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Thread: EU mobile roaming charges were abolished today

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    EU mobile roaming charges were abolished today

    Great for data use up to allowances, calls and texts could still cause unexpected charges.
    Read more.

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    Re: EU mobile roaming charges were abolished today

    Apparently, some of the companies have gone with a 'fair use' policy though, restricting how much of your data etc is eligible... Was on the One Show, so it must be true...

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    Re: EU mobile roaming charges were abolished today

    the prices already went up in begging of year, which I would bet is connected to this

    three canceled my contract and told to pay 5£ more, so i had to downgrade in order to not raise my monthly cost

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    Re: EU mobile roaming charges were abolished today

    I don't know how the situation is in the UK, but here in Denmark the prices have gone up at least 10-20% on most subscription plans. Alternatively, some companies gave/give you the option to switch to plans with absolutely no roaming capability.

    And there's no "free" roaming as well. At least not when it comes to data. You can only roam for a given amount of GB depending on your plan.

    Considering I don't really go anywhere abroad I'm a bit peeved of having to pay extra so other people can "roam" abroad.

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    Re: EU mobile roaming charges were abolished today

    Well, having read the article and the EU document it's still not entirely clear to me what "Roam like at home" means.

    Situation 1).

    I live in, and have a contract in, say, the UK. If I ring my next-door neighbour I pay standard charges, which very likely is free on contract, on maybe £0.0Xp per min on PAYG.

    Now I go to Italy (for example) and ring that SAME neighbour. The call is international, and at home, inrernational calks are expensive.

    So, does "Roam like at Home" mean whatever it would cost me at home is what it costs me abroad, which is minimal or free.

    Situation 2).

    Live in UK, as before, and am now in Italy as before. If I call my mate in Bologna from the railway station in Bologna, is that "minimal or free" because it's "local", or expensive because the "as at home" bit means it'd be international if I called it from home.




    Also, my suspicion is that sooner or later, phone companies will jack up charges, or reduce allowances, somewhere else to compensate for the lost revenue. This may get deferred a bit until they see what the effect is, such as netting off of intra-company costs and whether this simplification for users drives usage and hence revenue up. But sooner or later, if this costs them, we'll pay it some other way.



    Note: In the interests of transparency and openness, I personally don't give a hoot. I don't use my mobile much at home, and very, very rarely use it, or even power it up, abroad. Last time I used it abroad has to be 10 years ago. Even then, it's calls only.

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    Re: EU mobile roaming charges were abolished today

    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    Well, having read the article and the EU document it's still not entirely clear to me what "Roam like at home" means. ...
    I don't know if it's based on more detailed advice from the EU or it's just their own interpretation of the legislation, but the way Three are implementing it is that if you're in an EU country outside the UK, all calls & texts back to the UK or to another EU country are taken from your allowance; i.e. the EU is treated as a single "country" for determining whether calls are local or not.

    Interestingly, the way they've worded it on their website implies that this doesn't apply if you're in the UK; so if you're abroad the whole of the EU is treated as local, whereas if you're in the UK the rest of the EU is treated as international...

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    Re: EU mobile roaming charges were abolished today

    Quote Originally Posted by scaryjim View Post
    ....

    Interestingly, the way they've worded it on their website implies that this doesn't apply if you're in the UK; so if you're abroad the whole of the EU is treated as local, whereas if you're in the UK the rest of the EU is treated as international...
    Well, at the moment, we (the UK) are as much in the EU as France, Germany and the 25 others are. So if the whole of the EU is local, that includes us.

    We're still in, we're still paying budget contributuons, we still have the same single-market membership as the other 27, and we are still subject to EU law in the same way as the other 27.

    Post-Brexit, of course, it could all change. Depending on the minutiae of any exit-deal, it probably will. But for now ....

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    Re: EU mobile roaming charges were abolished today

    From what I can tell with Virgin, if you're in another EU country and you call home, it comes off your allowances, but if you call someone in that country, it's classed as international.

    Which asks another question, if Europe is to be seen as '1 country' with regards to roaming, why is it not the same for international calls/texts? Surely these days, it doesn't cost anything more whether the call's going to Washington DC (USA) or Washington DC* (UK)? Same with texts. I remember in 2000 being in Australia and texting home, thinking I would be coming back to a huge bill, but when I did get back, the texts had come out of my allowance. It seems it was only later on that the mobile companies realised they could make a quick profit off these, and hiked the charges...





    *Durham County

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    Re: EU mobile roaming charges were abolished today

    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    Well, at the moment, we (the UK) are as much in the EU as France, Germany and the 25 others are. So if the whole of the EU is local, that includes us. ...
    Oh, absoultely - and if you're in an EU country other than the UK that's how Three's contracts work - it's the same cost to call any other EU country. If you're in the UK, however, calls to any other EU country are international, and charged as such. SO it's actually better to go abroad if you want to make calls to other EU countries...

    Of course, this is all subject to the usual "fair usage" caveats, but I do wonder how long it'll take before the cost of calling other EU countries from your mobile's home country comes under scrutiny....

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    Re: EU mobile roaming charges were abolished today

    Quote Originally Posted by scaryjim View Post
    Oh, absoultely - and if you're in an EU country other than the UK that's how Three's contracts work - it's the same cost to call any other EU country. If you're in the UK, however, calls to any other EU country are international, and charged as such. SO it's actually better to go abroad if you want to make calls to other EU countries...

    Of course, this is all subject to the usual "fair usage" caveats, but I do wonder how long it'll take before the cost of calling other EU countries from your mobile's home country comes under scrutiny....
    So .... if in the UK, calls to EU countries (under 3's contract, at least) are "international". So, if you have a UK Three contract, and go abroad, then you pay "as at home", which suggests calls to Italian numbers, while in Italy, are International. However, if I call a UK number from Italy, then it's charged as if I called that number from within the UK, despite being in Italy.

    But that's for Three. Other contracts vary.

    Also, does that not imply that it's not "roaming" that's been freed of charges, but rather "calling your home country while roaming".


    And this, to directly quote the EU, is
    Quote Originally Posted by EU Statement
    one of their greatest and most tangible successes
    Really?

    In over 50 years?

    And that's one of their "greatest successes".

    Great value at only about £10,000,000,000 per year, for the UK.

    Now I get what those thousands of bureaucrats have been busy doing for half a flaming century. Why did we ever consider Brexit in the face of such brilliance, nay, genius?



    And yes, before this descends into a Brexit debate, I am taking the pee. Just a smidge.

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    Re: EU mobile roaming charges were abolished today

    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    So .... if in the UK, calls to EU countries (under 3's contract, at least) are "international". So, if you have a UK Three contract, and go abroad, then you pay "as at home", which suggests calls to Italian numbers, while in Italy, are International. However, if I call a UK number from Italy, then it's charged as if I called that number from within the UK, despite being in Italy. ...
    Erm ... not sure

    Details are at http://www.three.co.uk/feel-at-home/

    In Feel at Home in Europe: calls and texts back to the UK and made between our Feel at home in Europe destinations.
    You can’t use your minutes allowance to make calls to local or other international numbers, Unless you are in one of our Feel at Home in Europe destinations, where calls to between European destinations will come from your allowance.
    Hmmm, neither of those explicitly states that calling to a country while in that country comes from your allowance - just calls between European destimations.

    Damn it, I thought I understood how that was going to work, but now I'm not so sure...

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    Re: EU mobile roaming charges were abolished today

    Well, Jim it's about typical for the ..... no, I'm not going there. Again.

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    Re: EU mobile roaming charges were abolished today

    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    Well, having read the article and the EU document it's still not entirely clear to me what "Roam like at home" means.

    Situation 1).

    I live in, and have a contract in, say, the UK. If I ring my next-door neighbour I pay standard charges, which very likely is free on contract, on maybe £0.0Xp per min on PAYG.

    Now I go to Italy (for example) and ring that SAME neighbour. The call is international, and at home, inrernational calks are expensive.

    So, does "Roam like at Home" mean whatever it would cost me at home is what it costs me abroad, which is minimal or free.
    It will be free.

    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    Situation 2).

    Live in UK, as before, and am now in Italy as before. If I call my mate in Bologna from the railway station in Bologna, is that "minimal or free" because it's "local", or expensive because the "as at home" bit means it'd be international if I called it from home.




    Also, my suspicion is that sooner or later, phone companies will jack up charges, or reduce allowances, somewhere else to compensate for the lost revenue. This may get deferred a bit until they see what the effect is, such as netting off of intra-company costs and whether this simplification for users drives usage and hence revenue up. But sooner or later, if this costs them, we'll pay it some other way.



    Note: In the interests of transparency and openness, I personally don't give a hoot. I don't use my mobile much at home, and very, very rarely use it, or even power it up, abroad. Last time I used it abroad has to be 10 years ago. Even then, it's calls only.
    It will also be free. Before the regulations came in, it varied between networks. On EE for example, it's always been free. On 3, it used to be charged as an international call. Now it's charged as an international call on 3 if you're roaming in a non-European Feel at Home country but is free in a Europe Feel At Home country, because the regulations don't affect non-Europe roaming they can continue to charge international rates for calling the country you're in.

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    Re: EU mobile roaming charges were abolished today

    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    So .... if in the UK, calls to EU countries (under 3's contract, at least) are "international". So, if you have a UK Three contract, and go abroad, then you pay "as at home", which suggests calls to Italian numbers, while in Italy, are International. However, if I call a UK number from Italy, then it's charged as if I called that number from within the UK, despite being in Italy.

    But that's for Three. Other contracts vary.
    No, that's what the case was before the new roaming regulations take effect. Now on a 3 contract calling Italian numbers while roaming in Italy comes from your allowances. 3's always been awkward and confusing as heck with their pricing and weasel wording though, so it's no surprise you'd be confused:

    With Feel at Home in Europe you can use your allowances to call and text the UK and the majority of European destinations, and use your data, and it won't cost you a penny more. If you don't have any allowance left, you'll also benefit from special roaming rates. If you’re in one of our Feel at Home Around the World destinations you can also use your allowances to call and text the UK and use your data at no extra cost. Calls and texts to the UK and within the EU/EEA are included in your allowance with all our plans as part of Feel At Home in Europe.

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    Re: EU mobile roaming charges were abolished today

    Surely it means that if I'm in UK and call France; its classed as international (UK intl. rates to EU).
    If I travel to France and call Italy; its classed as normal international (at UK intl. rates to EU) (Edit: unless calls across Europe are a flat rate?)
    If I travel to Italy and call Italy; I'm roaming on an Italian network, its classed as a local Italy call, so it comes out of my contract allowance/charged local rate.

    If I am in Italy, and call home to the UK number, then it again will come out of the allowance (or charged as if I was at home).
    Last edited by zarnywoop; 16-06-2017 at 11:01 AM.

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    Re: EU mobile roaming charges were abolished today

    Don't worry in two years time it will be back to normal!!

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