Sneaky roaming charges (1 Viewer)

[Ome "n" Dri]

Most will know already that most of the mobile phone network operators in the UK have taken the opportunity to reintroduce roaming charges in Europe with the UK, having left the EU, no longer subject to the EU ban on such charges.

For our multi-month French sojourn I was careful to select an operator who continue to proudly advertise that they are the only major operator still with no roaming charge - O2.

However - on querying a couple of ‘extra charges’ pushing the monthly bill above £100 I found that O2 have also reintroduced the roaming charges, but in a bit of a sneaky way.

Buried in the ‘fair use’ T&C’s is a clause stating that if you stay more than 63 days consecutively outside UK you will be charged for data used, even if you are within your roaming data limit - so for those who plan to use the max 90days we are now allowed to stay on the continent as a tourist, watch out for this sting in the tail if you are on O2.

Cancelled all my Three contracts today, the person I spoke to said they were losing loads of customers due to EU roaming charges.

Oh well…..

Hello RWG.

I was one of the 3 mobile cancellations. Cost me £220 to buy myself out of the unlimited data contract. Been with 3 mobile for over 15 years. Their(3 mobile) roaming policy is pure extortion. It was cheaper to pay the penalty and go with Tesco. Also had a bucket of problems with Smarty in the Moho mifi. After a lot of faffing about it turns out that Smarty is in dispute with some of its roaming partners in France - roaming doesn’t work or at least it didn’t work for us when we entered France earlier this month. To be fair to Smarty a very kind and professional lady (at Smarty) tried to help but to no avail - ended up refunding my month’s subscription and cancelled any renewals. I read just a few days ago that 3 mobile and Vodaphone intend to merge - all is apparent now - reduce the service - maximise the short term profit - better shareholder dosh on the merger. A disgrace.

 

[busby]

The blame isn't entirely on the UK networks. The way roaming works is the UK network has a roaming agreement with a number of EU networks. When you use data in the visited network, they will charge your UK network for that data, this is the roaming "surcharge" imposed by the network you are visiting.
Your home network then charges that back to you. (no idea if they charge more, less or equal mind you).

Pop It and I.D. must piggy back on EU networks but no daily charge.BUSBY.

 

[Dave and Jan]

Pop It and I.D. must piggy back on EU networks but no daily charge.BUSBY.

Popit use EE and ID use 3. Just swapped from 3 to ID as you can use in the EU without charge. Used a Popit sim in an Alcatel sim router on our recent visit to France / Spain. Worked fantastic even for TV on a fire stick.

 

[busby]

Popit use EE and ID use 3. Just swapped from 3 to ID as you can use in the EU without charge. Used a Popit sim in an Alcatel sim router on our recent visit to France / Spain. Worked fantastic even for TV on a fire stick.

Used it all over Europe and in the house at home..BUSBY

 

[TheMachMan]

My 12 month use 120GB EE data only sim is nearing the end of its term. But apparently it’s noted I’m in France and will need to pay £5 to continue using it or something to that affect. I quickly shut it down and used my phone. My mate had the same issue and thinks they have just changed usage terms as he bought a brand new one for £50 to use in France and it won’t let him!

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[Coastal Cruiser.]

Seems Vodafone are on the ball, we were in Switzerland up until this morning for a week or so and I turned off the Netgear with my RWG sim in as it doesn’t come in the data plan.
Have been using mine and Mrs CCs phones to stream and as soon as it got to 25GB they were steaight on the text saying I hade reached my limit for abroad
Have had EE before and never had an issue, one time using 79GB without problems

 

[Peregrinator]

Most will know already that most of the mobile phone network operators in the UK have taken the opportunity to reintroduce roaming charges in Europe with the UK, having left the EU, no longer subject to the EU ban on such charges.

For our multi-month French sojourn I was careful to select an operator who continue to proudly advertise that they are the only major operator still with no roaming charge - O2.

However - on querying a couple of ‘extra charges’ pushing the monthly bill above £100 I found that O2 have also reintroduced the roaming charges, but in a bit of a sneaky way.

Buried in the ‘fair use’ T&C’s is a clause stating that if you stay more than 63 days consecutively outside UK you will be charged for data used, even if you are within your roaming data limit - so for those who plan to use the max 90days we are now allowed to stay on the continent as a tourist, watch out for this sting in the tail if you are on O2.

All providers now do the 63 day rule, Don’t fooled, ask your provider before your trip, we used iD free roaming all unlimited and iD free roaming 200Gb data, reason for the 200Gb was because they would have to honour that before it went to PAYG, but both simms went to PAYG after 63 Days.

 

[Joc]

My 12 month use 120GB EE data only sim is nearing the end of its term. But apparently it’s noted I’m in France and will need to pay £5 to continue using it or something to that affect. I quickly shut it down and used my phone. My mate had the same issue and thinks they have just changed usage terms as he bought a brand new one for £50 to use in France and it won’t let him!

Did he activate it in the UK before he went to France?

 

[DMartin]

My 12 month use 120GB EE data only sim is nearing the end of its term. But apparently it’s noted I’m in France and will need to pay £5 to continue using it or something to that affect. I quickly shut it down and used my phone. My mate had the same issue and thinks they have just changed usage terms as he bought a brand new one for £50 to use in France and it won’t let him!

Hmm ... yes I noticed the same in France in June. IMO EE are breaking the terms of the contract under which I purchased (and they sold me) the 120GB SIM. Can't imagine though I'd be doing anything but banging head on proverbial wall if I tried to query that ?

 

[Brains]

Is there a French, Belgian, Dutch or even Luxemborg provider (with a shop close to the ferry ports) which will provide a PAYG sim card for data with unlimited EU roaming ?

We typically do 50-60 days inside the EU.

We have a Smarty SIM in the WiFi that stops at 12gb 'monthly fair use' (which about a week of data for us)
We have a Vodafone mobile, that also stops after 12GB of 'Monthly Fair Use' (about a week/10 days)
We also have a EE mobile, also with 12 GB of 'Monthly fair use' which lasted about 3 weeks.

What we need is a SIM card, supplied close to the ferry ports that we can put into the WiFi and another for the burner phone where there is no limit, or you pay a sensible cost per GB once you get to the limit

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[TheMachMan]

Did he activate it in the UK before he went to France?

Not Sure.

 

[markhub]

Just back from 4 weeks in France - bought a pre paid 30 day sim from Amazon with 20GB data to put in our mobile Wi-Fi router - worked beautifully all over the country and just ends with no need to call or message to cancel
Also we are with Sky Mobile who allow you to bank unused data which can be used abroad for £2 per day

 

[pw9crab]

Just renewed 3 contract 56 days roaming £22 a month

 

[Clive Bishop]

Most will know already that most of the mobile phone network operators in the UK have taken the opportunity to reintroduce roaming charges in Europe with the UK, having left the EU, no longer subject to the EU ban on such charges.

For our multi-month French sojourn I was careful to select an operator who continue to proudly advertise that they are the only major operator still with no roaming charge - O2.

However - on querying a couple of ‘extra charges’ pushing the monthly bill above £100 I found that O2 have also reintroduced the roaming charges, but in a bit of a sneaky way.

Buried in the ‘fair use’ T&C’s is a clause stating that if you stay more than 63 days consecutively outside UK you will be charged for data used, even if you are within your roaming data limit - so for those who plan to use the max 90days we are now allowed to stay on the continent as a tourist, watch out for this sting in the tail if you are on O2.

Change your supplier to LABARA no restriction on data roaming using vodafone network.

 

[Captain Birdseye]

Most will know already that most of the mobile phone network operators in the UK have taken the opportunity to reintroduce roaming charges in Europe with the UK, having left the EU, no longer subject to the EU ban on such charges.

For our multi-month French sojourn I was careful to select an operator who continue to proudly advertise that they are the only major operator still with no roaming charge - O2.

However - on querying a couple of ‘extra charges’ pushing the monthly bill above £100 I found that O2 have also reintroduced the roaming charges, but in a bit of a sneaky way.

Buried in the ‘fair use’ T&C’s is a clause stating that if you stay more than 63 days consecutively outside UK you will be charged for data used, even if you are within your roaming data limit - so for those who plan to use the max 90days we are now allowed to stay on the continent as a tourist, watch out for this sting in the tail if you are on O2.

We moved to RWG (based in Wales) earlier this year.
They use the Ee network and have no roaming charges.
We pay £20 pm for unlimited minutes, unlimited SMS, and 200gb data per month.
Been fine so far.
Oh yes, and it's a rolling monthly contract.

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[Bolti]

Most will know already that most of the mobile phone network operators in the UK have taken the opportunity to reintroduce roaming charges in Europe with the UK, having left the EU, no longer subject to the EU ban on such charges.

For our multi-month French sojourn I was careful to select an operator who continue to proudly advertise that they are the only major operator still with no roaming charge - O2.

However - on querying a couple of ‘extra charges’ pushing the monthly bill above £100 I found that O2 have also reintroduced the roaming charges, but in a bit of a sneaky way.

Buried in the ‘fair use’ T&C’s is a clause stating that if you stay more than 63 days consecutively outside UK you will be charged for data used, even if you are within your roaming data limit - so for those who plan to use the max 90days we are now allowed to stay on the continent as a tourist, watch out for this sting in the tail if you are on O2.

Did O2 not set a text telling you that you had reached your 63 day limit and if you did not stop within 14 days would be charged?

 

[Paulypaul]

Roaming charges? We have 2 phones on a business contract and when my partner went to Sheringham (our local beach) to walk the dog, her phone picked up a text message from Vodafone about spending limits and maritime and air roaming charges. Yes text had a scam feel about it... but it turns out it wasn't.

Turns out that Vodafone coverage, or lack of, means that when she goes yo Sheringham, and I presume cromer or other seaside towns, because Vodafone can't pick up a mast, they connect to a satelite that assumes you're at sea or in a plane?

After an hour trying to talk to someone, who I could understand and who could understand me, they suggested that the phone is switched off to stop the charges being incurred or to set a spend limit of zero for roaming on the account? Wtf? Nothing about Vodafone service being sh##e? I wonder how many people have been charged in this way who haven't realised?

 

[Jacasino]

Vodafone even worse.

Renewed two business contracts last October to include EU roaming. Or so I thought.
But when away in December they stick £2 a day on both contracts.
Got it sorted eventually when back home in January and charges refunded.
Also confirmed the inclusive EU roaming.or so I thought.
Got off the tunnel last week and received text About the £2.25 per day charge on both phones.

It’s going to be another discussion when I get back to work.

Vodafone’s agents are just a bunch of untrustworthy so and so’s

I am just coming up for renewal of my EE Business Sim 24 Promo 100gb contract, have enjoyed roaming at no extra charge when travelling in the EU - they are eager for me to give them a call to discuss and I will be interested to see if they offer me the same deal. Will keep you posted.

 

[dawsey]

Did O2 not set a text telling you that you had reached your 63 day limit and if you did not stop within 14 days would be charged?

A bit surprised to see this one still rolling on.

Within a few days of the post I’d educated myself on the 63 day thing. I will say that before leaving UK in October 2022 I had called O2 twice and declared our plans, both times asking what tariff or bolt on would be best for long term high data roaming as I still had 6m left on a 2yr UK contract. At no point was a 63d thing mentioned. And no I don’t read a 50page contract of something costing £40 a month.

As we went back to UK for a couple of weeks at new year it reset their counter so their systems only started sending messages in Spring, by that time I only had 2-3m left on the contract. After a call in june they dropped all charges and I’m now out of contract.

The solution was Free, a French sim with 200Gb and unlimited (EU) roaming for €19.99 a month. Available only in their shops which can be found in any sizeable town or city. We needed a French address, but I suspect a campsite address would be fine.

 

[BikerGraham]

I am just coming up for renewal of my EE Business Sim 24 Promo 100gb contract, have enjoyed roaming at no extra charge when travelling in the EU - they are eager for me to give them a call to discuss and I will be interested to see if they offer me the same deal. Will keep you posted.

A few phone calls later and got the money refunded.
They also upgraded the contract to world travel inclusive and I also got the contract price reduced by 10%.
So all in a good result.

But I won’t renew with them when the contracts are due. Can’t trust them at all.

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[carolyn]

Just renewed 3 contract 56 days roaming £22 a month

How annoying, I wasn’t offered that last month so changed to O2, I’d been with them for years. I’d come to the end of the latest 2 year contract and all the “upgrades” didn’t include roaming! Perhaps I should have phoned them. Oh well I get 25gb of roaming data instead of 12 now so can’t really complain.

 

[Johnchudson]

Just renewed my 2 plans with EE.Got passed to their retentions team and got EU roaming included for no extra cost with a more tailored deal.There are cheaper deals but I like their speed and coverage.I suspect the others would take a similar view.

I used iD mobile for unlimited roaming for £8 per month for 6 months. Worked perfectctly in Spain and Portugal including watching tv . Had problems on getting card in post as they do not use a tracking delivery but was able to collect from a curry’s store. They had obviously done this before as knew how to set up card!

 

[Badknee]

We use Lobster when wintering in Spain. Stop start when you want too, English speaking call centre staff.

 

[jongood]

Most will know already that most of the mobile phone network operators in the UK have taken the opportunity to reintroduce roaming charges in Europe with the UK, having left the EU, no longer subject to the EU ban on such charges.

For our multi-month French sojourn I was careful to select an operator who continue to proudly advertise that they are the only major operator still with no roaming charge - O2.

However - on querying a couple of ‘extra charges’ pushing the monthly bill above £100 I found that O2 have also reintroduced the roaming charges, but in a bit of a sneaky way.

Buried in the ‘fair use’ T&C’s is a clause stating that if you stay more than 63 days consecutively outside UK you will be charged for data used, even if you are within your roaming data limit - so for those who plan to use the max 90days we are now allowed to stay on the continent as a tourist, watch out for this sting in the tail if you are on O2.

I haven't read all the posts, but the EU always allowed nd still do allow fair usage limits. if you read the t&c s of O2 they clearly state that there's allow 25Gb/month for a max of 2 months in a 4 month period. These are the most generous of the main network's, and you have to go to somebody like Popit for better. Similar usage conditions apply to most of the EU based cellular networks, nothing to do with br*xit and more to do with the economic turmoil following on from Covid.

 

[Peregrinator]

Is there a French, Belgian, Dutch or even Luxemborg provider (with a shop close to the ferry ports) which will provide a PAYG sim card for data with unlimited EU roaming ?

We typically do 50-60 days inside the EU.

We have a Smarty SIM in the WiFi that stops at 12gb 'monthly fair use' (which about a week of data for us)
We have a Vodafone mobile, that also stops after 12GB of 'Monthly Fair Use' (about a week/10 days)
We also have a EE mobile, also with 12 GB of 'Monthly fair use' which lasted about 3 weeks.

What we need is a SIM card, supplied close to the ferry ports that we can put into the WiFi and another for the burner phone where there is no limit, or you pay a sensible cost per GB once you get to the limit

If you are not going over the 63 Days, then you have nothing to worry about, If I were you, go to Currys and get the iD all unlimited free roaming, I am paying £12, but I think they have put it up to £20 now

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[Brains]

If you are not going over the 63 Days, then you have nothing to worry about, If I were you, go to Currys and get the iD all unlimited free roaming, I am paying £12, but I think they have put it up to £20 now

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Your allowances will end after 1 month, unless you set up recurring bundles to automatically repurchase each month. Change or cancel your bundle anytime to suit your needs

Not quite what we were after, but a start in the right direction

 

[Peregrinator]

Your allowances will end after 1 month, unless you set up recurring bundles to automatically repurchase each month. Change or cancel your bundle anytime to suit your needs

Not quite what we were after, but a start in the right direction

I have got back from a 90 day Europe tour on the 23rd of June, I went in March, My iD deal is £12 a month, 2 year contract, but as you can see from my bill (see attached files), no extra charges, just £12 a month, they say you have 63 days free roaming, but I did not see any difference at all, our usage was Netgear Wi-Fi, two phone data, laptop, iPad and films, we were using Data everyday with problems

 

[TheMachMan]

Anyone using RWG, need to get something for France soon.

 

[Mike Warland]

Anyone using RWG, need to get something for France soon.

Just bought RWG for wife change over was easy we haven't been abroad with it yet but they claim full allowance abroad. I will go with them in October when my O2 contract ends.

 

[TheMachMan]

Just bought RWG for wife change over was easy we haven't been abroad with it yet but they claim full allowance abroad. I will go with them in October when my O2 contract ends.

Am I right in thinking you can cancel at anytime and not locked into a contract?

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