robcarolyn

Although I am an O2 user at home I always use the roaming charge system in Portugal. Has anyone noticed the reduced charges that came in recently? I normally pay 5p for a text in Portugal.

MrBife

Abolition of all roaming charges is a few months away yet ....

https://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/news...-need-to-know/

However there are some minor changes in Portugal from some operators and some tarrifs announced for next month (June). My provider is Vodafone Portugal and they wrote and told me I would pay a little less if I travel to the UK or elsewhere in Europe.

Knoxy_UK

Source AFP

Telephone roaming charges are to be totally abolished in the European Union as of June 15 2017, following a wholesale price agreement between operators, the final piece of reform carried out over ten years.

Under the agreement between the European institutions, approved by the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the promise, made by the Commission to great fanfare in 2015, of an EU without roaming charges, will become a reality.

"Europeans will no longer be in a state of shock when they receive their phone bill. Until now, they had been used to turning off their phones when they crossed a border," Commented Finnish MEP Miapetra Kumpula-Natri, rapporteur for the European Parliament.

From Mid-June, EU citizens will pay no more for making a call, sending an SMS or accessing the Internet in any other EU country, than that in which they live.

However, their "roaming" will always be at a cost for their operator, responsible for delivering the communication on a network other than its own.

MrBife

But let us not forget that with UK leaving the EU this is likely to result in the phone companies not reducing/removing the UK/PT roaming charges in the same way as they are between EU countries.

Knoxy_UK

It may change again in 2019, but they can't opt out of it until then, as until the UK leaves there are 28 countries in the EU.

The UK has requested to leave, it hasn't left.

RichardHenshall

As a low user (PAYG) the current capped rates are far lower than my 'standard' rates where my phone is based - when roaming charges are abolished completely, my rates will increase significantly when away from home.

liveaboard

Yes, roaming charges have been ridiculous, and now may be ending; but international calls on mobile phones are still charged at insane rates I believe.
What century is this?
A call across the border costs the phone company no more than a domestic one. It's just a "gotcha!" charge and all it does is make a quick onetime buck for the service provider while alienating the customer.
It's bad policy and I doubt it's ultimately even profitable.

Jonny22

Had a text from Voda UK this morning. As of 11 June there will be no roaming charges for using my UK phone in the EU. That includes all texts, data and calls within the monthly plan allowance. They also put up the monthly bill by a quid......

Jonny22

Details available on

www.vodafone.uk/2017paym3b

Jerry Hattrick

While on holiday in Portimao (25/04/2017) I phoned my daughter in South Africa using my UK registered “3” PAYG sim card with £4.78 credit, the call lasted 3 minutes 4 seconds before cutting out, I still had loads of data left so after the call I checked the credit which was £0.03 !!!! – usually while in the UK I can call her for ?? 10 minutes for £0.20 – if there is a next time I’ll use whatsapp.

Knoxy_UK

Always use wifi to make international calls!

Jerry Hattrick

Thanks - the Wifi in the Hotel was terrible