"Rip off" Britain again
- Thread starter greeny
- Start date
Stemar
Well-known member
What might have changed since (redacted) apart from the removal of a level of consumer protection? I won't pretend to be any sort of expert, but I can't see anything. They're still the same big companies running the networks - often the same ones, albeit under different names across Europe (the world?) with the same wonderful desire to look after their customers at the expense of their profits, or is that look after their profits at the expense of their customers?
BTW, I'll freely admit to being biased against companies that try to rip me off
ean_p
Well-known member
And aren't we all, but that's not the bias on show here.
Baggywrinkle
Well-known member
The point made by greeny was really quite straightforward and very relevant.
Last year all UK mobile phone customers had free roaming in France, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Spain, Greece and multiple other European countries.
This year some UK mobile phone customers no longer have free roaming in all those European countries, and if they still do, it is under threat as more UK providers re-introduce roaming charges.
For a German mobile phone customer, the free roaming in France, Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Spain, Greece and multiple other European countries remains in place and is not under threat .... only roaming in the UK is an unknown (although my German provider still has free roaming in the UK at the moment.)
Could you explain what happened to make this come to pass, and why it is a benefit to UK consumers? I, and many others, think it is because the UKs exit from the EU removed the consumer protection measures that were responsible for free roaming, allowing telecoms providers to re-introduce gouging their UK customer base - just like they used to in the past.
The rest of the EU doesn't have this problem and will continue to enjoy free roaming among member countries ... so something must have happened this year to disadvantage UK consumers .... I wonder what that might have been?
Perhaps the 'pingdemic' causing a shortage of ethernet packets, making it more difficult to import and export data to the EU?
... or perhaps it was simply the 'B' word which we will get moderated for mentioning?
ean_p
Well-known member
It is absolutely without doubt because of the word that can not be mentioned. I think I mentioned that or at least implied it earlier! What is in doubt is what are the pressures and by whom, that are causing the price raises . Questions like why are UK networks supposedly fleecing their UK customer base and yet allowing Portuguese networks an easy ride and still able to offer their customers cheap use of the UK networks? Or is the reality that the EU networks are fleecing the UK networks for use of the EU system and hence driving up prices for UK customers? I don't know the answers to these questions and many others like them and I suspect neither do you. Therefore to 'assume' the issue is solely with the UK providers and hence another example of 'Rip off UK' rather than 'rip off EU' or better still ' rip off providers' is the point that the OP was making.
Baggywrinkle
Well-known member
Roaming fees are back. It’s time to switch network
I fully expect that new EU contracts will no longer include UK roaming, just as they don't include Switzerland. It's about profits and how much the market can stand. The inter-country charges have always been there, and still are, the telecoms companies were simply forced to absorb them because they over-charged for roaming in the past, just as the car industry over-charged for RHD cars. The market adjusted and non-roaming customers ended up subsidising roaming as the cost was spread. Now UK providers are taking the opportunity to data-cap and charge for roaming again, but haven't reduced the base cost of contracts. The company I work for buys millions of roaming contracts a year and negotiates contracts with telecoms providers.in countries all round the world .. we have transparency of their costs and we have seen no changes to cross-charging for network access - it's a global norm. The EU is an anomaly because these charges have to be absorbed by the providers within Europe. The telecoms companies never stopped charging each other when free roaming was introduced.
roblpm
Well-known member
When I worked for a telecoms company 20 years ago the marginal cost of data was basically zero. I can't believe it costs them anything. Its just market forces adjusting to the lack of regulation.
Stemar
Well-known member
Fixed that for you
High'n'Dry
New member
I've just come back from 2 months in France, Italy and Spain and paid the royal sum of 14 pence extras for am SMS I received, otherwise my existing 3 package absorbed all the calls and roaming time and cost I needed. I have a 18 pound a month package, unlimited roaming and the first 6 months were a tenner. Maybe you're using the wrong provider.
lustyd
Well-known member
I have a Three SIM too. I also find it hard to spend money as there's never any signal on their network! ?
ean_p
Well-known member
forgive me but I thought that you were a design engineer for a car manufacturer?
lustyd
Well-known member
Not sure why that would matter. Car manufacturers do indeed buy potentially millions of contracts per year.
Sandy
Well-known member
For us two weeks in Brittany is still cheaper than Devon and Cornwall.
DFL1010
Active member
lustyd
Well-known member
I'd have thought a couple of months would be cheaper than Devon/Cornwall!
st599
Well-known member
And as of next year 3 will charge you an extra £100+ to do that.
Baggywrinkle
Well-known member
I am and we have to buy SIMs or ESIMS for the EU mandated emergency call system, which involves signing contracts with network providers ... (every EU car has mobile data) we use our NADs (Network Access Device) for data comms to provide online services to the cars, like traffic information, remote vehicle location etc. ... and being cars, they roam regularly.
Baggywrinkle
Well-known member
... looks like there wasn't a competitive advantage to be had after all.
roblpm
Well-known member
Wow. Disaster. Well not really. But its a PITA buying a local sim everywhere. I am on a 7 week trip at the moment, Colombia, Puerto Rico, USA. All go roam destinations. 12gb a month. Ugh. Maybe time to ditch 3 for business after 15 years!
roblpm
Well-known member
I know we aren't allowed to mention the B word but after having been abroad for a bit I am not looking forward to returning to our tiny island.