Traveling to the USA, UK, Europe, etc.? This guideline shows you how to activate Vodacom roaming when already abroad. The international Vodacom roaming code, along with the supported list of countries is fully explained.
Despite some reports and field test data that MTN currently triumphs over Vodacom in South Africa in terms of call quality, it does not remove the fact that Vodacom is still the most widely used mobile network provider in South Africa with over 40% market share, and 45 million plus users as at December 2022.
Vodacom, explicitly known for its practical reliability even in terms of load shedding and great uptime latency, the network offers many advantages when you are roaming under its international list of supported countries.
The current load-shedding problem facing South Africa exposed unreliable networks, however, Vodacom stands tall, dependable, and reliable ( from personal experience).
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Vodacom Roaming Countries List
Vodacom has an affordable roaming agreement with more than 630 telecom mobile network providers in the world. They are well able to do this by leveraging the international reach and expertise of Vodafone.
Now, the list of supported countries is divided into two:
- Low-cost destination countries
- High-cost destination countries
The following are the high-cost destination countries in roaming agreements with Vodacom:
- Low-cost destination countries
USA, UK ( United Kingdom), Australia, Nigeria, China, European countries ( most European countries), Malawi, Zimbabwe, Most Asian countries, down to the Middle East e.g. UAE, Dubai, etc.
In Africa, to make roaming fees cheaper, Vodacom established what is known as ‘Africa roaming’; this arrangement brings together most countries on this continent.
With this arrangement, countries like Lesotho, Mozambique, DRC, Kenya, Ghana, and Tanzania ( except Zimbabwe) enjoy far cheaper roaming fees.
- High-cost destination countries
Cambodia, Cape Verde, Chad, Cook Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Rep, Ecuador, Falkland Islands, Gambia, Honduras, Lithuania, Macedonia, Morocco, Senegal, Slovenia, Syria, Venezuela, Vietnam
With these countries listed here above, you can pay as much as R250/min!! You can get the full countries list HERE.
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Vodacom Roaming Price/Costs/Charges
Please know that Vodacom roaming for SMS is free ( only for receiving incoming text messages) for both top-up, prepaid, and contract users; however, there is a catch that may not be suitable for you to know.
The moment you activate the Vodacom SMS roaming services, you will not be able to use the voice and data roaming services because they will be deactivated automatically. So using SMS will only be your means of communication.
In most cases, the cost for the voice and data charges is dependent on the mobile network carrier of each country that Vodacom partnered with. So, some things are out of their hands.
For example, dialing the USSD code while roaming is not free, you will be charged at 20c/20sec. For a comprehensive list of the costs and terms, please see the official guidelines.
How To Activate Vodacom Roaming Internationally While Abroad
To activate international roaming on Vodacom falls either:
1. Whether you are a contract customer
If you are a Vodacom contract customer, all you need to do to activate your international roaming is to:
- Send an SMS text to 31050. You send IRM to 31050
- Call 082135, and you will speak to the Vodacom consultant representative and they will activate roaming on your account.
Please note that 7 days before when you will leave the country ( South Africa), you need to activate your roaming service.
2. Whether you are a Prepaid customer
For prepaid customers i.e. you are recharging either through voucher, top-up, etc; the approach to roam is quite different.
For Vodacom prepaid customers who want to roam:
- Send an SMS to 123 from your phone. E.g Send TRAVELON to 123
- Call the customer care number for roaming. The number to call is 082135
It is quite important to know that the Vodacom activation number for roaming is 082135. You can call this number before leaving South Africa or your host country or you can call the number when you are already abroad or overseas.
This Vodacom activation number, 082135 is not the USSD code for the roaming, but for the customer care specifically for roaming requests.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How Do I Activate Vodacom International SMS On Vodacom?
If you scroll up, I earlier mentioned that international SMS roaming on Vodacom is free ( to receive incoming text messages) when you activate it, however, other functions like voice and data will stop unless you activate them
Having known this, the simple way to activate international SMS on Vodacom is to send the text message, ‘Roamon’ to 123 or 31050. One more thing you should not forget to do before leaving is to enable the SMS roamer, very important!!
- Who Can Get On Vodacom Africa Roaming?
As explained above earlier, Vodacom Africa roaming works in conjunction with Vodacom sister networks, thereby allowing you to get very cheap roaming rates and fees.
Except Zimbabwe, most countries in Africa are in this agreement, especially all the 16 countries in the SADC region.
It does not matter whether you are a contract, top, or prepaid customer, Africa roaming is available to you.
- How Much Does African Roaming Cost?
The following are the costs associated with Vodacom African roaming:
- Making local calls in the destination country costs R2.90 per minute
- Receiving calls in the destination country costs R2.90 per minute
- The cost of sending an SMS is R1.50 per minute ( it is free when receiving)
And another important question;
- How Do I Recharge With Airtime When Roaming?
You can recharge online. You can call your folks/back home to send you recharge vouchers etc. Other official ways to recharge your airtime when already abroad are:
- Dial USSD code *135*130# ( not free, 20c/20secs)
- Use of the Vodacom App ( Go to my Account section)
And to one of the most frequent questions
- Vodacom roaming not working
In most cases, when you are inside a moving plane, most networks do not go. This is done by most flights for security reasons.
Aside from this, the following are some reasons why you may be unable to connect to a network while roaming on Vodacom:
- Your Vodafone SIM is not activated for data or voice roaming (the solution is to activate it by sending above mentioned SMS codes)
- Error from your end, you may be dialing the wrong number format
- It may be that the destination country you are in is not supported for Vodacom international roaming
- Check your phone, probably by mistake you activated the flight mode.
