New roaming charges in Europe

[boatmike]

I looked quite hard but cannot find it. Do you have a link please?

http://www.vodafone.co.uk/campaigns/roaming-july-15-payg/changes-to-payg-in-eu-reg/ Is the link. Don't feel bad. The VF guys in the shop and their on line sales people couldn't find it either! This link gives PAYG charges. Go back a page and put in Pay monthly and you will see they are slightly different. On line they still try to sell you Eurotraveller which is rubbish as these charges are less than UK charges by a long shot.

If that link does not work Go to the main page and scroll down to the bottom right and click on PRICES FOR USING YOUR PHONE ABROAD.
For "where are you going" just put FRANCE
Choose PAYG or PAY MONTHLY (they are slightly different)
For what device put PHONE
The current charges will appear but on the bottom is a note click FIND OUT MORE and you will see the prices from 30th April

 

[vyv_cox]

Thanks very much. Our kids may receive more calls than they are used to at those prices.

 

[Sunandsea]

This our experience also. THREE did work in Greece for a short while for calls and texts with data roaming switched off (we're not stupid). But roaming on the Wind network, the only one we could connect to, became problematic. Could not send/receive texts or make/receive calls even though full strength signal. THREE could not resolve the problem and passed the issue to Wind in Greece. It took some time, but eventually resolved.
Worked okay back in the UK but after a short while in Spain we received a text from THREE informing us we were being disconnected due the 'feel at home' terms and conditions. We were not told of this when we bought the SIM!
THREE's customer services are a bit dense, saying they would get back to us in a couple of days. Of course, this couldn't happen as we were about to be cut off!
In short, THREE (pay as you go) is completely useless to us as we spend more than 2 months a year in 'feel at home' countries.
Cannot recommend Movistar in Spain. They seem to randomly take €3 every now and then from the credit.
Trying Orange in Spain but not having any luck. Can receive texts and calls but nothing outgoing so far. Only had this SIM 5 days and there has been a network issue. Back to store tomorrow!

 

[RAI]

In Spain, have a look at tuenti.com

 

[Steve Clayton]

I looked quite hard but cannot find it. Do you have a link please?

https://mediacentre.vodafone.co.uk/...hes-inclusive-roaming-across-40-destinations/

 

[jordanbasset]

https://mediacentre.vodafone.co.uk/...hes-inclusive-roaming-across-40-destinations/

Would be useful, especially if it does not cut off the phone completely after 3 months (until you return to the UK), one of the reasons I wont use Three's package

 

[stranded]

Would be useful, especially if it does not cut off the phone completely after 3 months (until you return to the UK), one of the reasons I wont use Three's package

I had a virtual chat with one of their advisers on Friday who assured me that there is no restriction on the proportion of time that the phone can be used out of the U.K.

 

[jordanbasset]

I had a virtual chat with one of their advisers on Friday who assured me that there is no restriction on the proportion of time that the phone can be used out of the U.K.

If that is right it will be very good news

 

[stranded]

If that is right it will be very good news

Indeed - I will want to make doubly sure before signing up but I am keeping the transcript in case of argument.

 

[jordanbasset]

Indeed - I will want to make doubly sure before signing up but I am keeping the transcript in case of argument.

Just looked on their website, found this
http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Phones/Feel_At_Home
What's not included?
If you have all-you-can-eat data you can use up to 12GB. If you have all-you-can-eat texts you can send up to 5,000 texts. If you have 3,000 or more minutes included in your allowance you can use up to 3,000 minutes.
Numbers that start with 070, 084, 087, 09 and 118 directory services.
Feel At Home is designed for UK residents who are on holiday or business trips abroad, not for extended periods abroad.
You can't use your phone as a personal hotspot (tethering) while you're abroad.
You can’t use your minutes allowance to make calls to local or other international numbers, as you can only use your inclusive minutes to call UK numbers, whether you’re in the UK or a Feel At Home destination.'

It would be interesting to see what Three's take on what counts as an extended trip, still not sure and I would be reluctant to sign up unless I saw it in writing on their website that there is no time limit while abroad, or atleast what that time limit is,
I would not mind them reverting to normal charges after 2-3 months but cutting off the phone would be bad news

 

[Forty_Two]

Indeed - I will want to make doubly sure before signing up but I am keeping the transcript in case of argument.

Just had a look at a 12mth Sim only. First it seems the max inclusive data is 2GB even if you have a 8GB deal in the UK. It tells you this only when you gave chosen a package. Unlimited sms & call if that's what yiur package has.

Second at the bottom of the terms & conditions http://www.vodafone.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/

It says this:

"Inclusive roaming allowances are only for our UK customers who are on short holidays or short business trips to countries within our Europe Zone. If you’re permanently
roaming abroad – for example, you continuously use your phone from within our Europe Zone for more than 30 days – we may suspend international roaming on your
account so you’re no longer able to use your phone abroad. We’ll contact you before we do this."

 

[stranded]

Just had a look at a 12mth Sim only. First it seems the max inclusive data is 2GB even if you have a 8GB deal in the UK. It tells you this only when you gave chosen a package. Unlimited sms & call if that's what yiur package has.

Second at the bottom of the terms & conditions http://www.vodafone.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/

It says this:

"Inclusive roaming allowances are only for our UK customers who are on short holidays or short business trips to countries within our Europe Zone. If you’re permanently
roaming abroad – for example, you continuously use your phone from within our Europe Zone for more than 30 days – we may suspend international roaming on your
account so you’re no longer able to use your phone abroad. We’ll contact you before we do this."

I shall have to revise the score I gave to H****** in my customer service feedback - it did seem too good to be true.

 

[charles_reed]

So far so good.
I ditched Vodafone UK, after 26 years, as their PAYG prices were becoming increasingly unreasonable.
I ditched Vodafone GR when they tried to foist on me a €40month mobile data tariff (after adding insult to injury by charging me €10 to end my last contract in Greece).
I'm happy using GiffGaff in UK (about 40% the cost of other networks) no shops and no technical support. Prices for calls in Greece do have a surcharge but are still only £0.14/min, they're on the Cosmote network, rather wider coverage than Vodafone.
For mobile data I pay Cosmote €15/month for 5Gb and have a free HDSPA (4G) usb modem.
My experience is that offers come and go in all EU markets - that the established UK mobile companies are exploitative about UK charges and have nibbled away at the Commission's attempt to prevent rip-off charges and found a well of disinformation from all their "help centres". This latter may be simple incompetence rather than attempted fraud.
Buy for use abroad in the UK @ your peril - find the offers in your country of use.

 

[boatmike]

My experience is that offers come and go in all EU markets - that the established UK mobile companies are exploitative about UK charges and have nibbled away at the Commission's attempt to prevent rip-off charges and found a well of disinformation from all their "help centres". This latter may be simple incompetence rather than attempted fraud.
Buy for use abroad in the UK @ your peril - find the offers in your country of use.

Incompetence is indeed rife. I have visited two different VF stores twice (four times in all) as an experiment. The staff either couldn't answer my questions or gave conflicting answers. The chatty types on the websites also conflict or don't know the answers. The very encouraging transcript I published earlier is possibly also misinformed if they have weasel words in their Ts and Cs that say they can cut you off after 30 days. How the hell can these people manage to not know their own products and terms and conditions to this extent? Is it deliberate????

 

[DaveRo]

It would be interesting to see what Three's take on what counts as an extended trip, still not sure and I would be reluctant to sign up unless I saw it in writing on their website that there is no time limit while abroad, or atleast what that time limit is,
I would not mind them reverting to normal charges after 2-3 months but cutting off the phone would be bad news

Numerous threads on this - eg here

 

[boatmike]

I am now even more confused than ever. As I said when I started this thread I have a Virgin contract which is pay monthly and only costs me £5 per month. Frankly all I want to use the phone for is calling home and texting and using locally in France and Spain while away for up to 6 months at a time. Data does not concern me greatly as I am happy to use WiFi when available. It seemed heaven sent when Vodafone reduced their charges and I was going to switch but now I find everyone seems to have reduced European charges to 4p a minute so the only real issue is will I get cut off if I stay in Europe for more than 60 days? I know I will be paying £5 a month for a contract I am not using for UK minutes but at 4p I don't care! Virgin use EE. I just phoned Virgin and got customer services and made them check with "management" before answering and they were catagoric in that there is no limit to how long I stay overseas. They even said they have marked my account to register that they have promised this....... So it sounds like continuing my measly £5per month contract is my best deal?????? Do I trust this?????? They say that the previous problems I had was that roaming was switched off in my account although it said on my phone it was switched on.... Seems there is an automatic bar on roaming unless you telephone them. It would have been nice to know that before of course......

 

[blampied]

I am now even more confused than ever. As I said when I started this thread I have a Virgin contract which is pay monthly and only costs me £5 per month. Frankly all I want to use the phone for is calling home and texting and using locally in France and Spain while away for up to 6 months at a time. Data does not concern me greatly as I am happy to use WiFi when available. It seemed heaven sent when Vodafone reduced their charges and I was going to switch but now I find everyone seems to have reduced European charges to 4p a minute so the only real issue is will I get cut off if I stay in Europe for more than 60 days? I know I will be paying £5 a month for a contract I am not using for UK minutes but at 4p I don't care! Virgin use EE. I just phoned Virgin and got customer services and made them check with "management" before answering and they were catagoric in that there is no limit to how long I stay overseas. They even said they have marked my account to register that they have promised this....... So it sounds like continuing my measly £5per month contract is my best deal?????? Do I trust this?????? They say that the previous problems I had was that roaming was switched off in my account although it said on my phone it was switched on.... Seems there is an automatic bar on roaming unless you telephone them. It would have been nice to know that before of course......

Hi Mike
Our experience keep your current phone/contract for emergencies only.
Make sure all people at home your likely to want to contact have FaceBook / Messenger,
WiFi is avalable free in most cafes and most Marinas include it free as part of the mooring charge.
Messenger allows you to make free face to face calls over the Internet / WiFi. (Not only is it a free phone conversation but you also get the option to see the person your talking to)

 

[boatmike]

I think you have missed the point. Several mobile suppliers only support roaming for a limited time, then they cut you off regardless of the volume or pattern of use. Even if you only keep your phone for emergencies usage over longer than that period results in them cutting service. With the new lower cost roaming charges that EEC has bullied them into they are more likely to avail themselves of this get out clause than before.

 

[NornaBiron]

I think you have missed the point. Several mobile suppliers only support roaming for a limited time, then they cut you off regardless of the volume or pattern of use. Even if you only keep your phone for emergencies usage over longer than that period results in them cutting service. With the new lower cost roaming charges that EEC has bullied them into they are more likely to avail themselves of this get out clause than before.

Not sure if Vodafone UK are going to change their roaming policy now the charges have dropped so substantially, but up to now we've been using our UK PAYG Vodafone in Greece with no limits at all for a few years.

 

[RobbieW]

I think you have missed the point. Several mobile suppliers only support roaming for a limited time, then they cut you off regardless of the volume or pattern of use. Even if you only keep your phone for emergencies usage over longer than that period results in them cutting service. With the new lower cost roaming charges that EEC has bullied them into they are more likely to avail themselves of this get out clause than before.

Certainly the change to EU call/text rates on May 1st has changed the landscape. Its complicated and one really does need to read all the available material to get a feel for what might happen. I've had an O2 contract for years and used it 7-8 months away for the last 5 but with very limited calls and texts and no data. O2 have overhauled thier Traveller package in the last few months and for a low use, no data user its no longer good value so I've turned it off. I dont expect that to cause a disconnect because I'm paying the going rate for what calls/texts I do make.

Far as I can tell the one that cuts you off has been primarily 3, they offered a package where you paid no extra to use UK minutes/text/data in selected countries but (deep in the Ts and Cs) limited the time a user could do that. From the sound of it Voda are going down the same route. Theres no real reason why, other than the experience some low use PAYG users have of disconnection, someone paying for calls individually out of UK on a contract should be disconnected.