Roaming Charges in Europe.

[cydersyd]

I haven't heard and breaking news that the roaming charges ceased on December 15th.

Did it happen? if so can we use our existing phones etc without having to have a foreign sim card?

Anyone know the costs?

Sorry if these questions are ridiculous, you're dealing with a technological idiot here. Any help would be welcome.

 

[BwB]

I think you might be 12 months early with that date. As far as I've heard it's all happening at the end of next year.

Can't wait

 

[chaser]

I understood it's next year, might well be wrong but there's no roaming charge on three now.

 

[Judge Mental]

yep..a year early

Three? Oh yes there are! 16 countries included in plan, but far from all the european ones. Spain is not for instance

 

[hilldweller]

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/mar/16/legislation-abolish-roaming-charges-european-parliament

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[cydersyd]

Sorry all, it seems I'm ahead of myself, what's my name again?

 

[chaser]

yep..a year early

Three? Oh yes there are! 16 countries included in plan, but far from all the european ones. Spain is not for instance

Yeah ok , you are right but it's supposed to be spreading out soon and yes , if you get near the border of a country that is not included make sure you turn off your roaming or it will take a fiver out of your allowance immediately and tell you after

 

[Judge Mental]

Three roaming charges steep, £5 a day where Tmobile £3.

yes they say it is spreading out, but none have been added since I signed up..just advertising BS designed to draw you in

Three, includes Italy which is good as we go every year, but spain would be really useful

 

[Rob e Lee]

Using O2 Travel, charge is £1.99 a day for data - no limit.

 

[Jaws]

With Movistar ( part of Telefonica ) holding more than 60% of the market in Spain they are resisting all attempts to infiltrate I am afraid

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[Dorwyn]

With Movistar ( part of Telefonica ) holding more than 60% of the market in Spain they are resisting all attempts to infiltrate I am afraid

Isn't that a monopoly? Is that allowed in the EU?

 

[chaser]

Isn't that a monopoly? Is that allowed in the EU?

Any things allowed in eu as long as it's not in the uk

 

[Jaws]

Isn't that a monopoly? Is that allowed in the EU?

They do not have a monopoly but the largest percentage.. Vodafone are looking to expand in Spain and are already quite a big player..

Like all massive companies where money seems no object, chuck a pile or filthy lucre in the right direction and keeping a tight lid on your market share is not a problem.. Not that I am suggesting any underhanded goings on of course ...

 

[Dazzlin]

I hate the building repair cards in monopoly.

 

[gus-lopez]

With Movistar ( part of Telefonica ) holding more than 60% of the market in Spain they are resisting all attempts to infiltrate I am afraid

There are no words to describe them whether for mobile or landline. I have used them all & made up new ones.
I have never met anyone whilst living here, Spaniard or Foreigner that has a good word to say of them.
Even just thinking of them & typing this means I'm going to have to go for a lie down!!

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[7735]

Using O2 Travel, charge is £1.99 a day for data - no limit.

£1.99 per day equates to £60.00 per month... £720.00 p.a. quite a lot of money. I never bother with it and use the free wi fi when its available.

spongy

 

[Rob e Lee]

£1.99 per day equates to £60.00 per month... £720.00 p.a. quite a lot of money. I never bother with it and use the free wi fi when its available.

spongy

But at least you know and can budget for it and not be frightened by some huge bill.

 

[Addie]

It actually isn't signed off yet.

The date of the 15th December 2015 is subject to approval by The Council of the European Union even though it has been voted through by the European Parliament.

To make matters more complicated, we now have a new European Parliament and so Neelie Kroes who headed the bill has been replaced by Andrus Ansip. It was Kroes ambition to get the bill approved before she was replaced 3rd November. Read more detail here: http://www.eubusiness.com/Members/BEUC/net-neutrality

"'The incompatibility of roaming charges with the very essence of a single market is clear as day. Yet the big telecoms companies are fighting as hard as possible to delay that particular sunset. This issue has been drawn out for years, despite being anathema to the EU. Enough delay. MEPs have called for roaming to end by end of 2015 and we must achieve this."

I was concerned that Andrus Ansip does not mention anything about Roaming specifically in his 2015 mission statement: http://ec.europa.eu/commission/2014-2019/ansip/blog/europe-goes-digital-how-move-forward-2015_en

So the jury is still out and nobody knows for sure what the landscape will look like in 2015. I can only hope the outcome is positive - but still quite a bit of red tape to get through first.

Until then: Broken Link Removed

 

[Addie]

I understood it's next year, might well be wrong but there's no roaming charge on three now.

* For Europe this only includes: Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Phones/Feel_At_Home

Outside of these countries Three charge 19p per MB (mobile broadband / handset out of bundle) or for a handset only you can buy a £5/day Euro Internet Pass. http://tinyurl.com/EuroInternetPass

Three roaming charges steep, £5 a day where Tmobile £3.

A bit 'apples and oranges' that one. Outside of a Three 'feel like home' country for handsets only Three charge £5 for a 'Euro Internet Pass' which is unlimited data: http://tinyurl.com/EuroInternetPass

By comparison T-Mobile, Orange and EE charge £3 for 50MB of data valid 24hrs or £5 for 100MB for 24hrs. In fact EE are the only network to increase their charges post 1st July 2014 - it was £3 for 100MB prior to this. http://tinyurl.com/EETORoaming

Obviously if you only want 1MB then you don't want either of the bundles.

Using O2 Travel, charge is £1.99 a day for data - no limit.

Not quite 'no limit' - after 100MB speeds will reduce to 'dial up' speeds. http://tinyurl.com/O2TandC

But at least you know and can budget for it and not be frightened by some huge bill.

Be aware that if you have O2 Travel enabled on your account, you are opted out of the 'Spend Cap' of £48 and so you can actually rack up a huge bill without the 'protection' you would have if this package wasn't enabled. This is standard across all providers - taking a data 'package' opts you out of the 'protection'.

HTH

 

[Judge Mental]

thanks Addie for the clarification. when in a "feel at home" area, what do i have to do with phone exactly..turn roaming on? or is it automatic (not techy at all!)

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[gus-lopez]

Be aware that if you have O2 Travel enabled on your account, you are opted out of the 'Spend Cap' of £48 and so you can actually rack up a huge bill without the 'protection' you would have if this package wasn't enabled. This is standard across all providers - taking a data 'package' opts you out of the 'protection'.

HTH

& who would own O2 I wonder ? Oh yes I've just remembered the telefonica scum.
Actually telefonica doesn't exist now as it is all called Movistar even the landline /internet side.
They changed to movistar as the mention of the name 'Telefonica' was "damaging the business " ??
That's what they think of everyone; change the name & we are are all too stupid to realise it is still them !

 

[Addie]

thanks Addie for the clarification. when in a "feel at home" area, what do i have to do with phone exactly..turn roaming on? or is it automatic (not techy at all!)

When you are in a 'Feel Like Home' country - technically you aren't actually 'Roaming' you are using a partner network in that country. If you was truly roaming you could use any network - you can't. In France you can only use Orange or Bytel - not SFR.

You need to enable 'Roaming' on your device (tick box in your MiFi, or in your settings on a phone).

With regards to your SIM / Account - if you have a PAYG SIM then roaming is enabled automatially from the 1st day of use.

If you have a contract SIM/Handset (including 30 day rolling) then roaming need to be enabled via your web dashboard (or by calling customer services) and can only be done on the 31st day of your contract.

 

[Rob e Lee]

All I know is I managed to listen to 5Live football commentary in France (complete match) and checked my O2 bill for that day £1.99 and I continued to be able to listen most times I chose. I never was charged more than £1.99 a day and I was listening to BBC Iplayer a lot! Sometimes speed slowed down but always managed to download emails and surf the net - very satisfied

Rob

 

[iandsm]

All I know is I managed to listen to 5Live football commentary in France (complete match) and checked my O2 bill for that day £1.99 and I continued to be able to listen most times I chose. I never was charged more than £1.99 a day and I was listening to BBC Iplayer a lot! Sometimes speed slowed down but always managed to download emails and surf the net - very satisfied

Rob

Like you, I used O2 travel @ 1.99 per day extensivley for two months this year both for radio and surfing the web using the personal hotspot on my phone connected to my laptop. No slowing down of service and no other charges. The O2 travel package is only charged as £1.99 per day so as has been said you will spend £60 in a month which is why the travel cap is removed to allow you do do so. I don't see how you would incur further data charges. If you are on contract (I am on monthly rolling contract @£12 per month) data is unlimited, but as they'll tell you there is data management although as I said, I never noticed it in action.

I am not an o2 groupie, just telling of my experience.