Vodafone calling "abroad"

12colmore
12colmore Posts: 2 Newbie
in Mobiles
I've just had a rather larger vodafone monthly bill, in fact £70 more!! It seems calling my mother in Spain and my son in Germany, on this rare occasion from my mobile phone, incurred extra charges. Perhaps I was just naive, but I was given to believe that the eu ruling meant that your vodafone contract in the uk had actually changed to cover all eu countries too and the 'euro traveller' had been abolished. Apparently calling Germany or Spain from the uk is still considered to be 'abroad' from Vodafone and that's why I have been charged extra. I'm clearly going to have to put this extra charge down to my lack of knowledge and accept it. I do feel though that when the officials pushed and succeeded in getting this ruling this is not the way they expected it to turn out, i'm sure that Vodafone and likely other mobile phone companies are billing similarly but as I see it they are not really acting in the 'spirit of the agreement'.
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Comments

  • ballyblack
    ballyblack Posts: 5,064 Forumite
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    edited 14 November 2018 at 6:30PM
    you have to be roaming outside UK

    Why don't you use 'WhatsApp 'free OR 'Ringo international calling' App which is very cheap to call abroad

    Germany is only .75 of a penny

    .
  • grumbler
    grumbler Posts: 58,629 Forumite
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    ballyblack wrote: »
    you have to be roaming outside UK
    And even in this case only the calls back to UK will cost the same as if calling from UK.
  • unforeseen
    unforeseen Posts: 7,279 Forumite
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    grumbler wrote: »
    And even in this case only the calls back to UK will cost the same as if calling from UK.
    Incorrect. Calls to any other country in the EU roaming category will come out of your allowance or will be at the normal UK rate if you have used your allowance
  • pmduk
    pmduk Posts: 10,655 Forumite
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    OP, I'm sorry, you were naive. International calling to the EU is still very much alive. The ruling was intended to help people whilst they were travelling overseas within the EU.
  • grumbler
    grumbler Posts: 58,629 Forumite
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    edited 14 November 2018 at 8:49PM
    unforeseen wrote: »
    Incorrect. Calls to any other country in the EU roaming category will come out of your allowance or will be at the normal UK rate if you have used your allowance
    Well, I stand corrected. Hardly a surprise, as this makes no sense, but, possibly, not surprising as this comes from EU jobsworths.

    Even MSE guide isn't very clear about this:
    MSE wrote:
    As a general rule, you'll be able to use your phone for the same cost as in the UK.
    ...
    Under the new EU rules, while roaming in the EU you'll be able to call most landlines and mobiles within the EU (and in due course, Iceland, Liechenstein and Norway too) paying just what you'd pay in the UK.
    It does say
    MSE wrote:
    Calls to EU numbers while roaming... will come from your UK allowance.
    but the example is "– say, if you call the restaurant down the road – ", and then again "So if you're in Italy, and call an Italian restaurant, the minutes will be deducted from your allowance and you won't pay anything extra ".

    I can understand local calls, but not the entire EU, but again, one can't expect any logic from EU bureaucrats.
  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,088 Forumite
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    OP was presumably calling either German/Spanish landlines, or German/Spanish mobile nos: not roaming UK mobiles.
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
  • unforeseen
    unforeseen Posts: 7,279 Forumite
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    macman wrote: »
    OP was presumably calling either German/Spanish landlines, or German/Spanish mobile nos: not roaming UK mobiles.

    Providing the OP was not in the UK then calls to those phones will be at the normal UK rate even cross border.

    Roaming UK mobiles are treated no differently. What changed for those with EU roaming is the cost for receiving calls whilst roaming
  • its_all_over
    its_all_over Posts: 183 Forumite
    grumbler wrote: »
    Well, I stand corrected. Hardly a surprise, as this makes no sense, but, possibly, not surprising as this comes from EU jobsworths.

    Even MSE guide isn't very clear about this:

    It does say but the example is "– say, if you call the restaurant down the road – ", and then again "So if you're in Italy, and call an Italian restaurant, the minutes will be deducted from your allowance and you won't pay anything extra ".

    I can understand local calls, but not the entire EU, but again, one can't expect any logic from EU bureaucrats.

    The EU regs are simple, when roaming the EU is a single market and all calls in the EU cost the same (or are in your allowance), I don’t know why you’d find that complicated. The MSE examples make that quite clear (to me at least).
  • grumbler
    grumbler Posts: 58,629 Forumite
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    edited 16 November 2018 at 11:20AM
    its_all_over wrote: »
    The EU regs are simple, when roaming the EU is a single market and all calls in the EU cost the same (or are in your allowance), I don’t know why you’d find that complicated.
    Really?
    I find it complicated (and so do MSE) because the cost is the same to all EU countries only when roaming, not when calling from your own country. Does this really look simple and logical to you?
    Why for an Italian (roaming) in UK calls to Germany have to cost less then for a local UK person or less when when calling from Italy?


    What would be simple and logical, if when roaming all calls cost the same as when calling from the own country (plus, possibly, local rates to the country where one is roaming)
  • unforeseen
    unforeseen Posts: 7,279 Forumite
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    The key word is ROAMING.

    If you are roaming then all EU calls are the same price as your country's internal rates.

    The roaming directive only covers call charges when roaming, hence the name.
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