Hello, new to this site.. hoping to find out some information before I got to Australia in May, I am wondering if my BMO debit card will work in the ATM there? It is not a visa BMO debit card, just a regular debit card? Anyone that can help me with this would be awesome thanks, also wondering if my telus cell phone will work there too? I am from BC Canada first time on a major trip.

Thanks again for any info

I'm not an expert but I would say not. I thought they had to be a Visa/Debit card to work.

BMO? Is that the Bank of Montreal? Maybe a Canadian can help here, but I'd ask the bank. If the card is OK for the international Cirrus network you should be fine, though.

As the Telus network appears to use the North American CDMA cellphone network standard your phone wlll not work in Australia or for that matter in most countries in the world, whose standard is GSM (Global System for Mobiles).

If you want to use a mobile (cell) phone in Australia the best option is to buy an unlocked GSM phone, preferably quadband. I balieve there are plenty on eBay.

"Unlocked" means that the phone is not locked to the the network of the carrier who originally sold it. This means that on arrival you can buy a prepaid SIM (Subscriber Interface Module) card and insert it into the phone, and you will then have an Australian phone number and whatever amount of prepaid call credits you've bought (these can be topped up).

The SIM is a small printed circuit board that's inserted into a slot which you access by removing the phone's battery cover. Whoever you buy it from will be happy to show you how to do this. There are many thousands of outlets for SIM sales - newsagents, supermarkets, you name it.

"Quadband" means that the phone can access both the North American and international GSM frequency bands, so you can use it anywhere in the world. In North America, GSM networks use the 850 and 1900 Megahertz bands. Elsewhere, including Australia, the 900 and 1800 MHz bands are used. You don't have to change any settings - the phone will automatically connect to the right network when you turn it on in a new country.

There are three major primary carriers in Australia, all with national reach: Telstra, Optus and Vodaphone (soon to merge with '3'). If you plan on travelling to remoter areas Telstra has the widest coverage, but all are OK for the places most tourists visit, local black spots as always excluded.

In Australia free national roaming is standard, and you don't pay for incoming calls. All mobile numbers in Australia start with '04' - i.e. they don't have numbers with area codes as in North America.

You may find Australian call charges higher than you're used to, so I'd keep the mobile for necessary outgoing calls and for incoming calls from home.

If you want to call home, buy a phone card with a suitable amount of prepaid call credits. These can be used from any phone at all and offer dirt cheap international rates. All you do is call a 1800 number, input the card's PIN and then dial the wanted number. When you run out of credits just buy another card. There's a huge variety and they're sold everywhere, including post offices and Asian groceries. Call charges vary - choose one that offers good rates to Canada.

One last thing - the Australian carriers also offer so-called "3rd generation" (broadband) mobile phones such as Telstra's NextG. These allow Web access, video calls and so forth. If all you want to do is make and take phone and text calls you can ignore this.

I'm not sure how widely you can access 3G frequencies in other countries. I have a 3G phone myself but in truth it does nothing I want that my old GSM phone didn't do. I got it because it came free with a 2-year contract renewal. I was told that if I take it overseas it will also access local GSM networks, but I haven't verified this.

BMO also have a mastercard but if yours is only a straight debit card for the MBO network I think your bank will tell you it is limited to their network.

Depending on how long you're going to be travelling for you may want to review the need for a mobile phone as even for home contact there is always the time difference and emails are as good a way as any.
You'll find that you can get away with calls within Australia by just buying local Telstra Phonecards.

Thanks for all your info...it has been a lot of help!!!I will check with my bank about the debit card..I have used it in the states just fine..but well this is a lot farther then the states..as for the phone..I didn't think it was going to work there..but thought I would check..I will have my laptop with me so that will be good to contact family in BC with emails..thanks again!!!! I am so excitted about my first trip to Australia

If you're going to be taking a laptop why don't you just install skype and call home for free!

Yeah I have skype on my laptop, plus msn..so forth.. but was hoping to have my cell phone so I can text my kids and send pictures to them when I was away from my laptop..
I really appericate all the advise so far from everyone..

Thanks again!!!