Vodafone's Roam Like Home plan pricing finally announced

Vodafone
Voda's Infinite plans get a Red makeover...

Vodafone has today launched its Roam Like Home plans, called Vodafone Red, which upgrades the telco's old Infinite plans.

Available from tomorrow, all Vodafone Red 24-month plans include unlimited calls to standard national numbers and mobiles and unlimited SMS to local and international numbers.

The $65 a month plan includes 1.5GB of data, $80 a month will give you 2.5GB and $100 will give you 5GB of data, similar to current offerings, though the new $80 Red plan does get you 500MB more data.

Each plan includes $15 handset repayments, which means SIM-only plans offer the same inclusions, but at $50, $65 and $85 a month.

The new plans are part of Vodafone's push to recover the brand, with Vodafone Australia CEO Bill Morrow telling journalists last Thursday that the company is looking to simplify plans.

He explained that the new 4G network and new plans were only the first few steps, saying "we're only halfway through our program".

Vodafone Red plan details come just a week after Optus announced changes to its international roaming charges.

The new Red

Part of the recovery plan is Vodafone Cares, where Vodafone Red users will have priority access to Vodafone's onshore customer care centres.

But the biggest coup for the new plan is the Roam Like Home option, which as we reported earlier, will allow customers to use their mobile plan while travelling in the US, UK and New Zealand for $5 each day that they either call, message or use data.

"We are serious about doing something about the high cost of international roaming and have begun the journey with the US, UK and NZ, which is where 40% of our customers travel the most," Morrow said.

Of course, if you exceed your data usage, you will be charged at the usual roaming fees, but you can always add a Vodafone data pack – or use Wi-Fi.

The "infinite" nature of the plans means that you could call anywhere in the country you are visiting, or back home, with the price capping at $5.

Vodafone will be announcing more Roam Like Home countries by the end of this year, with plans to continue growing the list in the future.