UK Network Operator EE to Charge Customers for Roaming Within the EU

[axantas]

Oh I wouldn't expect it in a prepaid card, but as far as I know all major Dutch providers have included Switzerland. So those EU citizens driving through Switzerland with kids watching YouTube probably all have it included.

But ALL EU mobile cards do include it by default. Pay 7.99 prepaid/month at Aldi in Germany and you are set. Pay 15 CHF prepay in Switzerland and you are lost. Pay CHF 99/month in a contract in Switzerland and you are (probably) set.

As for Switzerland it is purely a provider thing, based on your individual contract - paying for extraterrestrial roaming. Providers do it vice versa.

 

[Dr McKay]

They may have ... but maybe they are betting on the public "forgetting", which sadly the public does on many things.

Three allowed free roaming for data across Europe and beyond for years before the EU ruling on banning roaming charges.

 

[VulchR]

It would be righteous also hold sections of the media accountable. For example, a story like this, that posits a 3-6% decrease in GDP whilst being docilely absorbed by millions of citizens during peak Brexit anxiety, was actually emphatically false and stayed broadly within the same range as other comparable economies.
...

I think the estimate quoted in the BBC article was for a sudden Brexit. However, the gap between the referendum and the actual leaving of the EU was long, so in essence we prepaid the price during the gap. If you want to see how the world viewed Brexit, I suggest you take a look at how far the £ dropped immediately after the referendum. That meant consumers paying higher prices on all imported goods - from the EU or not - but I suppose it had the advantage that it made UK products less expensive overseas and helped boost exports somewhat. In the long term, we'll see what the costs and benefits are, but these roaming charges seem to indicate that at a minimum Brexit is impacting UK consumers.

 

[RecentlyConverted]

It will have already been agreed upon between each other and they’ll all have equal pricing.

That would be anti-competitive, and leave the companies involved, open to fines of 10% of their world wide turnover.

 

[VulchR]

What does your point about direct democracy have to do with anything. I took issue with not being able to vote for the people who propose legislation that covers every facet of my life. Not with the pro's and con's of various systems of democracy.

Yes, maybe this does reflect the opinion of the British people, but it doesn't change the result of the referendum should be respected and enacted upon. I would expect the discontent to die down once the UK economy begins to recover from the China virus. We don't keep flipping back and forth every other month. If you want to rejoin the EU then I suggest you vote for parties who want to enact that measure, build up a majority in Parliament and have a referendum. I seriously doubt that would work and I believe most Brits are tired of hearing about Brexit and just want to get on with their lives. Did the absolutely crushing wins for the Tories not tell you something and the complete annihilation of the Labour Party that turned their backs on the working class?

LOL. Again the UK government is not a Democracy. That 'crushing majority' for the Conservatives was won because of the first-past-the post system in which the party won all of 43.6 of the popular vote, a whopping increase of 1.2% of the popular vote but a 15% increase in the number of MP's. Again not as much consensus as some seem to imagine.

 

[macsound1]

Have they already done the maths and adjusted your price in advance to suit?

Nope, T-Mobile is "cheap" compared to the US competition AT&T and Verizion, whom both charge for your to roam internationally.

 

[TwoBytes]

solution - new iPhone with dual sim
Buy a local sim, done.

 

[H2SO4]

Nope, T-Mobile is "cheap" compared to the US competition AT&T and Verizion, whom both charge for your to roam internationally.

You don't know that at all. The business model that T-Mobile employ may well mean that they have factored it in already in your charges.
Don't assume that because they are cheaper, (or more expensive) that they are giving you something for free.

 

[H2SO4]

As an ardent remainer, who would have voted to for everything up to and including the UK becoming a state within a United States of Europe, I completely disagree. It was a free and fair democratic decision, and we lost. Any attempt to rejoin in at least the next generation (30+years) will be perceived as an attempt to overthrow the result and likely have even worse consequences than Brexit ever will. If at some point in the future there is clear and overwhelming public opinion for rejoining then maybe, but until polls are showing this no thanks. Going forward I will be fascinated to see how the EU develops without the dead weight of the UK dragging its heels.

It wasn't fair at all. When the political parties of the day can present all of the facts, (as they know them), to all of the people, then it is fair.
Your point about rejoining however has merit.

 

[H2SO4]

Not really. They understand that very few of their customers ever roam overseas, so they can advertise it as a benefit that will never be used. Also, most (if not all) of the systems in most (if not all) of the countries for which they support free data roaming are T-Mobile, so will there will be no charge to them for it.

How do you know that?

 

[H2SO4]

$60 monthly, 2-lines, unlimited everything(5G included) while in the U.S.(includes Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands).

That doesn't actually answer my question.

 

[McScooby]

Give it time, the £2 a day will turn into a £10 monthly pass, that'll turn into a freebie add-on much like the US, Aus & NZ as we have now, honestly nothing to see here, it's a bit like folk moaning it costs 60p/min to make a call when everyone on set minutes or unlimited packages aren't affected. All networks said pre-Brexit they had no plans to change EU roaming now they do, things change.

 

[McScooby]

Three allowed free roaming for data across Europe and beyond for years before the EU ruling on banning roaming charges.

I remember well, I tried it in Sweden when I was with 3, I would've been quicker jumping on a flight home than use their roaming!?

 

[Luap]

I guess 48% of us, at least, will be hoping so.

Thats the thing about democracy. It isn't about what the minority want.
If you want the EU, go there.

 

[bigchrisfgb]

£2 a day isn't bad to be fair, compared to what charges used to be!

The charges used to be free. Considering EE is a U.K. merger of Orange and T-Mobile, their parent companies (ok it’s now owned by BT), should have one of the largest coverages in Europe, so it wouldn’t actually cost them anything to provide a roaming service.

 

[axantas]

solution - new iPhone with dual sim
Buy a local sim, done.

As I already mentioned: Good luck, trying to buy a local prepaid e-sim for your iPhone. You will fail in most of the EU-countries. You will get it immediately as part of your 24 month 99€ contract, but, I guess this is not, what you will be looking for.

 

[Dunk the Lunk]

It wasn't fair at all. When the political parties of the day can present all of the facts, (as they know them), to all of the people, then it is fair.
Your point about rejoining however has merit.

Of course it was fair-just because one side failed to articulate its arguments doesn’t make it unfair.

I will acknowledge that it’s much harder to articulate positive arguments when you are taking a unionist position largely based on economics vs a nationalist position based on taking back control from undemocratic institutions. This was equally true in the Scottish referendum in 2014 and you’d have thought Cameron would have learnt his lesson. But in neither case does it make it unfair.

 

[axantas]

The charges used to be free. Considering EE is a U.K. merger of Orange and T-Mobile, their parent companies (ok it’s now owned by BT), should have one of the largest coverages in Europe, so it wouldn’t actually cost them anything to provide a roaming service.

... any reason, why they should do it anyway? They are allowed to make a lot of money now.
You are not really believing, they do think about you customer, not paying anything for that roaming they are allowed to put on your invoice now. They are not providing a "service" to you, they are invoicing you.

 

[beanbaguk]

Brexit. That “sovereignty” bollox that keeps on giving….

 

[beanbaguk]

Considering young people mostly voted remain and old people mostly voted for brexit there is a solid possibility that the decision will be reversed. People don’t live forever…

I voted remain and despise Brexit, but the remain ship has sailed. I will adopt the citizenship of the EU country I live in and just leave Britain and it’s moronic politics behind. Plus, as somebody who has lived outside the UK for more than 15 years, I have no say any longer in the elections. Why offer any loyalty to a country that I have no say in and every moronic decision made affects me? Cheerio UK….

 

[SDJim]

What a dick move. Nothing has changed except their legal ability to charge for this. Cheap shot.

 

[axantas]

What a dick move. Nothing has changed except their legal ability to charge for this. Cheap shot.

Their legal ability has changed. Not a cheap shot. Just a legal fact.
They like that Brexit, money is coming in. Shareholders are rejoicing. The management is gettng fat bonuses. You do not count.

 

[andreiru]

Won’t be renewing then Vodafone, here I come ?

 

[Alan Wynn]

How do you know that?

Because in 2018 a total 41.7 Americans traveled overseas 1 or more times (of which the vast majority traveled only once). That is under 13% of all Americans. Even if everyone of those people was a T-Mobile customer (something that is obviously not the case), that would mean fewer than 25% of their customers would have traveled outside the country more than once in a year. Given the far more likely scenario of those people being split fairly evenly among the big three, that would drop that to about less than 9%.

EU roaming matters to people in the EU because the countries are so small. We have not had roaming charges in the U.S. for years, which is geographically about the same size as Europe. It just is not a big deal to most Americans.

 

[Kiimora]

So much for protecting consumer’s interests; this is purely licence to raise that price upwards arbitrarily!!?