The Mail on Sunday

Roaming may now be ‘free’ – but you can still get caught out

- By Toby Walne

PHONE users are bei ng warned that a new crackdown on roaming charges in Europe could land them with higher bills. The European Commission has just introduced a new law that caps roaming charges – applied when phone users abroad on business or holiday surf the internet, use social media, stream music or watch films.

The rules aim to ensure customers previously landed with unexpected bills totalling hundreds of pounds now pay nothing extra or just a few pounds more.

Mobile providers such as Vodafone and EE must ensure that customers’ bundles of data, minutes and texts are used before they start to be charged extra while in Europe.

But critics fear many mobile users will not realise that countries such as Switzerlan­d, Turkey – and possibly even Britain when we leave the European Union in 2019 – are not included in the new arrangemen­ts. Providers may also exploit the confusion and l ure customers i nto expensive deals that include paying for ‘free’ roaming they do not need.

Amy Smith, who runs theatre company Legs Akimbo, says: ‘ The changes to roaming charges are confusing and many people will get a nasty shock thinking they will pay less – only to be landed with an unexpected hefty bill.’

The 32-year-old, from Dalston, East London, says: ‘I follow a simple rule when going abroad. I switch off the roaming facility on my phone settings at the airport and only turn it on again upon my return.

‘I have learnt the hard way after being stung with nasty bills in the past. I prefer to get access to the internet on holiday using free wi-fi at internet cafes, train stations or hotels.’

Amy was hit with an unexpected £76 roaming bill by mobile provider EE two years ago when she thought she had paid a one-off £9 on top of her £35-a-month contract to include the extra roaming. She was later refunded the bill after complainin­g.

The new European Commission rules reduce the maximum amount a phone network provider can charge for roaming from €50 (£44) per gigabyte to €7.70 (£6.80). The rate will fall over the next five years to €2.50 (£2.20). The £6.80-a-gigabyte rate applies if you go beyond an existing allowance – or do not have one. A gigabyte is enough to allow a phone user to stream videos for an hour.

The bill for roaming outside of Europe will rise from August when value added tax – charged at 20 per cent – is applied to the normal network charge rates. The most expensive countries for roaming include South Africa and Canada, both of which can charge up to £8 per megabyte (£8,000 a gigabyte) for data use.

A Neil Diamond fan spent £2,600 downloadin­g a 326-megabyte album on holiday three years ago. Operator Orange later cut her bill to £400.

Ernest Doku, technology expert at comparison website uSwitch, warns: ‘Providers have been rapped on the knuckles by these new laws for overchargi­ng but are pushing ‘roam like at home’ sales literature as if it was their idea. They will still seek to sell you unnecessar­y extras.’

The commission has also cut the maximum charge rate for making phone calls and texting. The price of calls made in Europe has now been capped at 3.2 cents (3p) a minute from the previous 5.5 cents (5p). The cost of sending a text has been halved from 2 cents (2p) to 1 cent (1p).

 ??  ?? SHOCK: Amy Smith was hit with a £76 bill for using data
SHOCK: Amy Smith was hit with a £76 bill for using data
 ??  ?? TURN-OFF: Amy switches off the data roaming facility while on holiday
TURN-OFF: Amy switches off the data roaming facility while on holiday
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