eSIM for Australia and New Zealand (2026): One Plan for Both Countries

One eSIM for Australia and New Zealand costs from $4.50 for 1GB, $13 for 10GB over 30 days, or $11 for a week of unlimited data, and it covers both countries without a second install. Wayfarro's Australia & New Zealand plan runs on Telstra and Optus in Australia and One NZ across the Tasman. At most sizes it costs the same as the Australia-only plan and less than the New Zealand-only plan, which makes it the plan to buy for almost any trip that touches both countries, and for plenty that don't.

This guide compares the two-country plan with Wayfarro's single-country plans, explains how the handover works when you fly between Sydney and Auckland, and says which plan fits which trip.

eSIM for Australia and New Zealand: one plan or two?

Here are Wayfarro's prices for the two-country plan next to its Australia-only and New Zealand-only plans. All three are filled in from the live store, so what you see is today's price.

Plan	Australia & New Zealand	Australia only	New Zealand only
1GB · 7 days	$4.50	$4	$4.50
2GB · 15 days	$5.50	$5.50	$5.50
3GB · 30 days	$6	$6	$7
5GB · 30 days	$8.50	$8.50	$10
10GB · 30 days	$13	$13	$15
20GB · 30 days	$19	$19	$25
50GB · 30 days	$39	$34	$53
Unlimited Lite · 3 days	$6.50	$8.50	$10
Unlimited Lite · 7 days	$11	$11	$15
Unlimited Lite · 15 days	$23	$23	$31
Unlimited Lite · 30 days	$45	$45	$61
Networks	Telstra, Optus, One NZ	Telstra, Optus	Not named on the plan page

How to read this table: the two-country plan is priced like an Australia plan, not like a sum of two. The New Zealand-only plan is the dearest of the three at most sizes, so even a New Zealand-only trip is usually cheaper on the two-country plan. The one place to check is the 50GB plan, where Australia-only is the cheaper buy if you're not crossing the Tasman.

The unlimited rows are Unlimited Lite: 1GB a day at full speed, then 512 kbps until the next day. The plan also comes as Unlimited Essential (1GB a day, then 1.25 Mbps) at $14 for 7 days, and Unlimited Plus (2GB a day, then 2 Mbps) at $27 for 7 days. All three run from 1 to 30 days.

How the handover works between the two countries

You install once and never touch it again. The eSIM holds one profile that's allowed on both countries' networks. When you land in Auckland after a week in Sydney, your phone drops Telstra or Optus and picks up One NZ within a minute or two of leaving airplane mode. No new QR code, no second plan to activate, no data lost.

Three details make this work in your favour:

• Validity starts on first connection, not at install. Install at home, fly, and the clock starts when the eSIM first connects in Australia or New Zealand.
• The data pool is shared. A 10GB plan is 10GB across both countries, in whatever split your trip takes.
• Top-ups don't reinstall. If 10GB runs out in Queenstown, add data to the same eSIM from your account. The profile on your phone stays put.

Compare that with buying a separate eSIM for Australia and New Zealand: two installs, two validity clocks, and leftover data on the first one that you can't carry over.

Networks: Telstra, Optus and One NZ

In Australia the plan uses Telstra and Optus, the two biggest networks, and in New Zealand it uses One NZ, the largest carrier there. One NZ is the former Vodafone New Zealand; it held 38% of the New Zealand mobile market in 2021. Telstra is Australia's largest telecom by market share, and Optus the second, with mobile coverage reaching about 99% of the Australian population.

Where that leaves you on the ground:

• Cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch are all strong on every network, with 5G in the centres.
• Australian road trips: Telstra reaches further into the outback than anyone else, which is why having it on the plan matters. The Great Ocean Road and the Blue Mountains are fine; between Alice Springs and Uluru, 335 km apart, expect nothing from any network between the towns.
• New Zealand road trips: coverage follows the main highways. The Milford Road, the West Coast of the South Island and the alpine passes have long dead stretches on every network, so download offline maps in Te Anau or Queenstown before you drive.
• Ferries and flights: the Cook Strait crossing loses signal mid-strait, and there's no coverage over the Tasman Sea, which is about 2,000 km wide. Your phone reconnects on arrival.

The plan picks the network for you. Wayfarro's page doesn't let you choose Telstra over Optus, so if you want to force it, check which network your phone shows in Settings and toggle airplane mode to make it reselect.

Which plan should you buy?

For an eSIM for Australia and New Zealand, match the plan to the length of the trip, not the number of countries.

• Two weeks, one city in each country, normal use: the 5GB or 10GB 30-day plan at $8.50 or $13. Maps, messaging, photos and some social media use about 0.5–1GB a day.
• Three to four weeks across both countries: the 20GB plan at $19. If you'll be posting video every day, step up to the 50GB plan.
• Campervan or working from the road: the 50GB plan at $39 or the 100GB plan at $69. Hotspot is allowed on every plan, so a laptop can share the connection at holiday parks.
• A week of heavy use with no counting: 7 days of Unlimited Lite at $11, or Unlimited Plus at $27 if you stream or video-call daily.
• A stopover in Sydney on the way to Auckland: the 1-day unlimited plan at $4.50 covers the layover, and the same eSIM is ready when you land in New Zealand if you pick a longer plan instead.
• Longer than 30 days: plans top out at 30 days, so buy a 30-day plan and top it up or add a second one from your account when it expires. The eSIM stays installed.

If you're only going to Australia, the Australia eSIM guide compares Wayfarro with other providers there. For a New Zealand-only trip, read the New Zealand eSIM guide, which also covers where the signal drops on the South Island.

How to set up an eSIM for Australia and New Zealand

Install at home over Wi-Fi, then switch it on when you land.

1. Check your phone. It needs to be carrier-unlocked and eSIM-capable: iPhone XS and later, Google Pixel 3 and later, and recent Samsung Galaxy phones all qualify.
2. Install before you fly. Scan the QR code or use the one-tap install link; it takes a couple of minutes. The install guide walks through iPhone and Android.
3. Label it "AU/NZ" so you can tell it apart from your home line.
4. On landing, set it as your mobile-data line and turn on Data Roaming for the eSIM. Travel eSIMs technically roam, so data stays off until this is on.
5. Keep your home SIM active for calls and texts, with its own data roaming off, so bank codes still arrive.
6. At the second country, do nothing. Airplane mode off, wait a minute, and the eSIM connects to the local network.

Things to know on the ground

Both countries are easy places to use a travel eSIM, with a few quirks.

• 3G is gone. Telstra closed its 3G network at the end of October 2024 and Optus followed, and One NZ scheduled its switch-off for the end of 2025. Any eSIM-capable phone is 4G or 5G, so this only matters for an old backup handset.
• Public Wi-Fi is thin outside airports and libraries. Sydney Airport, about 9 km south of the city centre, and Auckland Airport, 21 km south of Auckland, both have free Wi-Fi, but cafés and hotels vary a lot and rural towns often have none.
• Distances are the trap in Australia. It's about 335 km from Alice Springs to Uluru with no coverage between them, and the Nullarbor and the WA coast north of Geraldton are similar. Download offline maps and your bookings before you leave town.
• New Zealand's Great Walks have no coverage for most of their length. The Department of Conservation recommends a personal locator beacon on the Milford, Routeburn and Kepler tracks; treat your phone as a camera there.
• Daylight saving is out of sync. New Zealand is two or three hours ahead of Sydney depending on the season, and Queensland and Western Australia don't change clocks at all. Your phone sorts this out automatically once the eSIM connects.

Bottom line

For a trip that touches both countries, the Australia & New Zealand plan is the only sensible choice: one install, one data pool, and a price that matches the Australia-only plan at most sizes. It's also the cheaper way to buy data for a New Zealand-only trip at everything from 3GB up. The 50GB plan is the exception, where the Australia-only plan costs less. See the Australia & New Zealand eSIM plans. Adding Fiji, Bali or Singapore to the itinerary? Put the stops into the Trip Builder and it pairs this plan with the right one for each extra country.