Woolworths makes holiday calls more affordable with global roaming SIM

You hear a lot about bill shock when people go on holiday, with mobile phone providers generally charging an arm and a leg for overseas calls, texts, and data, but an Aussie supermarket is hoping to help fix this.

Available at any of the 890 Woolies supermarkets, the Woolworths Mobile Global Roaming SIM aims to offer better pricing for making call, sending texts, and even downloading data while you’re on the go on business and holidays.

“Australians love to travel: they’re a very adventurous bunch, but the last thing anyone wants to bring home as a souvenir is a massive mobile phone bill,” said Graeme Veitch, Head of Woolworths Mobile. “That’s why we’re launching our own low cost, easy-to-use pre-paid global roaming SIM as a cure for post holiday bill shock.”

Starter packs cost $29 and include ten bucks of credit to get you going, though more can obviously be purchased, all of which will last for one year. Two types of SIM are available for use, with the starter pack able to produce either a regular SIM or even one of the micro-SIMs.

The service runs through Cubic Telecom in Ireland and can provide some solid savings when used in various nations abroad, including China, Hong Kong, Egypt, Singapore, and even Japan, where – for the latter – we’re seeing a call to Australia costs 34 cents per minute compared to the regular international roaming charge of $1.17 per minute.

That said, it’s worth noting that our search through the Woolworths Global Roaming SIM website showed us that quite a few places weren’t going to save you anything, with the United Kingdom and the USA both on that list.

As always, it’s worth doing a little research before you catch your flight, with a rates page online to find out if the Woolies SIM can save you money where ever you’re planning to go.