Mobile phone roaming reduced
1st July 2009
The cost of using your mobile phone in Europe has just got cheaper.
In a bid to end ‘bill shock’ the European Commission has finally reached an agreement with the major mobile operators to cap roaming costs within the European Union.
The most significant change is that the price of texting will now be set at €0.11 (9p), rather than the €0.25 (21p) it was previously.
Calling costs have also been capped at €0.43 (37p) per minute for outgoing calls and €0.19 (17p) per minute for receiving a call.
The cost of transferring a megabyte of data is now capped at €1 (85p).
Unfortunately this does not extend to calls made outside of Europe, which can still be incredibly expensive.
The EU has been trying to get mobile operators to comply with a Europe-wide mobile phone pricing structure for over two years. While costs have fallen over the past year, the EU decided the only way to get consensus was to make the pricing compulsory.
The table below shows the standard call charges of each of the main UK network providers. However be aware that they all have deals and ‘bolt on’ packages that can reduce the standard costs shown below.
Check their individual websites for more information on the options available.
The prices below are shown as pence per minute.
| Network provider |
Calls from Europe (EU) to UK |
Receiving a call in Europe (EU) |
Calls from rest of world to UK |
Receiving a call in rest of world |
| O2 pay monthly |
35p |
18p-85p |
30p-170p |
18p-141p |
| O2 pay as you go |
35p |
18p |
99p |
99p |
| T-Mobile pay monthly |
Varies depending on country, see website for further information |
Varies depending on country, see website for further information |
Varies depending on country, see website for further information |
Varies depending on country, see website for further information |
| T-Mobile pay as you go |
Varies depending on country, see website for further information |
Varies depending on country, see website for further information |
Varies depending on country, see website for further information |
Varies depending on country, see website for further information |
| Orange pay monthly |
37.2p |
18.6p |
85p-175p |
70p-100p |
| Orange pay as you go |
40p |
18p |
130p-175p |
70p-100p |
| Vodafone pay monthly |
No extra roaming charges until 31/08/09 with Vodafone Passport |
Free until 31/08/09 with Vodafone Passport |
Varies depending on country, see website for further information |
Varies depending on country, see website for further information |
| Vodafone pay as you go |
No extra roaming charges until 31/08/09 with Vodafone passport |
Free until 31/08/09 with Vodafone Passport |
Varies depending on country, see website for further information |
Varies depending on country, see website for further information |
So how can you reduce the amount you have to pay when abroad? You could get your friends and family to call you as you’ll only have to pay to receive the call. When contacting your fellow travellers, texting is the most cost effective option as you don’t pay to receive a text.
If you’re staying in one country for a few weeks it may be worth buying a local SIM card or if you’ll be on the move you can buy a global SIM card that works everywhere. These can both save you money as the rates are much lower than the SIM cards offered by UK providers.
Alternatively, you can avoid call costs all together by using Skype at a local internet café to phone home.
>>Get 20% off an international SIM card here