Three to introduce £2/day European roaming charges from May 2022

SephirothX

Tantalus86 said:

The extra charges are a direct result of Brexit.

Can you explain what Brexit has to do with Three removing free roaming from the US, Australia, New Zealand and lots of other non-EU countries?

I will stay on my current Three deal until they force me on to one that doesn't have roaming and then immediately move to GifGaff. Only on Three for the roaming.

Doshwaster

EU roaming still free on Virgin but what with the proposed merger with O2, I can't see it lasting for very long.

Archergirl

I have been with Three for years as the roaming was good for the USA, I have stayed with them for that reason only as I personally think their signal where I live (Hampshire) is rubbish although I did get a message the other day to say works were in my area so maybe it will improve. I shall say with them for now as I am not in contract just a monthly sim 

demon_princezz

This is disappointing news - I’ve been with Three specifically for the free roaming as I travel quite a bit outside the EU.

Although the article says existing customers don’t need to take any immediate action and can simply let their contacts lapse from 1 October to keep benefitting, I imagine this will be short-term for people like me whose contracts are up in the couple of months after.

I’m guessing I’ll receive an email similar to the one I received last year telling me they could no longer offer me the plan I was on and would automatically move me to a new twice-the-price plan if I did nothing.

Perhaps the solution is to take the hit of a cancellation fee and sign up for a new 24-month contract now, to benefit for as long as possible… With a current deal for £8/month 12GB unlimited mins, I’d only have to travel for 5 days @£5/day in the next 2 years to break even. Covid permitting of course…

Ringo90

Rich2808 said:

Just to provide some comparison three Ireland charge 40 euros per month for unlimited data and calls in Ireland (but restricted to 19 GB in the rest of the EU) or £34 sterling a month. Three UK charges only £20 per month - for a similar 12 month unlimited data contract. In otherwords £14 extra a month or £168 extra a year if you live inside the EU.

So yes you may get free roaming daily abroad in the EU - but you would need to be on holiday abroad for 84 days or 12 weeks per year to be better off with Three in the EU than Three outside the EU!

That is not true... 
Three Ireland currently offers unlimited data (19GB in Europe which is a lot) for €20/month for 6 months, then €30/month on a 12-months contract. That is a total of €300 in one year, equivalent to about £250.
The most similar contract for Three UK is the one with unlimited data costing £20/month on a 12-months contract, so £240 per year.
As you can see, it's a very similar cost at the end of the year. So unless Three UK starts changing THAT contract to a cheaper one next month to make up for the additional roaming charges we have to pay, it is a total rip-off for UK customers that obviously Brexit caused.

Tantalus86

SephirothX said:

Tantalus86 said:

The extra charges are a direct result of Brexit.

Can you explain what Brexit has to do with Three removing free roaming from the US, Australia, New Zealand and lots of other non-EU countries?

I will stay on my current Three deal until they force me on to one that doesn't have roaming and then immediately move to GifGaff. Only on Three for the roaming.

I assume corporate greed is playing a big part in this. Once the protections were removed by leaving the EU this was always back on the cards. Removing the Go Roaming from non-EU countries seems to be a footnote in a lot of media so a win-win for three.

As for the argument that the roaming costs shouldn't be absorbed by everyone, this was great. Prices were still competitively priced (competition between the networks drove this) and they were still able to turn a profit and consumers were protected from ridiculous bills. Didn't see an issue with that.

I think this will come back to bite Three. A lot of people were with them because of the free roaming in a number of countries and time will show how many customers they'll lose for that position.

Also saw this on another forum and had to share. Seems like you can't trust anything written on the side of a bus! :P
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1435949903386226689 

IvanOpinion

It's almost as if people are desperately trying to find weird spin and angles to blame roaming charges on. 

Tantalus86

what weird spin?

philipsaver1982

so it seems Three customers will not be able to avoid this by staying on their contract - and will be put onto a NEW contract with the new fees - which isn't what the MSE article says.

Who is best for roaming these days?

SaveTheEuro

philipsaver1982 said:

so it seems Three customers will not be able to avoid this by staying on their contract - and will be put onto a NEW contract with the new fees - which isn't what the MSE article says.

Who is best for roaming these days?

Where are you seeing this please? What Three had said was "pay as you go customers and customers who have taken out a contract before 1 October 2021 are unaffected by these changes."