Mobile Roaming: Cheapest Calls When You're Abroad

grumbler

http://ee.co.uk/help/add-ons-benefits-and-plans/call-or-going-abroad/roaming---using-your-phone-abroad/roaming-using-your-phone-abroad#tmobile

I don't think that you have to inform them.

cvCA

chelle wrote: »

I am with T-mobile, currently in Spain, but have no network connection on my phone.
Did I have to tell T mobile I was travelling?
Have always been with O2, and that would always connect to local service when off the plane, but T-mobile did not?

With T-mobile, calls used to just work and for data, you used to have try to go online and then buy a travel booster. I went on a multi-country European trip last month and T-mobile was broken in all of them: some of them were calls only, some of them were emergency calls only, and none allowed me to buy an online travel booster (the service replied every time that there had been a technical error trying to add roaming data).

I think EE (which advertises itself as the "most reliable network") is having some severe problems with roaming and being very shy about announcing it. Nothing about the problems on http://ee.co.uk/help/add-ons-benefits-and-plans/call-or-going-abroad/roaming---using-your-phone-abroad/roaming-using-your-phone-abroad#tmobile for example. If you really push them (if you have some other way to get online - yay for hotel wifi), they will only say they are working on it and expect service to be restored ASAP... but it still wasn't fixed by 5th August when I returned to the UK.

After this shoddy service, I'm inclined to bin the T-mobile SIM as soon as the credit is used up and never use EE again.

boliston

I've recently started using an EU roaming sim from aaisp http://aa.nu/telecoms-sip2sim-roaming.html which seems quite good so far - its 2p+vat per minute/mb/text while in the UK on O2 and 10p+vat per minute/mb and 5p+vat per text in the EU zone - a handy feature also is that if I ever go somewhere in the UK with no O2 reception it will also automatically "roam" to any other available UK networks at EU rates, but will switch back to O2 as soon as possible after regaining O2 reception to ensure I only pay EU rates when outside an O2 area. It's also true "pay as you go" apart from £2+vat per month in line rental.

Roger1

boliston wrote: »

... http://aa.nu/telecoms-sip2sim-roaming.html ...

As always, it depends on how and where you use the SIM.

For me, this is expensive compared with Toggle and Three Feels Like Home which include most of the areas I visit with free incoming calls in most markets.

Hidden in this one's small print is

Charges apply both ways (i.e. calls/texts to or from the mobile) ...

so you may as much to receive a call as to make one. I don't like that!

seaviewing

How about this kind of thing that may be of use, once it's up and runing proper :LBO and ARP

Vodafone, for example have details - thought i'm sure all networks have this....
Vodafone home page
Support
Going or calling abroad
Alternative Roaming Providers

http://help.vodafone.co.uk/system/selfservice.controller?CONFIGURATION=1000&PARTITION_ID=1&CMD=BROWSE_TOPIC&USERTYPE=1&LANGUAGE=en&COUNTRY=us&TOPIC_ID=436396&PARENT_TOPIC_ID=1221&SOURCE_FORM=TOPIC_TREE&DISPLAY=SUBTOPICARTICLES

pwgc

If you call (say) Germany from your UK mobile while in France, you pay 19p per min, but if you call Germany from the UK on your UK mobile you pay £1 per minute (on Voda).

Roger1

pwgc wrote: »

If you call (say) Germany from your UK mobile while in France, you pay 19p per min, but if you call Germany from the UK on your UK mobile you pay £1 per minute (on Voda).

... and you call (say) Germany from your UK mobile while in France using https://www.togglemobile local number, you pay 3p per min, but if you call Germany from the UK on your UK mobile using https://www.togglemobile local number you pay 3p per minute, 9p to a German mobile.

Statistics, eh? Other operators are available.

redux

pwgc wrote: »

If you call (say) Germany from your UK mobile while in France, you pay 19p per min, but if you call Germany from the UK on your UK mobile you pay £1 per minute (on Voda).

opt in free to Vodafone's cheaper international calls from the UK

Germany landlines 5p/min, from contract or pay as you go
Germany mobiles 15p/min from contract, 25p/min pay as you go

though there are cheaper options with other providers

(but this isn't about the thread subject, roaming)

Gardette

mark1024 wrote: »

I heard about the EU legislated price cuts for roaming and phoned my provider, 3, last week to check the rates were coming down. The operator I spoke with could not confirm any price reductions and could only reel off the old exorbitant rates of something like 75p/min. He said the reductions were not 'finalised'
There was also nothing on their website about the expected 25p rate.

My experience is similar. I have both telephoned EE and called in at one of their shops, but no-one seems to know or care about EU legislation. On PAYG they are charging 10p for texts from me in the UK to France and 20p both for texts from me in France to the UK and for texts from me in France to french mobiles. The man I spoke to in the EE shop was quite rude and aggresssive and said there was no way the EU could make them stop charging whatever they wanted.

Stephen7372

Gardette wrote: »

My experience is similar. I have both telephoned EE and called in at one of their shops, but no-one seems to know or care about EU legislation. On PAYG they are charging 10p for texts from me in the UK to France and 20p both for texts from me in France to the UK and for texts from me in France to french mobiles. The man I spoke to in the EE shop was quite rude and aggresssive and said there was no way the EU could make them stop charging whatever they wanted.

The shop is only some franchise they have no control :beer: