EU Roaming charges to be abolished June 2017?

[hoped4]

EU Parliament has voted to abolish roaming charges for data and calls from 2017. According to BBC news so must be true !? Significant reduction from April 2016. We plan to start extended cruising to and in the med in April 2017. Looks like good timing or do you think we will still need to be exploring the best options in each country and buying a sim in each country? Seems like good news?

 

[Richard10002]

When these things happen I wonder why it should take almost 2 years to implement. Do the companies need that long to set it up? Have the EU been lobbied to give them this time to milk us for all we are worth? Will domestic costs be increased? How much money have the providers been making out of us if the EU can stop the income stream almost at the drop of a hat?

 

[Mrnotming]

EU Parliament has voted to abolish roaming charges for data and calls from 2017. According to BBC news so must be true !? Significant reduction from April 2016. We plan to start extended cruising to and in the med in April 2017. Looks like good timing or do you think we will still need to be exploring the best options in each country and buying a sim in each country? Seems like good news?

It is good news re roaming charges,being reduced initially,and then abolished.
However there will likely be a balancing scenario,where countries outside the EU/CE will have their roaming charges increased to compensate the teleco's for loss of revenue within EU zone.
So there will still be a need to have a local SIM say in Morocco,Turkey etc.
For those of us who drive to their boats it will be great.
I got a stiff bill last time when the inbuilt Sat Nav in the car gathered traffic data on my behalf,so if I set this option to ON again I would expect data rates to be as at home.It will be great to be able to avoid visits to phone shops,which often cause cruise plans to become delayed.
Good winds and fair sailing and phoning!

 

[Carmel2]

Sorry, this is really for the Lounge, but what a bunch of tossers.........

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/pol...rges-for-British-tourists.html?fb_ref=Default

 

[KellysEye]

When we were long distance sailing we used to buy a sim card for our mobile phone in every country we visited, they are remarkably cheap and have the local frequency, which changes with different telecom suppliers. By doing that we avoided roaming charges. It also worked in Spain and Portugal so it is worth doing that anywhere in Europe before the change in 2017.

 

[colind3782]

I have a Spanish PAYG SIM which I use when I'm in Spain as local friends etc., are more likely to call me on that number rather than thinking they're making an international call on my UK number. Both work fine but it's more psychological than financial as I'm using my UK phone daily for work anyway.

 

[Sybarite]

When these things happen I wonder why it should take almost 2 years to implement. Do the companies need that long to set it up? Have the EU been lobbied to give them this time to milk us for all we are worth? Will domestic costs be increased? How much money have the providers been making out of us if the EU can stop the income stream almost at the drop of a hat?

They're waiting for the UK to leave the EU so that that will be one complication less.

 

[Forty_Two]

I think this is a worrying aspect to all this:

"As part of the compromise, telephone providers will still be able to cap the amount of time that customers can use their phones abroad at a flat rate under a “fair use” policy."

If this turns out to be like 3's 2 months per 12 months it may turn out to be worse than now. For instance I use EE EU roaming as part of my normal package (excluding data) which I have found has no limitations. As it seems some have been cut off in the EU by 3 it may become almost useless taking a UK phone to the EU if you exceed the set max time in the as yet unknown fair use policy.

 

[Chris_Robb]

I think this is a worrying aspect to all this:

"As part of the compromise, telephone providers will still be able to cap the amount of time that customers can use their phones abroad at a flat rate under a “fair use” policy."

If this turns out to be like 3's 2 months per 12 months it may turn out to be worse than now. For instance I use EE EU roaming as part of my normal package (excluding data) which I have found has no limitations. As it seems some have been cut off in the EU by 3 it may become almost useless taking a UK phone to the EU if you exceed the set max time in the as yet unknown fair use policy.

One way to solve this is to make all your phone calls on a data sim card in a MIFI unit. We do this in turkey using O2 TUGO app on a Turkcell data sim which means I can use my phone using my UK minutes (which otherwise would be wasted). This year I didn't pay a single extra penny to O2 for european calls or receiving them, as the Tugo app can be set to only receive and make calls through WIFI. A call uses very little data kbs, so this is a very cheap way of making calls. You need a data card anyway for email - so a complete Freebee really.

 

[telford_mike]

One way to solve this is to make all your phone calls on a data sim card in a MIFI unit. We do this in turkey using O2 TUGO app on a Turkcell data sim which means I can use my phone using my UK minutes (which otherwise would be wasted). This year I didn't pay a single extra penny to O2 for european calls or receiving them, as the Tugo app can be set to only receive and make calls through WIFI. A call uses very little data kbs, so this is a very cheap way of making calls. You need a data card anyway for email - so a complete Freebee really.

We do the same with a Greek Vodafone SIM in a mifi. TuGo is very good in this regard if you are with O2 in the UK.

 

[Jegs]

Sorry, this is really for the Lounge, but what a bunch of tossers.........

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/pol...rges-for-British-tourists.html?fb_ref=Default

Might you be talking through your wallet?

ATB,


John G

 

[Carmel2]

Might you be talking through your wallet?

ATB,



John G

So you think the Uskip and the Greens are on the money on this one?

 

[RAI]

The GSM system was designed to be global. Only the service providers business cases led to roaming and many other charges. The entire competition is about winning subscribers. To do that, confusology has been applied to tariffs to win and hold customers.
In reality a service provider has set up, maintenance and marketing costs. Included in the set up cost is the debt to banks for buying the frequencies. Included in the maintenance cost is ever changing billing software to keep up with the desired tariff changes coming from the marketing department. The actual cost of an individual call, text or megabyte is immeasurably small but people have been trained to expect charges based on distance and duration. They have been trained to think that a call to a different country costs more than to one next door. For the service provider, the cost is the same but the pricing is of course much different.
VOIP, Skype like applications can provide zero cost for distance or time. Companies like FON have tried to promote the idea that once broadband monthly fees, access points and adaptors are paid for, everything else could be free use. Ultimately, we may be paying a flat rate monthly fee and using as much telecoms as we like.
In the mean time, the services providers are lobbying like mad to keep their confusology charging systems in place. They need time to think of new ways to win customers away from their competitors.
As each country sold its frequencies to telecoms companies at wildly varying prices, those who paid the most are at a disadvantage to those who paid little. Getting fair competition across national boundaries is just one problem.

 

[Chris_Robb]

In the mean time, the services providers are lobbying like mad to keep their confusology charging systems in place. They need time to think of new ways to win customers away from their competitors.
As each country sold its frequencies to telecoms companies at wildly varying prices, those who paid the most are at a disadvantage to those who paid little. Getting fair competition across national boundaries is just one problem.

Yes I am afraid what you say is true. However - new ways of attracting business could be as simple as providing a decent service, especially in populated areas which must be profitable to them. The old ways might be the best.....

I am stuck with 02 - which used to work very well here, but the only other signal is Vodafone - cant go back to them as I sued them over "bundles" and won on the steps to the court.....