Abolition of UK Mobile Phone Roaming Charges in Europe from 15th June 2017
New EU Regulations come in on 15th June this year which mean that throughout Europe's member states mobile roaming charges are (by and large) eliminated.
Countries Covered:
Austria, Azores, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, French Guiana, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guadeloupe, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madeira, Malta, Martinique, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Reunion Islands, Romania, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
For most people and businesses on standard tarrifs this will automatically come into effect.
You will be able to use your UK minutes, texts, and data in the Europe Zone (subject to any relevant data fair use policy). This means many O2, EE, Vodafone, Threecustomers will no longer see roaming charges on their bill – enabling them to work flexibly without worrying about additional charges
Most Bolt ons will apply equally in UK & EU. If you have unlimited calls and / or data then you'll enjoy the benefits of this throughout the zone. Until now many providers have been charging £1.66 / £2 / £5 per day while roaming for access to bundles so this will save you money when you travel for work or pleasure. If you subscribe to bolt ons that provide an equivalent service then these will likely dissapear from your bill on the next relevant bill after the change.
Exceptions to this are if you have a bespoke tarrif from a provider, or for service which are not covered (be careful of Emoji like smiley faces making your text and MMS or picture message).
Also beware that outside of the EU - so popular destinations like Turkey / Egypt / USA etc. are not covered so you have to beware of roaming charges from these destinations. If we all get used to zero roaming charges in Europe it is easy to forget that countries like Turkey are not in Europe so could catch the unwary out. In any case it is usually best to use WIFI when you can so that you preserve all your quotas for when you are out and about - if your mobile device is not already set to connect to your home and secure office Wifi then now is a good time to rectify that.
Thanks to Alec Wilson for the photo of Rockwell Commander G-ROAM featured in our page banner.