450% increase in EU call cost when 'Free' roaming comes in!

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clivep
clivep Posts: 577 Forumite
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I'm on an Orange Raccoon PAYG tariff (now from EE) and don't use any bundles as I rarely make mobile calls in the UK.

Recently the UK rate went up to 22p per minute but the cost to use the phone abroard is capped at 4p/min. I got a text message from EE to give me the "great" news that from 15th June to use the phone in the EU would cost the same as in the UK. I called EE to check and had it confirmed that the roaming charge would indeed go from 4p/min to 22p/min - an increase of 450%.

So much for the "slash the cost of using your mobile in most parts of Europe" headline of Martin's report. I've not seen this massive extra cost for those on PAYG (not using bundles) being reported anywhere.
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  • Frozen_up_north
    Frozen_up_north Posts: 2,420 Forumite
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    Ditch and switch. :money:

    Three are considerably cheaper than "Orange" (EE).
  • Ian011
    Ian011 Posts: 2,432 Forumite
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    This shows that you are on an unsuitable call plan. Paying 22p per minute for UK calls is a rip off. Other providers offer hundreds of minutes and texts for a £5 top-up or charge as little as 3p or 5p per minute..
  • d123
    d123 Posts: 8,624 Forumite
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    Why would anyone still be willingly on an old Orange PAYG plan? They haven't been competitive for years.
    ====
  • boatman
    boatman Posts: 4,699 Forumite
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    The whole point in the new rules is to allow people to pay no more than they would do in their home country, in your case 22p.
    These new rules perhaps with the exception of the N.Ireland/Ireland border, make more sense in mainland Europe where you may well be close to or crossing borders on a daily basis.
  • clivep
    clivep Posts: 577 Forumite
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    I used to be paying 14p/min on my Orange PAYG tariff but EE increased it to the current 22p/min. The standard EE PAYG plan is 30p/min.

    The only reason I'm still with the plan is that I "inherited" the balance from my wife when she got the free Talk Talk Essential SIM with our phone/broadband package. When we switched to Sky for the phone/broadband we changed her phone to the 8p/min ASDA PAYG (powered by EE so the same coverage as Orange which works well in our area). We use her mobile to make calls from home as it's cheaper than using the landline.

    We'll shortly be moving back to Talk Talk and will get the free SIM again which she will put her mobile number on. I was going to put my number on her redundant Asda SIM but apparently this isn't possible as the Asda SIM account gets closed when the number is ported out. I enquired about getting a new Asda SIM and getting my number and her balance transferred onto this but, unlike Orange/EE, this is not possible and the money is lost when the number is ported out.

    At my current usage (which is mainly to keep the number active) the £15 balance I have should last about 15 years. Consequently my post was not about complaining about my own circumstances by rather drawing attantion to the fact that the "slash the cost of using your mobile in most parts of Europe" headline statement will not apply to those on PAYG tariffs who pay per minute rather than buy bundles.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,094 Community Admin
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    The increase is due to your uncompetitive UK package being applied across the whole EEA. I suspect more regular users will have moved off the legacy 22p per minute package anyway or bought a bundle.

    Goes to show, a duff deal in the UK is now a duff deal across the whole EEA! ;)
  • eDicky
    eDicky Posts: 6,575 Forumite
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    Heng_Leng wrote: »
    Goes to show, a duff deal in the UK is now a duff deal across the whole EEA! ;)
    Yes, it is now, but until yesterday Clive was only paying 4p/min to make calls in other EU countries, where it sounds like he mostly uses the phone.

    He is quite correct in the point he's making -
    anyone using PAYG without bundles will from today be paying more, not less, the only exception being a Three 321 user. (I doubt that Delight and 1p Mobile will follow the directive.)

    To me it's still not totally clear whether calls made to a number in the same country, or to another EU country (not UK), while roaming, will be treated the same as a call made within the UK
    - or treated as an international call and charged accordingly.
    Evolution, not revolution
  • mrcamp
    mrcamp Posts: 308 Forumite
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    My understanding is that it will be treated like a call to a UK number within the UK. The key thing is that - you are calling a country that's part of the EU roaming agreement, say France or Germany, for example.
    eDicky wrote: »
    To me it's still not totally clear whether calls made to a number in the same country, or to another EU country (not UK), while roaming, will be treated the same as a call made within the UK
    - or treated as an international call and charged accordingly.
  • Ian011
    Ian011 Posts: 2,432 Forumite
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    When visiting any of the EEA member states and territorities, whatever you currently pay for domestic calls and texts to UK landlines and mobiles when you are in the UK becomes your roaming rate for calls and texts to landlines and mobiles back to the UK, to landline and mobile numbers in the country you are visiting and to landline and mobile numbers in all other EEA countries and territories.

    The regulations have no effect on making calls from the UK to international destinations.
  • frankst237
    frankst237 Posts: 15 Forumite
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    edited 20 June 2017 at 1:27PM
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    Hi all,

    Yes - I have no doubt the original 'poster' should now move to a different plan but I am sure the post was meant as a warning to anyone still on these old plans should be aware and move.

    For a couple of years now I have been using 2 old SIM cards, one EE and one Vodafone for making a few calls back to UK when in EU. This was good value before 15th June because it was 4p per minute (or similar) and didn't cost me the price of a bundle (£10 that I wouldn't completely use) or a monthly contract (£10 per month or thereabouts).

    My EE PAYG sim now charges 30p per minute UK and EU but Vodafone now charge 55p per minute UK and EU - see this link http://www.vodafone.co.uk/cs/groups/configfiles/documents/document/vfcon072758.pdf.

    Anyone on an 'old' plan that they are 'happy with and can't be bothered switching' should carefully consider these Roam like Home rates.

    I will be ditching these old SIM cards (or maybe putting them in a drawer until the Brexit deals are finalised!!!)

    Frank
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