Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

EU Mobile Roaming Charges Scrapped (bbc.com)

Posted by msmash on from the moving-forward dept.

From now on, European Union holidaymakers should return home without that sense of high anxiety about their mobile phone bill: extra fees for using it abroad should have gone. From a report: The new rules mean that citizens travelling within the EU will be able to call, text and browse the internet on mobile devices at the same price they pay at home. The European Commission said the end of roaming charges was one of the greatest successes of the EU. But a UK consumer group warned phone users could face "unexpected charges." Until now roaming, or connection, charges have been added to the cost of calls, texts and internet browsing when consumers from one EU country travelled to another and connected to a mobile network there.

3 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. Watch out for Andorra-not an EU nation. by speedlaw · · Score: 3, Interesting

    We had an EU friendly phone plan. We drove to Andorra...great skiing, good food, nice hospitality. There was a thief in the Mountains, who waylaid our travelers....Andorra Telecom. They sent a message saying that we'd used 50 euro in data (for some google maps...an hour's drive maybe). We turned off data. Then, they shut off our phone for a 250 euro data charge, which had magically run up in that 45 minutes before the 50 euro shutoff message. Andorra Telecom put a black eye on an otherwise interesting place-they are a robber in the hills...so . F@!K Andorra Telecom.

  2. be careful on the ferry though by fyonn · · Score: 4, Interesting

    My UK Vodafone contract already had EU roaming included in it when I went to Germany recently, so I knew that I could keep roaming turned on as I intended to use google maps and the like while I was away. However to get to Europe we took the ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland. on that ferry trip, my phone picked up the Telenor maritime cell signal from the ferry, which counts as "rest of world" at £6 per meg! I wasn't even using the phone. it had just been checking email etc while I was asleep. Woke to an £18 extra bill for that...

    so be careful on the seas people...

    1. Re:be careful on the ferry though by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You should be carefull in ALL coastal areas, everywhere in the world. You phone will usually connect to the strongest source, no matter what country that source belong to. Plenty of big ships have a small "celltower" on them with a satellite uplink connecting to the rest of the world. Its for the crew, but most phones can connect to them automatically, and you get great coverage over a sea from the coast, perticulary if youre in rocky coastal terrain in a radio shadow towards land like on many beaches.... and then youre phone use whatever plan and cost the ship uses.

      Plenty of people think its "fun" when the phone shows them in a country on the other side of the world. Its after they get the cost.

      Learn to limit data, and be carefull where you are. Personally I wont use streaming music and such when I can have it as MP3 files.