EU Parliament votes for ban on mobile roaming charges

Earthworm

What would happen if the UK left the EU after this change had been implemented?

urban469

redux wrote: »

Actually the UK has been one of the slowest to support such measures, and has several times tended to support the mobile companies opposition or reservations or at the rate at which new regulation was brought in.

3 articles in 2013 2013 and 2007

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303342104579100853181118202

http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/british-government-opposes-eu-ban-on-roaming-charges/

http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/eu-to-regulate-on-mobile-roaming-after-all-154251

I'm not convinced. Show me a quote from the UK government criticising the current draft legislation.

urban469

Earthworm wrote: »

What would happen if the UK left the EU after this change had been implemented?

The law would no longer apply to the UK then.

urban469

gjchester wrote: »

Hopefully I'm wrong but I doubt that any company will stick to the spirit of the law, look at all the recent mid term price increases.
I also think your placing too much trust in the policy makers not to be swayed by lobbyist's..




It still has to be incorporated by Act of Parliament to bring it into UK law. Usually this is a formality but that's never guaranteed, Especially as again lobbyists will be out in force for the telecom firms.


While I agree the UK does tend to enact most things into UK law, there is a growing call in the conservatives to veto many of the EU laws we see.

That's the way it's gone in previous years. Arguably, the legislation that came into force in 2007 had a bigger impact than the 2015 rules will. Every year the networks cried wolf. And every year they implemented the new laws, and often went further than required.

There's too much momentum in Brussels and in European capitals for this one to be swept under the carpet.

And in fact, telecoms suppliers are far more worried about net neutrality (the other part of this legislation) than about roaming charges. If there's going to be a battle, that's where it'll be.

redux

urban469 wrote: »

I'm not convinced. Show me a quote from the UK government criticising the current draft legislation.

Our 2 comments are not incompatible.

You say they support the current proposals, and I say historically, including in September 2013, they have expressed reservation or opposition about using regulation to obtain improvements.

jakethepeguk

Heh made me chuckle this title,
EU will put in regulation and it will probably take 30 years for OFCom to enforce it :P

urban469

redux wrote: »

Our 2 comments are not incompatible.

You say they support the current proposals, and I say historically, including in September 2013, they have expressed reservation or opposition about using regulation to obtain improvements.

Ah, ok fair enough. I just don't remember hearing anything about it at the time. And I don't see any quotes in the links you posted, which made me smell a bit of hyperbole by the writer

m5rcc

Some reductions enforceable from next Tuesday, 1 Jult

boatman

Surely the idea of these rules is to make Europe one country, your contract comes with bundled amounts for mins/text/data and it can be used in any EU country. This would effectively mean that you could buy a contract from any EU country just like you can with many other products. This does not make a lot of sense in UK if you don't travel but makes complete sense if you live in a central European country where you could be automatically connected to any network from another country if you are near the border.

Roger1

This is the part that caught my eye *:

What's more, from 1 July 2014 mobile providers in Europe can offer you a specific roaming deal before you travel and, where available, allow you to choose a local mobile provider for data services such as emailing, reading the news online, uploading photos and watching videos online, in the country you are visiting. So you can compare roaming offers, and benefit from more attractive offers and prices while you're away!

Weasel words? '... can offer ...', '... where available ...'

Presumably they can also choose not to.

* Apart from the absurd '25x cheaper' data roaming claim. 1x cheaper would be free, so are they going to pay me 24x for using their services?