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The best and worst mobile providers

for data roaming charges abroad
7–9 minutes

On a business trip to Cairo, I arrived late at night expecting a driver

to meet me. Nobody was there. Time to make a call. I’d made the
arrangement through my guide using WhatsApp messaging so that
seemed the easiest way to get answers. I flicked mobile roaming
back on and sorted the problem out. The cost of that message
exchange was £160.

My provider O2 had already alerted me by text message that data

would cost me a whopping £7.20 per megabyte (MB) but I didn’t
expect to spend any more than that. Big mistake. It appeared that
my phone had used 26MB to update all its apps because I had
auto-update switched on.

I felt pretty stupid at making what I thought was a rookie error but a
friend just back from New York had a similar shock. His mobile
service is provided by EE as part of his BT Business account and
within minutes he’d reached his data cap of £120. All because he’d
failed to notify EE that he’d like to activate Roam Abroad.

Data roaming charges are complex and vary widely by provider and
destination. But one thing’s guaranteed: using 4G on the hoof
gobbles up data at an alarming rate. You can use up 1MB of data
checking a navigation app and 10MB browsing the web or checking
Facebook for a few minutes. Upload and send a photo and you’re
also instantly in multi-megabyte territory.

New customers signing up direct with EE, Three and Vodafone –

and those who have renewed their contract or joined the provider
after the 2021 cut-off date for free EU roaming – now pay a flat

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daily rate for calls, texts and data roaming in Europe up to the limit
of their UK allowance.These range from £2 per day with Three;
£2.25 per day (£15 for 15 days) with Vodafone and £2.29 per day
(£15 a month) with EE. Only customers who have been ‘in contract’
before the cut-off dates in 2021 can continue to use their allowance
in Europe free of charge.

There are ways around the charges if you travel regularly. Mobile
companies may include free roaming in Europe, and sometimes
further afield, on selected – for which read more expensive – pay-
monthly Sim-only and phone contracts or as part of promotional
deals to attract new customers.

If your new phone plan doesn’t include roaming or a reasonably

priced add-on, the surest way to avoid a big bill is to activate flight
mode, make sure you use Wi-Fi for calls, web browsing and
downloads, and set a low roaming charge cap for use in
emergencies.

Travel SIMs and e-SIMs

There are times when you really need to fire up roaming though: to
order a taxi on the street, to use Google Translate’s chat facility, or
to find out where you are (though maps.me has good offline GPS-
enabled mapping).

If you’re travelling independently it’s a good idea to buy a local SIM

card. Newer smartphones usually include a dual SIM facility or, for
iPhone 12 and 13, you can convert your UK account into an e-SIM
so you can use the SIM slot for a local card or vice-versa.

In countries where the bureaucratic hoops make it difficult to obtain

a local SIM, consider buying one before you leave. Several
companies now offer travel e-SIMs in the form of Apps to cover
data usage. Check the list of destinations as some cover countries
that others do not.

Airalo has a variety of country-specific and regional packages. A

seven-day 1GB e-SIM covering places like Turkey, India and the

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US costs from $4.50 (£3.50); region e-SIMs cost from $15 (£11.80).
Nomad has similar charges for 1GB. Holafly charges more but has
wider coverage and includes unlimited data. These are newish
Apps and we would like to hear feedback from readers who have
used them.

If your mobile phone only supports a physical SIM card, Dataroam

sells an international pay-as-you-go card that can be used in 27
non-EU countries. 1GB of data costs from £29.99 for 30 days in the
US rising to £69.99 in Singapore.

Pay-monthly deals from the four main providers

The four main networks offer a variety of roaming packages; some

come free as part of more expensive contracts, others involve
paying a daily charge. Check the list of countries covered carefully
before signing up as there are significant omissions in the coverage
of some providers.

In countries where there’s no roaming pass or add-on deal

available you will have to pay standard roaming rates, as I did in
Egypt: £1-£2 per minute for calls; 50-60p for texts, and £6-£10 per
megabyte for data.

To avoid customers running up huge bills for the provider in

countries with expensive mobile networks, companies have a Fair
Usage Policy as personal accounts are designed for holiday travel
and not for travelling on business or spending time at a second
home abroad. High usage will be spotted and may trigger extra
charges or a reduction in speed from 4G to 3G.

O2

O2 does not charge any customers for roaming in Europe, the only
major network not to impose charges. Customers on selected O2
Refresh and and SIM-only tariffs – and associated Virgin Volt
customers – are also eligible for free roaming in 27 destinations
outside Europe through its Travel Bolt On deal which includes

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unlimited minutes, texts and data roaming. Other customers can

access a paid-for Travel Bolt On for £6 a day which covers 68
countries outside of Europe. For other countries there are data
roaming bundles; eg 1GB in India costs £65.

EE

EE customers on more expensive Smart Benefits or Full Works

plans can choose a Roam Abroad pass as a benefit to avoid the
£2.29 daily charge in Europe. Other customers (who joined after
July 7, 2021) can buy a Roam Abroad pass for £15 for 30 days to
access their UK plan allowance in Europe, North America, Mexico,
Australia and New Zealand.

There are no deals for using your UK allowance to travel to other

destinations. You will need to activate a Travel Data Pass costing
£6.26-£7.84 a day for a relatively small amount of data
(150-500MB). This makes EE an expensive option for roaming
worldwide.

Vodafone

Selected Vodafone Xtra Plans allow you to use your UK allowance

in up to 83 destinations worldwide, Cheaper plans bought after
August 11, 2021 exclude roaming (apart from Ireland, Iceland and
Norway) which costs £2.25 a day in Europe and £6.85 a day in a
further 73 worldwide destinations. The list includes expensive
destinations such as India, Egypt and Singapore which other
providers often exclude from roaming deals.

Three

For Pay Monthly plans with Three starting after October 1, 2021
you can access Go Roam in Europe for £2 a day and Go Roam
World for £5 a day including much fo the Caribbean and South
America, the US and Australia but oddly not Canada. To access
discounted roaming in a further 18 countries including Canada,
Turkey and Thailand you will need to buy a Data Passport. This

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costs £5 a day for unlimited data only.

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What has been your experience of dating roaming

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