Our previous article gave some insight into the charges surrounding travelling abroad with your mobile. This time we’re going into a bit more detail.

One of the big issues surrounding roaming post-Brexit is that providers and networks are no longer obligated to protect you.

No More Legal Protection

When the UK was part of the EU our roaming users were protected by the ‘Roam Like You’re At Home’ policy. It basically meant that we could use our devices in the UK like we were at home, using our tariffs, the free minutes and data included in it abroad.

That’s no longer the case. We’re now charged to roam on different networks in the EU and have lost the protection for foreign networks that shielded us from extra charges such as:

• They don’t need to notify you by SMS of pricing when you start roaming
• There used to be a monthly cap of £45 on roaming fees, this no longer exists
• You won’t be notified if you inadvertently roam onto another, different network, across borders for example.

Beware of the small print

Roaming charges tend to be charged ‘per-day’ however, how the networks define a day differs…

Most state that you get 24 hours of data from first use, but EE and Vodafone define a day’s use in the EU as any time up to 11.59pm UK-time – irrespective of the local time zone. This means that if you land at 11.30pm and turn your phone on to roam, you’ll be changed a full day for just those 29 minutes.

Make sure you know what your plan is.

What about some good news?

Some providers still don’t put on additional charges to roaming, so it might be worth-while seeing if you can move networks if you’re an avid traveller. However, any of these providers could at any moment introduce charges, so be warned.

Providers who don’t currently charge roaming fees:

• BT Mobile and Plusnet
• Giffgaff
• iD Mobile
• O2
• Smarty
• Utility Warehouse
• Virgin Media

Refer back to this article to find out the current charges applied for the other networks.

If in doubt, in your phone settings toggle off roaming and stick to wi-fi signal. Get in touch with us if you want any help regarding your phone and the tariff you’re on.