Are you planning a trip to Australia and flying to Brisbane? Let me help you finding the best way to stay connected in Australia. In this guide you can read everything about buying a sim card for traveling in Australia at Brisbane International Airport. Where to buy a prepaid sim card, up to date prices as per May 2023, my recommendation, my experiences on arrival and even information about international and e-sim cards for Australia.
Wherever I travel the first thing I do is buying a prepaid sim card to get connected. Local prepaid sim cards are the cheapest way to get a lot of data on your phone. It avoids high roaming costs and you don’t need to struggle with slow overseas data roaming plans. E-sim cards are also an option, but more expensive and e-sim cards have smaller data plans.
As Traveltomtom is also on a mission to visit every country in the world you can find already more than 200 sim card guides on Traveltomtom from all over the world: Auckland, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Sydney, Melbourne, Asia, Indonesia, Bali, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia Europe, London, Paris, USA, New York, Canada, Dubai, Istanbul and many more.
My recommendation
Traveltomtom recommends buying a Vodafone sim card at Brisbane Airport. You can get one in the arrival hall at their store.
If you miss the opportunity to buy a sim card at Brisbane Airport then check out my complete guide for buying a sim card in Australia for more tips and cheaper data plans. In general Telstra is the best sim card for traveling to Australia.
Traveling to several countries on your journey down under then check out my comparison of the best international (e)-sim card for traveling in 2023. Click on the link to see my recommendations.
Best e-sim cards for Australia
The easiest way to stay connected when traveling to Australia in 2023 is an e-sim card. Forget about visiting a store and swapping a physical sim card. Get your e-sim card on the internet and get connected instantly in just a couple simple steps.
Check out the following e-sim card deals for Australia:
- 1 GB data for 7 days = $4.5 USD
- 3 GB data for 30 days = $9 USD
- 5 GB data for 30 days = $12.5 USD
- 10 GB data for 30 days = $20 USD
Click here to directly order one of the above e-sim cards for Australia.
The above e-sim cards from Yes! Go! are data-only and phone calls are not supported. They operate on the network of Optus in Australia.
For more info about e-sim cards for Australia check out my article about the 10 best e-sim cards for Australia in 2023, including tips and tricks on how it works.
Arrival at Brisbane International Airport
When flying to Brisbane for your trip to Australia then expect a pretty hassle free arrival. Brisbane Airport is not that big nor busy. After landing you first get to immigration and if your passport allows you to use the e-gates then you will be ‘stamped’ into Australia in no-time.
After picking up your luggage you walk through the customs bag check. Occasionally there can be a line as Australian customs are pretty strict. But when you pass the customs check you walk into the Brisbane airport arrival hall.
Where to buy a sim card at Brisbane Airport
There are 2 sim card stores at Brisbane Airport that sell prepaid sim cards for Australia for tourists: Vodafone and Optus. Both sim card stores are in the arrival hall.
When entering from the international arrivals through the sliding door into the Arrival Hall then both stores are right in front of you. Vodafone is on your left hand side and Optus is on your right hand side. In and between there is the exit door to the taxi stand.
Prices prepaid sim cards for Australia at Brisbane Airport
Prices and packages for prepaid sim cards constantly change. Traveltomtom does everything in its power to keep the information as up to date as possible. Your help is very much appreciated so please leave me a comment below or reach out to me on Instagram if you have up to date information.
As of May 2023: $1 AUD = 0.67 USD and $1 USD is $1.50 AUD
Optus Brisbane Airport
These are the 2 Optus prepaid sim cards for tourists they sell at Brisbane Airport and they are both valid for 30 days:
- 60 GB data on 4G + unlimited local calls/text + international calls = $30 AUD
- 60 GB data on 5G + unlimited local calls/text + international calls = $60 AUD
Basically the exact same prepaid sim card deals, but if you want 5G internet you pay double.
Vodafone Brisbane Airport
Vodafone offers a lot more prepaid sim card plans:
- 4 GB data + unlimited local calls/text for 7 days = $10 AUD
- 8 GB data + unlimited local calls/text for 14 days = $20 AUD
- 40 GB data + unlimited local calls/text for 28 days + 500 minutes international calls = $25 AUD
For more info and available Vodafone prepaid plans see the picture above.
Best sim card at Brisbane Airport
As you can see from the comparison of the Vodafone and the Optus prepaid sim card deals at Brisbane Airport is that prices are basically the same. However, Vodafone has much more prepaid plans for tourists.
To find the best prepaid sim card for Australia I also compared the 4G/5G network coverage of Vodafone and Optus and came to the conclusion that Optus has better 4G/5G coverage across the country. That said Vodafone covers all the tourists destinations in Australia as well.
The major difference between Vodafone prepaid sim cards and Optus prepaid sim cards is that Vodafone offers 5G on all prepaid plans and if you want to use the Optus 5G network you have to pay double the price.
Therefore Vodafone is the best buy prepaid sim card for Australia at Brisbane Airport in 2023.
Personally I also bought a Vodafone Australia prepaid sim card simply because I just needed a couple Gigabytes on this trip. I had no problems and was happy with the data speed I experienced.
I had hoped the upload speed would be a little better, but little too complain about the download speed.
Order an international sim card for Australia online
Buy ordering a sim card for Australia online you save yourself the hassle of buying a sim card on arrival at Brisbane Airport. Get yourself an international sim card for traveling in Australia.
These are pre-activated travel sim cards and will be shipped to your home address. They automatically activate from its first use. So it is plug and play when you land in Australia. See the following Australia sim card deals:
- 12 GB data for 30 days = $29.90 USD
- 12 GB data for 1 year = $59.90 USD
- 24 GB data for 2 years = $79.90 USD
Click here directly order these sim card deals for Australia online or get more info.
Also a last reminder that you can arrange everything online within just a couple clicks by ordering an e-sim card for Australia.
I am sure the above information for buying a prepaid sim card for Australia at Brisbane International Airport was helpful for your upcoming trip. If you still have any questions, remarks or recommendations please leave me a comment below or reach out to me on Instagram.
Curious what it looks like trying to visit every country in the world? Go check out my Instagram account @traveltomtom and follow along. As of May 2023 I have visited more than 155 countries, so still a long way to go.
Enjoy your trip to Brisbane!
