EU Mobile Phone Roaming.

Terry98

Some reports I have read say the end of roaming charges in the EU will start on 15th June.

The BBC are more cautious and say it has got to be ratified http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38825154

How will this work? I suppose until Brexit all EU will be treated like the UK is now so Data Roaming can still be switched off.

It might be to much to expect that 3 will ease up on throttling data when in the EU!

Frozen_up_north

Terry98 wrote: »

How will this work? I suppose until Brexit all EU will be treated like the UK is now so Data Roaming can still be switched off

Like many regulations, I guess it will be a mess!

For example, Three have two different types of SIM only contracts, one includes feel at home (with EU roaming), the other doesn't. Likewise Vodafone have two different deals.

The EU wording is that you "can use your mobile device when travelling in the EU paying the same prices as at home (domestic prices). For instance, if you pay for a monthly volume of minutes, SMS and data in your country, any voice call, SMS and data session you make while travelling abroad in the EU will be deducted from that volume as if you were at home, with no extra charges"

My guess is that it's intended to work in a similar way to the current Vodafone "Red" SIMs (except with your full UK data allowance), which allow for the use of your inclusive minutes to make local calls to land lines and mobiles while roaming and to use your data as if at home. Quite how the other networks will work it remains to be seen, especially those with two different price structures.

One option, could be to regard your roaming as if you were a local and charge an international rate to call back to the UK. The stupid way Voda charge is that if you are overseas in the EU, you can call any land line or mobile in any EU country (inc UK) out of your minutes, but cannot call other EU numbers at the same rate while in the UK :mad:

System

Frozen_up_north wrote: »

Like many regulations, I guess it will be a mess!

How can the regulations a mess simply due some providers commercial decisions?
Once the regulations apply they will be law across the EEA.

Frozen_up_north

SPalin wrote: »

How can the regulations a mess simply due some providers commercial decisions?
Once the regulations apply they will be law across the EEA.

It's already ambiguous, does it mean it works like Three's feel at home (circa 4p/min to ring a local number when roaming in the EU), or can you ring local numbers out of your included bundle mins in the EU country while roaming there?

It doesn't include that detail...

Terry98

Frozen_up_north wrote: »

Like many regulations, I guess it will be a mess!

For example, Three have two different types of SIM only contracts, one includes feel at home (with EU roaming), the other doesn't. Likewise Vodafone have two different deals.
:

I am still trying to get my head around the 3 roaming options.With PAYG you can buy an add on for £20 and that lets you roam for a month but they throttle the data. I bought a SIM with 12GB of data on it and assumed they would not throttle it when I was roaming. I was wrong.

No doubt it wlil all change again with Brexit

Jon_01

Terry98 wrote: »

I am still trying to get my head around the 3 roaming options.With PAYG you can buy an add on for £20 and that lets you roam for a month but they throttle the data. I bought a SIM with 12GB of data on it and assumed they would not throttle it when I was roaming. I was wrong.

No doubt it wlil all change again with Brexit

Remember when you're roaming you're not on 3, but the network they have a roaming agreement with. Most of these networks will give their own customers priority over anyone roaming.

Terry98

Jon_01 wrote: »

Remember when you're roaming you're not on 3, but the network they have a roaming agreement with. Most of these networks will give their own customers priority over anyone roaming.

Thanks. It's strange that 3 comes up as the provider when I am in the EU. Also when I do a speed test it seems to use a UK IP address. In the past the local network provider showed!

Frozen_up_north

With feel at home on Three, data is routed back through the UK. Hence the UK IP address and their ability to throttle vpn connections, etc.

Terry98

Frozen_up_north wrote: »

With feel at home on Three, data is routed back through the UK. Hence the UK IP address and their ability to throttle vpn connections, etc.

Yes I read a long thread on Digital Spy about it. If you do a speed test it usually shows a speed of between 3-5Mps which should be more than enough for most things. But I could not even listen to the radio or download a podcast.

Frozen_up_north

Terry98 wrote: »

Yes I read a long thread on Digital Spy about it. If you do a speed test it usually shows a speed of between 3-5Mps which should be more than enough for most things. But I could not even listen to the radio or download a podcast.

In Torrevieja I couldn't even view the headlines on the BBC web site, no chance of a Skype call. Out in rural areas it was pretty good, overall "could do a lot better", as a school report would say.

malky39

It doesn't actually say that it will come out your bundled mins/txt/data just that you won't pay anymore that you would at home. So that could be interpreted as if 1 text was 10p it will cost you that where every you are in the EU. So you will still get charged over and above your bundle but the rates will all be the same as if you went over you allotted allowance . I see a loop hole for the networks here.
Also when we leave the EU the ruling means nothing