eSIM Australia
Australia eSIM from 1,95€ on the Optus network: 1 GB to unlimited, prepaid, no contract and no registration — set it up before you fly and you are online as you land in Sydney.
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2GB highspeed/day, then unlimited at 1Mbps
Your Selection
Your plan only starts counting when the eSIM first connects at your destination — so you can buy today and travel in three weeks.
How does Simbye eSIM work for Australia?
Buy and set up before you fly
The link and the QR code arrive by email straight away. Set the eSIM up at home on wifi – one tap on the link is enough, otherwise scan the QR code. After that it sits in your phone as a second line and sleeps. The validity only starts when it first connects in Australia, so you can buy weeks ahead.
Switch it on after you land
Whether you arrive at Sydney Kingsford Smith, Melbourne Tullamarine, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Cairns or Darwin: turn off airplane mode, pick the Simbye line for mobile data in your settings, and switch data roaming on for that line. After a minute or two, Optus appears at the top of the screen. There is no APN to type in.
Top up on the road
When the data runs out you can top up online at any time – no reinstalling, and nothing changes in your settings. Before an outback leg it pays to download maps and campsite data while you still have a signal.
Check Device Compatibility
Make sure your device supports eSIM before purchasing
Which networks will you be on in Australia?
Your Australia eSIM runs on the Optus network.
| Networks | Download | Upload | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 159Mbit/s | 19Mbit/s | 47ms |
Source: nPerf averages, 01.01.2025 – 31.12.2025.
There is nothing to configure. After you land, your phone connects to the Optus network automatically. Usually the line is already connected while the plane is still rolling to the terminal at Sydney Kingsford Smith or Melbourne Tullamarine. If nothing works at all in one spot, that's local Optus coverage, not a setting to fix. The one thing that matters: data roaming has to be switched on for the Simbye line, otherwise it stays silent. You never type in an APN.
In the cities and along the populated coast, coverage is solid: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart, Darwin, Cairns and the Gold Coast, plus the Blue Mountains, Byron Bay, the Whitsundays and the Great Ocean Road. The further inland you go, the bigger the gaps get – on the Stuart Highway, across the Nullarbor or on the Gibb River Road there can be hours of driving between two places with a signal. That is not an eSIM quirk, that is Australia: the networks follow cities, highways and towns, not the map.
eSIM or a local SIM card in Australia?
Speed decides it in Australia: the eSIM is live as you step off the plane and skips the legally required identity check, while a local card means a counter, your passport and picking just one carrier.
| Feature |  Simbye eSIM |
Local SIM card |
|---|---|---|
| ID and registration | Not needed – buy the eSIM, set it up, done | Identity check required by law, for visitors usually a passport |
| When you are online | The moment you land, the eSIM is already in your phone | Only after arrival: find a counter or store, queue, get it activated |
| Where you get it | At home before you fly, by email | At the airport, at Woolworths, Coles, Australia Post or 7-Eleven; the airport counters are usually the most expensive |
| Australian phone number | No, data only – no calls or SMS over the network | Yes, a +61 number with calls and SMS |
| Your home number | Stays active as a second line, you still receive your texts | If your phone has only one SIM slot, your own SIM has to come out |
| Network choice | Optus, fixed in advance – nothing to choose | You commit to one carrier when you buy |
| Paying and topping up | Online before the trip, prepaid, top up from anywhere | In Australian dollars on the spot, top-ups in store or via an app with an Australian payment method |
| If something goes wrong | Email support, no need to travel anywhere | Back to the shop, with opening hours and a queue |
For most travelers the eSIM is the simpler choice: set up before departure, no queuing on arrival.
How much data do you need in Australia?
Trip length
How you use your phone
What does an eSIM for Australia cost?
from 1,95€
5 plans · 7–180 days
Simbye offers 5 plans for Australia from 1,95€ to 43,95€ — prepaid, no contract.
Plans for Australia range from 1 GB to 50 GB.
Validity runs from 7 to 180 days and starts with your first connection in Australia.
Data plans
- 1 GB 7 days 1,95€ 0,27€ per travel day
- 5 GB 30 days 6,95€ 0,23€ per travel day
- 10 GB 30 days 11,95€ 0,39€ per travel day
- 20 GB 30 days 19,95€ 0,66€ per travel day
- 50 GB 180 days 43,95€ 0,24€ per travel day
Good to know
- Networks
- Optus
- Setting it up
- A link in your email, or the QR code — one tap is enough
- Network technology
- 4G/LTE — and 5G where the network already offers it
- APN and settings
- Nothing to set. The eSIM brings everything with it
- Hotspot
- Allowed — for a laptop, tablet or a travel companion
- Adding more data
- Top up any time, without setting anything up again
- Calls and texts
- Not included — WhatsApp calls run over the data
- Your own number
- Stays in the phone and stays reachable
- Contract
- None. The plan ends by itself
- Worth knowing
- Roaming on your home contract gets billed here — this eSIM is prepaid, so nothing is added afterwards
Frequently Asked Questions about Australia eSIM
Data, calls, real phone numbers, top-ups and setup — everything you need to know before you buy a Simbye eSIM.
The cheapest eSIM in Australia starts at 1,95€ - the smallest plan that still covers your trip. Cheap eSIM plans for Australia are the ones you do not overbuy: sizes start at 1 GB and go up to unlimited, validity runs from 7 to 180 days, and you can top up mid-trip instead of paying for data you never use. A week in Sydney needs far less than a month on the road from Cairns to Melbourne.
Yes, the eSIM does work in the outback wherever Optus has coverage - that's the real limit in Australia. An eSIM for Australia is a digital SIM card built into your phone. Cities, the coast, highways and towns are covered. Between towns, on the Stuart Highway, across the Nullarbor or on the Gibb River Road, there is often no signal at all for hours. That is true of every Australian SIM. Download maps and documents beforehand.
Optus. It's the only network this eSIM uses - there's no second network to switch to. Coverage reaches along the highways and through small towns but thins out and disappears outside the populated corridors, as covered in the outback question above.
No need to register or show anything. There is nothing to register for our eSIM. Australia's ID requirement applies to prepaid SIM cards bought in Australia – there the provider must verify your identity before the card works.
No, this eSIM gives you no Australian phone number and no calls: it's data only, without calls or SMS over the network. Calling over the internet works as usual: WhatsApp, FaceTime, Signal, Zoom. Your home number stays active as a second line and still receives your texts.
Yes, you can call 000 in an emergency. According to Australia's regulator, the ACMA, an emergency call to 000 does not need a SIM at all – your phone will use any network it can reach. Your handset does have to support 4G or VoLTE. Where there is no network at all, no emergency call works, with any card.
You can buy an eSIM for Australia online, in a few minutes, before you fly. Choose a data plan from the table above, pay, and the QR code lands in your inbox straight away. Scan it, and the Australia profile sits on your phone until you land and switch it on. No shop, no queue at the airport, no plastic SIM.
Yes, you can get an eSIM for Australia as a tourist - it works across the country. Your phone connects through the local Optus network the same way a local SIM card would, covering the cities, the east coast and the main highways. All you need is an unlocked handset that supports eSIM. You install the profile at home and it connects by itself after landing.
How much data you need for Australia depends on use, but 5-10 GB usually covers a fortnight of maps, messengers and email. Navigation and WhatsApp barely register, a few hundred megabytes a week. Uploading photos and clips daily moves you towards 20 GB. Streaming on long drives or working off the hotspot is the real drain, so the largest sizes fit that pattern better. Sizes are in the table above.
The eSIM that's best for Australia depends on your route. This one uses Optus, which works well in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and along the populated coast. It is data only: no Australian number, no calls or texts. Go far into the outback and any travel eSIM drops out, so plan offline maps rather than a bigger pack.
Ready for Australia?
Pick a plan, tap the link in your email — you are online from the moment you land.
Choose a planPrepaid, no contract. The plan simply ends on its own.
