HOW TO: Use your iPhone overseas
Getting set for that long awaited trip overseas you’ve been looking forward to since you booked your plane ticket 8 months ago?! Well, I recently got back from my honeymoon overseas and wish I had of read this blog (not that it was possible) before I took off as it would have saved me hassle, time and quite a few phone calls back home!
As a Telstra customer (naturally) I knew I had access to a range of global roaming services but what I didn’t realise was that all iPhones purchased from Telstra are locked to the Telstra mobile phone network and as a default will only work with a Telstra SIM card.
What I needed as I landed in a foreign country was the freedom to use another SIM card while travelling – a SIM from said foreign country.
What I realised far too late was this:
Unlocking your phone service for all postpaid customers is free of charge but it can take up to 72 hours so make sure you give yourself enough time before travelling overseas to unlock your iPhone.
And here are the steps to start the process:
Find out more about your iPhone, you’ll need these details when you call us:
- Your mobile number
- Your iPhone serial number
- Your iPhone IMEI number
To locate this information, find the ‘Settings’ app which usually should be on your first page of apps (it may also be in a folder called – ‘Utilities’). Once in Settings, scroll down to find the ‘General’ option, and press the ‘About’ field.
From here you should be able to find the necessary details.
Step 1: Submit your iPhone unlock request to Telstra
- Pre-Paid iPhone: Check and pay your Pre-Paid iPhone unlocking fee by calling 125 8880 or visiting a Telstra store, then wait 72 hours and follow the Apple unlock instructions (step 2).
- Post-Paid iPhone: Call the iPhone Unlocking Centre on 13 2200 who will submit the unlock request for you, then wait 72 hours and follow Apple’s instructions (step 2). There is no fee to unlock your Post-Paid Apple iPhone from Telstra.
Step 2: Complete the iPhone unlock via iTunes
After 72 hours, follow the Apple unlock instructions to complete the unlock process and update your carrier settings.
So before you jet off, follow these simple steps and you’ll be ready to use your phone as soon as you land.
Happy travels!
Editor’s note: We updated these instructions on 24 April 2013 with the latest information on unlocking your iPhone.
Pre-Paid iPhone customers:
You will need to pay an iPhone unlocking fee by either calling our Pre-Paid Unlocking Centre or visiting a Telstra store. Instructions are found online.
You will then be transferred to the iPhone Unlocking Centre who will submit the unlock request for your iPhone after verifying the unlocking fee has been paid. Once the request has been processed you will need to follow the above instructions for iTunes unlocking.
Hi Lynne, once you put one SIM card in it it’s unlocked for all SIM cards and carriers
have a great trip.
Phoned waiting for the 72 hours to pass was told I would also have to download new update backup iphone click on restore and then syn my phone for this to work is this true as not all my contacts are on iCloud if I do what I am told I will loose over a 100 business contacts. Your instructions don’t tell me to do that which instructions do I follow
The back up is just to be ‘safe’ once 72 hours have passed connect your phone to iTunes and a message will appear advising of a carrier update. Install the update and you are good to go.
I was wondering if you can recommend any carriers in the US that I can use for my iphone that I unlock?
We are in the US at the moment we chose Tmobile but you can also use AT&T but don’t listen to the advice of updating your phone in America as it will lock your phone to the US
Hi,
During that 72 hour period, will I be able to use my mobile for calls, SMS and web access, without fuss?
Hi Stu, You phone will work as per usual. Brendan. Should you encounter any issues, you’ll nee to speak with Apple.
Hi,
What about setting up wazappz in overseas ? Doesnt seems to work on my iphone4 after i upgrade recently.
tks
Hello Cecillia, I’ve not hear of this. Perhasp the good people over at CrowdSupport can help answer this for you….
Hi
After waiting 72 hours, is it possible to sync my iPhone on someone else’s computer and their iTunes, without losing any of my iphone data (music, contacts etc) and without gaining any data from their iTunes? Or does it have to be done on my own usual computer and iTunes
hi telstra
i cant up upgrade os from 4.2 on my telstra 4s iphone
when i go to add any apps. it asks for os 4.3 and higher
I really need to unlock my iphone 4
i can’t use it overseas
Sorry to ask what might have been answered, but I requested the unlock this afternoon. The Telstra consultant on the phone said that I would have to do the iTunes sync AND a complete factory restore, and she then said I would lose all my data on the phone. I would then have to put the data back onto my phone from the backup. This seems a bit ridiculous and too much of a risk (especially since once I sync, all my data on the cloud would be wiped too, correct?)
Was she correct in that I’ll have to do a factory restore and delete all my information, or will just syncing to iTunes in the 72 hour period be sufficient and my data stay intact?
For everyone’s reference, I rang Telstra just hours before going overseas (to The Americas) and I did not have time to sync with iTunes, after the process was complete on Telstra’s end.
Yet I was able to use my iPhone overseas.
Not sure why or if this would be the case with anyone or everyone else, but I thought I would post it in case others are in a similar situation – it might work for you, too.
Good to know Stu. I just finished the process and it was pretty painless, although I will say that it was nice to have Apple tech support to walk me through it (making sure I ticked the “don’t sync” in the iTunes preference while the process was in place is important).
Also, after looking through all the sim options and the like (for the US), it seems that the easiest is just to buy a Telstra data roaming pack. $29 for 100MB. I know, that’s not much but given the prevalence of wifi in the US (Starbucks and McDonalds are your friends), it’s only for emergencies.
If you’re going to go full US sim and you have an iPhone or Blackberry, note that AT&T’s prepaid sims don’t include (and can’t do) data…it’s phone and text only. That said, if you’re not fussed about data and want to do wifi only, they’re a good deal at between $25-$50/month including unlimited calls (in US) and text (international).
Hi Deb,
I’m not sure where you got those figures from but I believe you’re referring to the $29 international data roaming pack. If so, the pack is $29 and it gives $150 of data, not 150mb. Charged at $15.36 p/MB, this only gives you about 10mb of data. Might want to keep that in mind when using data o/s!
I phoned telstra to unlock my iphone 4s and waited the 72 hours . After 72 hours the carrier update did not come up when I sync to iTunes. Phoned Apple they said the request never sent by Telstra. Telstra say they have and to do back up and restore. I am not prepared to back up restore as have important media files and setting I don’t want to loose (i have icloud and backup on itunes). Anyone know how I can unlock my phone without doing back up and restore as I have been trying to sort this out for 2 weeks now?
Hi Della. That was my fear, too. Losing all my data on my iPhone. BUT…it was a breeze and nothing was lost. First, make sure Telstra sent the request to Apple (call apple on 1300 321 456 I believe). Once they get it, the Apple folks should walk you through the process (they did for me), but if not…do a backup onto your computer (not the cloud). Then, with your iPhone connected, go into the iTunes preferences menu under the device tab, and tick the first box on the bottom (do not sync….). This is just temporary while you’re doing the whole process. Then bite the bullet and hit the restore to factory settings button after the software is updated. Once it does that (takes about 5 minutes), the iPhone will reboot, and on the screen of your computer it will ask you if you want to restore from the most recent backup, the one you just did. Click yes, and all is sorted! Just make sure that when you do your backup at the beginning of all this that you’ve ticked all the items you want to back up.
Seriously, I was terrified when I hit that restore button, but it was easy peasy and nothing was lost.
My iphone 4s broke recently so I took it to the Telstra store and they sent it away to Apple to be replaced. However, I updated to the iphone 5 so now I want to sell the replaced iphone 4s.
From reading this article, I’m guessing it is locked to Telstra. Since it is brand new, I don’t want to turn it on and do the whole set up because I’m sure the person buying it would like to do that. But is that the only way to unlock it?
Also the phone no longer has a mobile number attached to it.
What would you recommend?
Got The Iphone 5 from EBay which says Unlocked. But unfortunately, once I have received Iphone was locked to Telstra. Although I am not an User Of Telstra I JusT GiVe Them a Call And They Unlocked it. Usually It takes 72 hours but sometimes 4 hours Is More than Enough. After 5 hours I had put my Optus sim and here we Go its Working. Love the Telstra Service
Hi Maddy,
Easiest way is to call the Apple Store and asked them whether it is locked to Telstra or not. They just ask you the IMEI number and let you know. If it does locked to Telstra you need to call to Telstra unlocked representative. What they will do they will sent a request to apple to unlock it. You don’t need to open your iPhone and check it even. After 4 to 72 hours it wil be unlocked by itself. Hope it helps so best of luck.
Just performed this and it was unlocked within a minute! great work telstra
I have an iPhone 5. Instructions say to install another carriers SIM card in the phone. I do not have another nano SIM to put in the phone, as I will not be travelling for a few months, and I will get the SIM when I arrive. Any suggestions?
Hi Tom,
It sounds like there’s a gremlin playing with your phone! It may not be unlocked to work on the Telstra network (if it was previously bought using another network) or it’s just working on a mind of it’s own. Have a chat to our 24×7 Live Chat Customer Service team about unlocking your phone via their Facebook app here: http://www.facebook.com/Telstra24x7/app_201698766614634
Or, I recommend restoring the iPhone which always seems to work wonders with fixing iPhone problems. Again, chat to our Live Chat team first so they can walk you through the steps of backing up your phone first so you don’t lose anything.
Good luck!
- Gigi.
Hey thanks so much for posting this!
I’m studying and living overseas in Holland from Feb-July next year. First I will have to unlock my phone and I’m looking at buying a VodafoneNL prepaid sim for use over there. Any other suggestions? I want something with lots of data for whatsapp and facebook etc
Also I’m on a $59 +$8mro iPhone 4s freedom connect plan that is only 1 year old. What happens to my plan and number while I’m overseas? Is there any way I can freeze or reduce the $67 a month fee until I return?
Thanks in advance
Justin
This was super easy. Called the Telstra helpline about 10am, didn’t even have to wait for very long to speak to someone. On the way home picked up a $2 sim and put it in this evening and it just popped up with the new carrieron my phone. Didn’t have to restore to factory settings.
Great news Tania!
Thanks for letting us know it worked and was simple.
Is there any other (quick) way around this unlocking process? I didn’t realise that my phone was locked and tried to put a pre-paid UK SIM in it (we fly out tonight!!). By the time the 72 hours has passed, I will already be in the UK and won’t have access to my itunes
I’ve called the number, waited, put in a Vodafone sim and it seems to be working….. do i still need to do the restore?? My telstra sim still works aswell…
If it’s all working then it sounds like you should be good to go! I believe Apple may have improved this process with recent iOS updates.
Worked great within not even 2 hours. Thank you!
Hi
Am already overseas. I had friend gave me their i phone 4, and we just took their sim card out. He was with Telstra post paid. Is there anyway to unlock this phone without the sim card? If so is there a number to call to do so from outside australia?
Kind thanks
Hi Jo. From outside Australia, you can call +61 2 9242 0570 – our live web chat team may also be able to help. They can help with your unlocking questions.
Good afternoon sir/madame,
I am at Vanuatu, and i have a friend from Australia whom came to Vanuatu and because I asked her to bring me a phone from Aussie so that i can refund her, then somehow she came but instead gave me her IPhone, and because she only came in business trip she left early and I just realised that the IPhone cannot use TVL network here. Anyways, tried contacting her but no luck in reaching them even in email, they must be in a business trip, cos they said if their on a business trip they won’t be able to respond to emails, until they reach home again.
But I am so desperate in using the phone, Can you help me?
Hi Jeffry – our customer service team may be able to help. You can start a live web chat with them here.
I have followed all the steps multiple times without success. Itunes keeps saying Sim is not supported, i have purchased a US sim through “T mobile” and have spoken with a Telstra representative 3 days ago who said she would unlock the phone. Is it possible that this process was not completed from your end? help would be greatly appreciated.
I have had the same problem in New zealand with 2degrees mobile.
Help!
Hello, am travelling to sth America in a fortnight and can’t take my own phone. Was looking to buy maybe an iPhone 3 on eBay cheap unlocked and get prepaid sim. Can I buy the sim here or do I get it when I land in buenos aires? If I wait and get it there how can I get apps and upgrades etc from iTunes account before I leave? Thanks for help.
Hi Amanda – our customer service team can help out with this. You can start a live web chat with them here.
Hi
I contacted telstra before I left perth WA with the imei and serial, I have waited the 72hours (a little over that in fact)
We have followed the steps as above and still are unable to unlock the phone.
What else can we try?
Thanks lisa
Hi Lisa
Have you plugged in your iPhone and synced it to iTunes to get the update on your phone?
Have a chat with our Live Support team they should be able to help you out.
24/7 Live Chat http://tinyurl.com/24×7-service
Hi,
I’m already in Thailand. Is there a quick and easy way of doing this if already here and not unlocked?
Hi Andrew
I’m not sure when you are oversease already pal, sorry!
Have a chat with our Live Support team they should be able to help you out.
24/7 Live Chat http://tinyurl.com/24×7-service
I bought my new iphone5 from apple direct, (they are not locked to anyone) that avoided all the telstra locking issues I experienced with my iphone4′s.
What this article does not say, which Telstra have told me, is that once you arrive in the new country, you have to insert the new sim card and then sync with iTunes!
What good is unlocking a Telstra smart phone only to not be able to use it because you need to sync with Itunes (which requires an internet connection) while you’re overseas!!!
Hi I am overseas and didn’t know my phone was locked as I sent it to apple and they gave me a new one. Now I am here I have put in my AT&T prepaid sim (which works on my friends phone – not helpful) and it says ‘activation required’. This is of the phone, not SIM card. Huge problem as I can’t ring Telstra from overseas and need to be able to use my phone ASAP for business purposes. What can I do online or otherwise to fix this? Please email me.
Hi Melissa,
The phrase ‘activation required’ is confusing me a little. I’m assuming the SIM card is activated as it’s working on your friend’s phone so I recommend you have a chat with our Live Support team they should be able to help you out. 24/7 Live Chat http://tinyurl.com/24×7-service
That tiny url fails for me…
https://livechat.telstra.com/ I think is more helpful.
I just want to unlock my phone for an overseas trip, then go back on to the Telstra network as per usual.
Where might I get a non-Telstra SIM card from, so I can complete the unlocking process?
I don’t have one of these, and hadn’t intended to get one until I’m already over there.
Hi Andrew,
You don’t need the non-Telstra SIM card to unlock your phone (you just have to call us or speak to us online), it can be unlocked with a Telstra SIM still working in it. You can buy local pre-paid SIM cards in most countries overseas so just grab one when you land. I always find it helpful to ask the staff on the plane which of the local carriers they recommend.
Enjoy your trip!
Unbelievable. Wish I saw this blog sooner. My business account manager assured me that the phone has been unlock when I first got it because I do a fair bit of travelling. Now I am stuck oversea and phone is locked, I m stuck with an overseas SIM card, no laptop or anyway to connect to iTunes to do the back up and restore that the rep is telling me to do. Worst customer service ever!!
Spending 10 mins on the phone oversea on a wild goose with the telephone, being transferred 3 times, putting up with the constant crackling line. Not looking forward to the bill!
Please help me unlock my phone, can i be able to do it online, im writing from PNG.
Regards
Hi Elly,
The fastest way for us to get your phone unlocked is to jump online (perhaps find a wifi or internet cafe) and visit our customer service team via 24/7 online LiveChat here: http://tinyurl.com/24×7-service or submit a request through your My Account page. More info on how to do this can be found here: https://help.telstra.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/16952.
I just want to unlock for when travelling OS; will be with Telstra in Oz. I don’t have (or want) an alternate sim card here. can I unlock without having a second sim card? If so, how?
Hi Steve,
Bit confused as to where ‘here’ is… If your phone is unlocked you can still use your Telstra SIM card (or overseas SIM card) as long as the phone is compatible with the network. You can check out more about compatibility at this website: http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile-phones/international-roaming/pricing-compatibility/ word of caution though: using your Telstra SIM overseas (or an overseas SIM in Australia) will incur global charges which can add up…
Our corporate plan, so I’m told, requires all the phones we buy from Telstra to be unlocked when we get them, but I have found myself stranded overseas with a ‘mistakenly’ locked phone before so we called to check before I flew out of Australia with my current iPhone 4S. All Telstra told us was that it was unlocked andI would need to sync with itunes ‘to be sure’ before I left. From this blog, I’m gathering that advice was so woefully inadequate as to be negligent. I synced with I tunes, which was clearly insufficient and i am now stuck in HK with a locked phone (again), no laptop to be able to sync with, and only able to use my phone if I submit to the gouging international data charges. Thanks for nothing.
why do you need a non telstra sim to complete the unlock process.
What if you do not have one.
Can you just back up the phone and restore factory settings?
Hi Danielle,
Have a chat to our customer service team (online if you like, via this link:http://tinyurl.com/24×7-service) to confirm this but my understanding is that yes, you can complete this without installing the non-Telstra SIM. Please just make sure you backup your iPhone before doing anything!!
Hi there, I forgot to ring to unlock my iphone5 before i left oz! what number can i ring from new zealand to get my phone unlocked so i can use it for the rest of my trip??
Hi Alicia,
Best thing to do is chat to our 24×7 Live Chat customer service team online via this link: http://tinyurl.com/24×7-service they’ll be able to arrange an unlock for you. Enjoy NZ!
The instructions I received from Telstra to unlock my iPhone 4 so I can use a travel sim, differ from those posted here (which have 3 May 2012 as the date of posting).
Steps provided by Telstra staff were:
- wait 5 hours from the call to Tesltra to request the unlock
- sync with iTunes
- install any iOS updates
- backup
- restore factory settings
- turn iPhone off
- insert travel sim
- turn on iPhone and sync with iTunes
- restart from backup
Couple of questions regarding this process:
1. when you backup, does the process actually backup all your settings, Apps, music, photo’s, etc?
2. where does this “restart from backup appear”, on your iPhone, or in iTunes?
I hate to say it, but the thought of this process petrifies me. I’m moved to taking the global roaming option, even though it’s ridiculously expensive, just to forego the stress of the potential disaster that would result from any errors in the unlocking procedure.
Where can I get step by step support, one-on-one, so that I know I’m doing it all correctly. I’m not a tech novice, but I cannot afford mistakes
Hi Roelof,
I can understand why this is so stressful! When you backup your iPhone yes, it backs up everything – apps, music, photos etc. The “Restore for Backup” button appears in iTunes under the iPhone tab when you plug your iPhone in (it should be near where the original backup button is).
If you’re still feeling nervous, our 24×7 Live Chat Customer Service team can talk you through it online via this link: http://tinyurl.com/24×7-service
I just recently purchased an iphone 5 through (Teltsra) and I live overseas. I couldn’t activate my local Digicel carrier when I landed into country
This is what I did.
• Rang the Telstra Branch where I purchased the phone and they connected to me to the unlocking customer service area – They provided this free as the information to use the phone was not conversed during my purchase
(There should be a toll free number??)
• Advised the consultant that you need you phone unlocked
• The consultant asked me for the following numbers and codes related to my my phone:
- Phone number
- In your Phone you can find the details by : Setting – General – About (scroll to the bottom of the page) and you will find
- Serial number
- IMEI
• Consultant will advise you that the phone will be unlocked within 5 hours – can be longer –
The Next Step Is To Activate your international (sim) Nano
BACK UP ALL ITEMS FROM YOUR PHONE TO YOUR COMPUTER AND OR ICLOUD VIA ITUNES IF POSSIBLE
• Connect to the internet by Wi- Fi on you phone
( probably only option)
• Place you International or new sim ( Nano into your phone )
• It will still show “ No Service”
• In your phone – Go to – General – Software update ( below)
- Note if you connect your phone to your computer and connect to itunes to download, the size of the download file is 989MB ( I tried this process and my download time was 12 hours when I first tried it and I had a black out and lost the download at 10 hours)
• Update to iOS 6.0.1
• The phone will update the new platform to iOS 6.0.1
• It should take 5 minutes on slow connections
• Once you slide back the bar to your phone after download , it should prompt you about activation
The apple consultant in Brisbane advised if the procees above does not work after you have backed up go to settings – general – reset – erase all content and settings – once this is done your international service should initiate
Then you will need to connect to itunes and reinstate your data.
I hope this helps…….
You ABSOUTELY POSITIVLEY DO NOT NEED TO DO AN IOS UPDATE to unlock a phone for OS. But you should be on a relatively recent IOS .. Of corse going to 6.x beware the big culture sock of Apple Maps and alternate Google Maps app.
The whole business about telling clients to erase settings, backup etc is unneeded. All that needs to hapen is that the phone should ‘connect’ with iTunes (via your Computer) some 5-24hrs AFTER telstra have unlocked. This talks to Apple and unlocks it. (I’m not even sure if this is strictly required .. much more is over the air now).
After that all you need to do is put a SIM in it and it should register (but only in the country the SIM is designed for). If you have an alternate non Telstra SIM in OZ, you could try that too , just to prove its unlocked..
(eg find a friend with iphone on non Telstra network) with same SIM (iPh5=nano SIM, iPh4=MicroSiM).
Do I have to connect to iTunes at the end and sync to complete the process? Or is that just so you can transfer the data? I don’t need to transfer all the data so can I just ring Telstra, get it unlocked then put another carrier Sim in it and use it?
My understanding is that the iTunes ‘sync’ is purely to do the additional magic behind the scenes to unlock. It has nothing to do with data xfer. Changing SIM doesn’t do anything to your data on the iphone.
I DO think you need to at least connect your phone to iTunes once Telstra have done their unlock thing to talk to apple etc. THEN you can put the new SIM in the phone.
All so hopelessly complex. and with so much unknown and misinformation around .. that’s Apple for you..
We know whats best for you ..
Thanks for the reply.
Just to let you know, I waited 72 hours, borrowed a SIM from a friend who’s with another carrier and it worked. I didn’t need to connect to iTunes and sync it or anything.
So basically I just rang Telstra, gave them the relevant information and put in a SIM of a different carrier 3 days later. I made sure to check it before going overseas.
Can we do it wia MAIL or Online as im overseas and can’t call telstra ?
Hi Morgane,
You could have an online chat with the 24×7 team and they should be able to help.
Hi,
I am in London and just did the whole process using LiveChat. I should have organised this before I left. They said it should be ok in 24-72hrs, so all going well we should be ok to go. So if you forget, just log into your myaccount and then go to livechat.
Cheers.
This is the 2nd iPhone unlock with Telstra that has been a pain. The first one was told it would unlock within 24 hours but to no avail. I had to make 5 requests. Yes count them: 5. I started a week before a Singapore trip, got all the way through the 5 day trip and back home before it was finally unlocked. Not only that, I was promised by a billing person from the call centre that because of the inconvenience it would be ok to use roaming data on one of my nights in Singapore to pay bills, research some travel etc. I took her name as evidence. Sure enough I got a $480 bill for roaming when I got back. Billing didn’t believe anyone would promise me this and claimed there was no one by her name working there. I made a complaint with the complaints department and was spoken to extremely rudely and told I would not be credited. I had to make a complaint about the complaints department before I was eventually credited.
Now on to my 2nd unlock. I was told it would take a minimum 5 hours and up to 72. It has been 48 hours so far and nothing. I will I guess wait out the 72. As with last time, I was told that the only way to perform the unlock presently was to do the backup, reset to factory settings and restore. Unfortunately for me, upon doing this, iTunes is telling me that my backup is corrupt. It is a backup to a Macbook Pro with current version OSX, iPhone 5 on current version iOS and iTunes also on current version with no known hardware issues. Now I read here that really the restore isn’t totally necessary and a carrier update will come through anyway? So I risked a restore and it failed for no real reason. Great.
Telstra you need to clean up the process. Why your iPhones are locked I do not understand if the standard policy for postpay customers is free unlocking no questions asked. Why employ a team to take the calls and annoy customers with the inconvenience/waiting/potential risks to data?
Awful work Telstra.
Hi
I’m bought a iPhone 5 when I was in oz n haven’t using it yet. But the problem I have now is that it’s locked to Telstra so can’t using it back here in Sweden. What should I do?
Hey Paul,
This post has instructions on how to get your phone unlocked – http://exchange.telstra.com.au/?p=7698
Hi, Im getting a bit confused by everyones advise. I have an iphone 5 not pre-paid. Im going to Italy on the 27th May for two weeks, then back to Dubai for a few nights then onto KL for another few nights. Can someone please just tell me simply what I am to do so i can use my iphone overseas. Im getting confused about sims and syncs etc. I didn’t think you could put another sim card in the iphone. Please help. Thankyou very much for your kind help.
Hi Gabrielle,
There are two options available for customers who want to use there iPhone overseas which may be why this is confusing for you.
OPTION 1: unlock your iPhone BEFORE leaving Australia (see steps above) and use a local SIM card in the phone (eg one from Dubai or KL) to avoid international data roaming costs which can be expensive.
OPTION 2: enable international roaming BEFORE leaving Australia and use your iPhone as you currently do with your current Telstra number. You can purchase an add-on data roaming pack with this option to help monitor how much data you use. Please be aware that with this option you will be charged international rates which are higher than your current plan. For more info about this option, go here: http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile-phones/international-roaming/
I recommend you chat to our 24×7 Live Chat customer service crew (links above) about what option suits you best).