Rejoicing at the end of stupid roaming charges in Europe from today (well the 15th for some companies). It always felt like we were being ripped off as the same companies owned the networks across Europe. The free market was never going to give us this
Long may it last
Well, at least a couple of years please 🙂
I only go to Europe on holiday occasionally & don't really bother with my phone while I'm there.
So I'm not arsed either way.
I am extremely arsed.
Thank EU.
The sooner we are out and we can stop this nonsense. Bring back massive roaming bills!
Not convinced, as Spain has more tourism than a lot of other countries the local companies may have to build more infrastructure to handle the increased traffic. Which I might have to help pay for 🙁
Companies have had 4 years to get ready for this and to get their last little pound of flesh out of us. I expect they will be ready for it by now
I only go to Europe on holiday occasionally & don't really bother with my phone while I'm there. So I'm not arsed either way.
"I'm all right, Jack."
Hundreds of thousands of other people travel a lot and use their phones too, and will benefit from this, at no additional cost to you. Happy news eh?
Not convinced, as Spain has more tourism than a lot of other countries the local companies may have to build more infrastructure to handle the increased traffic. Which I might have to help pay for
If they could handle the calls before changing who pays for it isn't going to make any difference to the network infrastructure. It's not like EE had a load of infrastructure in Spain that suddenly won't be used. We were always using Movistar / Telefonica / whoever equipment and that hasn't changed.
Luckily we will soon take back control. And hand it straight over to the phone companies so they can anally rape us again. But it's in the national interest.
Ah. I'd forgotten 'take back control'. It so feels like everything is under control at the moment.
It was amazing to see a few years back the continental guys at out meeting just using their phones as normal with flat fee's and sensible packages across the board. It just makes life simple
As much as I hate them, the only company to commit to upholding this agreement post-Brexit (assuming it happens) is Three.
EE are flat fee across EU.
That's got to be worth £350m a week Shirley ..
Luckily we will soon take back control. And hand it straight over to the phone companies so they can anally rape us again. But it's in the national interest.
You might want to change tariffs. Sounds like you're on quite a specialised one.
As much as I hate them, the only company to commit to upholding this agreement post-Brexit (assuming it happens) is Three.
was just about to play devils advocate but cougar has [i]sort of[/i] got there first....
i dont understand the ins and outs of it all really, but three were sort of doing this before any ruling werent they? so would this not be a case of 'its a free market, just move suppliers to one that gives you what you want and force the others to follow suit' rather than 'hip hip hurray for the eu'?
Just wait until some fat blood pressure is sat on the beach in a few years time and sees his bill despite brexitting.
That will be the only currency he understands.
Bloody EU making stuff better.
Sort of is right. On the more expensive tariffs they included roaming. If you pay more they included it for [i]free[/i]. That said all the providers have significantly reduced roaming charges recently.but three were sort of doing this before any ruling werent they?
But but but wont the phone companies take their business elsewhere?
WhatsApp calls on coffee shop free wifi - simpels
nickjb - MemberSort of is right. On the more expensive tariffs they included roaming.
My Three tariff gives me the roaming stuff included (Feel At Home, I think it's called). I pay £13/month for 8Gb data 600 mins & unltd texts so it's not exactly expensive.
I don't think it's every country in the EU, but the list seems to get longer every time I look.
I used my phone in Tenerife a couple of years ago as back-up route navigation when I hired a bike for the day. I downloaded the offline maps to Google Maps, but it was nice to know that I didn't have to worry about data charges if I did need to connect to a data signal for whatever reason.
This page explains Three's take on roaming & what countries are included (it's a lot more than just EU countries, including Oz & the US).
http://www.three.co.uk/feel-at-home
[b]Three [/b]has been doing this for years with no need for legislation. And it covers the US and Australia and lots of far-away places too
I wish we weren't Brexiting but it would have only taken enough punters for whom this is important to switch to 3 and then other providers would have changed anyway.
My first mobile, 25 years ago cost £220 up front and £15 a month for 15 minutes. Things change! 🙂
I wish we weren't Brexiting but it would have only taken enough punters for whom this is important to switch to 3 and then other providers would have changed anyway.
O2 do the same now, roaming just comes out of the normal allowance.
I can't believe that after the ruling was in place the cheeky phone companies continue to charge it up to the last possible point.
How to win friends and influence people!
so what are we concluding here? That it actually isn't that big of a deal at all, otherwise everyone would've just switched to 3 years ago?I wish we weren't Brexiting but it would have only taken enough punters for whom this is important to switch to 3 and then other providers would have changed anyway.
so what are we concluding here?
That getting out of a 2 year phone contract and moving to whatever 3's coverage is and other plan economics is not t]swaying enough people.
The EU then concluded that the providers were just making loads of cash for doing nothing extra and slapped an order on them.
Result - it's win for everybody except the profits of the phone companies.
it would have only taken enough punters for whom this is important to switch to 3 and then other providers would have changed anyway.
Great theory, but Three coverage round here is crap so not really an option for me.
For most people roaming charges are a lot lower priority than things like day-to-day network coverage and the contract cost/terms.
Mobile companies are finding ways around it.
EE's 4G plan used to force you to sign up to a roaming bundle else you get no roaming at all, and that meant you opted out of EU regs for data cap etc and they could sting you. Not sure how that plays out with the flat rate now though but I bet they'll still try to get you to pay a daily/weekly fee to be allowed to roam or gives you an inclusive data allowance of whatever GB, but carefully check the price per GB vs the standard rate using EU rules.
Also many won't treat roaming data as part of your inclusive data you normally get, and usually tethering won't be included and can be a high charge (if they can prove tethering).
Three - it's always been amazing they've offered such a great deal on roaming, including USA (EE - £8/MB!). Though the fact we run a Losing Provider Led system in the UK which makes it difficult to switch, plus coverage issues (deal breaker for me), means other providers aren't that bothered as not enough people switch to be concerned.
You'll still get shafted if you phone someone on holiday in Europe from a UK location, calls and texts still incur charges, O2 PAYG customers will still get charged in the Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Switzerland, and Monaco, Vodafone include Turkey, but none of the other providers do.
Close inspection of the small print is really important here.
You'll still get shafted if you phone someone on holiday in Europe from a UK location,
no you wont, and you never have. If you dial a UK phone from the UK you get charged a 'local' call wherever the person is in the world. They pay to receive the call if they are roaming (but won't any longer if it's in Europe)
calls and texts still incur charges
Well, obviously calls and texts aren't free but if you have inclusive minutes calls in europe now come out of that allowance.
but I bet they'll still try to get you to pay a daily/weekly fee to be allowed to roam or gives you an inclusive data allowance of whatever G
No, no fee. Your allowances now cover Europe.
The odd bit (and I wonder if the EU drafted this as they actually intended) is that now -
Calls within your home country are included when you're at home.
Calls when abroad are included if within the country you're in, included to any other country in Europe, included to your home country.
However, calling Europe from your home country still incurs international charges. I suspect the original intention was calling anywhere in europe would count as 'local'
Result - it's win for everybody except the profits of the phone companies.
Who will probably make up the slack with general price increases, which will affect everyone, irrespective of whether you use your phone abroad or not.
simons_nicolai-uk - Member
No, no fee. Your allowances now cover Europe.
Fair use restrictions may limit how much of your allowance you can use, and it depends on the operator anyway.
EE's deal also includes the USA if I read the blurb right. Happy days!
Fair use restrictions may limit how much of your allowance you can use, and it depends on the operator anyway.
That's interesting. Thanks for the link...
It doesn't seem unreasonable - if your provider is going to make a loss because they're charging you less than it's costing them, then they can charge you. If you're spending more time outside the UK than in it you need to get a local sim (presumably a second phone and a bit of call forwarding smartness would solve this).
[i]Yet while minute and text allowances WON'T be restricted – so an unlimited allowance at home really will mean an unlimited allowance in the EU – a 'fair use' limit COULD be applied to data.
That means if you have unlimited, or what the European Commission describes as "very cheap", mobile data as part of your UK deal, you could have your free roaming data allowance capped. If you exceed this cap – which will be set according to how much you pay, but for some could be 2GB or even lower – you could be charged extra roaming fees of about £7.80/GB.
It remains to be seen whether mobile firms will actually charge the extra roaming fees for data which the EU rules allow them to. But at least two of the four major providers, EE and Three, have refused to offer an explicit guarantee that customers will be able to use their entire data allowance when roaming in the EU without facing extra charges.
There's one other 'fair use' restriction which also applies when using your phone in the EU. Essentially, if you use roaming services in another EU territory more than you do in the UK – over any given four-month period – your network may begin charging you, for calls and texts as well as data.[/i]
As much as I hate them, the only company to commit to upholding this agreement post-Brexit (assuming it happens) is Three.
Indeed, I've been with Three for years now and have saved thousands in roaming costs. Shame their UK network is so dire in parts, though - it just collapses when it's put under demand, like in city centres or airports and they just don't want to know about it.
Salesman in Three shop in Manchester admitted the other day that they used EE because their own network is so unreliable. Get a quieter town or village though and it's super fast.
So far I am finding its working less well than when Three just had feel at home (in France at the moment). Maybe that's temporary. Three have a fair use limit of 120 (continuous ?) days and 12GB data
UK mobike companies have always lagged behind, my wife has for years got free calls to US and UK landlines with her French mobile contract
Three's policy (one they sent to me, I have unlimited data free 4g in uk [b]only 3g works abroad[/b])
https://www.threemicrosites.co.uk/euregulation/nonessentialplan
OP of course as I am with Three I have had no roaming charges for 4 years
molgrips - Member
EE's deal also includes the USA if I read the blurb right. Happy days!
Finally EE have a reasonable size data bundle for USA (instead of £30 for a week of 100Mb or whatever insane deal it was)... [b][u]but[/u][/b] you can only get the additional countries (Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and USA) only on the 4GEE Max plans and [b][u]only for new customers or upgrade plans since 10th May[/u][/b]
And EE's fair usage roaming...
[i]If your UK data allowance is greater than 15GB, you will be subject to a fair usage policy of 15GB whilst you are roaming in the inclusive destinations[/i]
Looking at the bundles now, I notice you get less for more. I'm on £16 SIM only plan with 2GB (which is shite compared to Three). For the same now you only get 1GB (which is even more shite). Though they're doing limited time offers like the Max with 12GB and EU + the 5 extra inc USA, high speed 4G and BT Sport, for £19.99. However it's normally £32.99 so I'm wondering if that price will go up after an introductory period. I guess at least after the 12 month contract, you're then forced to go through retentions to quit or downgrade.