UNLIMITED Plan is an extremely popular plan on the Optus network and offers unlimited standard international calls to 28 selected countries, including Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Puerto Rico, Romania, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, UK, USA and Vietnam.

It’s a 28-day prepaid plan, so it may be easier to control your monthly bill since you can’t accidentally run excess charges without topping up first. It also boasts 30GB data per month (50GB for the first three renewals), so you can stream to your heart’s content.

Best Telstra plan with international calls

Telstra doesn’t offer any plans with unlimited international calls, however, its $50 Prepaid Complete plan includes 1,000 minutes to selected Zone 1 countries and 150 minutes to selected Zone 2 countries. It also contains a decent 28GB per month (plus bonus data on your first few recharges) and $15 extra International Credit to spend on calls and texts (standard international rates apply)

Which are the destinations on the Telstra international calls country list?

For the Prepaid Complete plan, the selected Zone 1 countries include Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Guam, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Puerto Rico, Romania, Singapore, South Korea, UK, USA, Vietnam. Zone 2 countries include Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, Columbia, Iceland, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, France, Iran, Israel, Kenya, Kuwait, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Peru, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates. Outside of these locations, you’re looking at anywhere from 30 cents to $2 per minute.

If you’re on a Telstra postpaid plan, you also have the option of adding an International Call & SMS Pack for an extra $10 per month, which includes unlimited standard calls and SMS to 20 countries. However, not all of them are the same as the ones available for free via the Pre-paid Complete plan.

The full list of countries included are: Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Guam, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Puerto Rico, Romania, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, UK, USA, US Virgin Islands, and Vietnam.

Telstra international call rates

Outside Telstra’s dedicated Prepaid Complete Plan and International Call Pack, you’re looking at some pretty hefty charges to call your overseas contacts. No matter where you’re calling, there’s a flat $0.40 connection fee, plus a destination-based, per-minute charge – anywhere from 44 cents to over $2 per minute to fixed line numbers, sometimes more to mobiles.

Best Telstra MVNO phone plan with unlimited international calls

There are quite a few Telstra MVNOs offering decent plans with international call inclusions. One of the most popular ones is the Belong Large 40GB Plan providing unlimited international calls to 30 selected countries, which is almost on par with the number of countries available with Optus. That’s pretty good for an MVNO.

The full list of selected countries is as follows: Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, USA and Vietnam.

Best Vodafone phone plan with unlimited international calls

The Vodafone $65 SIM Only Super+ Plan ($55 per month for the first 12 months with no lock-in contract) gives you unlimited calls to what Vodafone calls its ‘Zone 1’ countries and 200 minutes to its ‘Zone 2’ countries.

As well as unlimited international calls to selected destinations, a big plus of the $65 Super+ Plan is it also provides ‘Infinite’ data. Once you’ve used up your data allowance of 100GB at maximum speed, you’ll still be able to browse the net with a speed cap of 10Mbps.

Which are the destinations on the Vodafone international calls country list?

For postpaid customers, Vodafone’s Zone 1 countries are Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Germany, Guam, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Puerto Rico, Romania, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Spain Canary Islands, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, the United States of America and the Vatican (Holy See).

In Zone 2, you’ll find Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brunei, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Faroe Islands, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Laos, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Macau, Malta, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Northern Mariana Islands, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Reunion, Russia, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Venezuela and Vietnam.

Vodafone international call rates

For prepaid customers who don’t have international calls included (or do, but are calling someone outside of Zone 1 or Zone 2), call rates vary based on your plan, hovering between 2 cents and $3.50 per minute.

As for postpaid, selected plans include unlimited standard international calls to Zone 1 and limited minutes to Zone 2, however, PAYG rates apply for countries outside of these zones. Rates differ depending on when you signed your contract, but the most recent plans charge a connection fee of 28 cents with a charge ranging between 10 cents to $4.50 per minute.

Best Vodafone MVNO phone plan with unlimited international calls

If you’re looking for a budget option on the Vodafone network, you might also want to consider Lebara Mobile. This MVNO has a wide variety of plans with unlimited international calls, the cheapest being their popular $29.90 Medium Plan. You’ll get unlimited international calls to 30 selected countries plus 100 minutes to Zone 1 countries (200 to Bangladesh and Pakistan) and 30 minutes to Zone 2 countries.

If you seriously have family all over the world or often make international business calls on your personal mobile, you might even want to consider the Lebara $69.90 XXL Plan that gives you unlimited standard international calls and texts to a whopping 60 selected countries, with 500 minutes to Zone 1 countries and 50 minutes to Zone 2 countries thrown in.