Major mobile network introduces roaming charges for millions of customers – are you affected?
MILLIONS of customers at a major mobile network will now face roaming charges when using their data abroad.
EE pay-as-you-go customers will be charged to use their minutes, texts and data allowances in Europe.
Customers will still be charged extra for data roaming outside these countries.
Meanwhile, you will be charged if you go over your usual UK contracted limit.
It means that those with EE pay-as-you-go sims will now be charged to roam in 47 European destinations including France, Portugal and Spain.
If you have a 30-day subscription pack you’ll be charged £2.50 a day to use your UK allowance abroad with a Roam like Home add-on.
Customers can also buy a Roam like Home package which works for a period of seven days for £10.
But you’ll only be able to purchase these add-ons if you have an active pay-as-you-go subscription pack.
These let you pay upfront to receive a certain number of calls, texts and a set data allowance for a specified period.
If you don’t have a subscription pack and wish to use your pay-as-you-go sim abroad you’ll be charged the following rates:
- Calls – 70p a minute
- Texts – 30p each
- Data – £3 for 500MB
The move comes after EE reintroduced roaming charges for pay monthly customers in March 2022.
EE customers are charged £2 per day to use their UK call, text and data allowance when visiting 47 destinations in Europe.
The new charge was applied to all new customers who joined the network after July 7 2021, and any existing customers who upgraded after this date.
Most firms have reintroduced charges for travellers in the EU following Brexit.
But a handful of mobile networks still haven’t introduced roaming charges for pay-as-you-go customers.
Which networks don’t charge pay-as-you-go roaming fees?
Right now, five mobile networks still allow customers to use their pay monthly UK data allowance while abroad in the EU free of charge.
These include BT Mobile and Plusnet, iD Mobile, O2, Virgin Mobile and Smarty.
But two major mobile networks also don’t charge pay-as-you-go customers extra to use their data when abroad.
Three doesn’t charge pay-as-you-go customers to use their calls, texts and data allowance in Europe.
However, if you use up your allowance you’ll be charged the following rates:
- Calls – 35p a minute
- Texts – 15p each
- Data – 10p per MB (with a £45 limit)
O2 customers using data in Europe will be charged out of their allowance.
If you run out of data whilst in Europe you’ll be charged a Web Daily fee.
Customers are charged at a rate of £2 per MB until they have spent £2 on data usage.
At this point, further usage of data for that day will be free subject to a fair usage of 100MB for the day.