EU may end all roaming charges

[NFH]

Originally Posted by peterdoo

Next group of people that live close to the border and cross it weekly or daily.

That's the best example of all. The fair usage policy is supposed to prevent abuse and to encourage consumers to have their mobile service based in their country of residence. People in border areas will be very hard to accommodate in the FUP, yet these are one of the groups that the European Commission wants to protect.

[DRNewcomb]

Originally Posted by NFH

... People in border areas will be very hard to accommodate in the FUP, ....

Like the entire country of Belgium?

[NFH]

Originally Posted by DRNewcomb

Like the entire country of Belgium?

Not at all. More than 99% of Belgium is not in a border area capable of receiving a signal from a neighbouring country. The smallest EEA country is Liechtenstein, which might be a better example. However, it has mountains between itself and Austria, the next EEA country. Its flat and open border is with Switzerland, a non-EEA country. Remember that EU roaming regulations apply throughout the EEA, not only to the EU. Gibraltar is another good example, which is part of the EU (and EEA).

[dg7feq]

Originally Posted by NFH

Not at all. More than 99% of Belgium is not in a border area capable of receiving a signal from a neighbouring country.

but to its size and geographical position you tend to be in roaming more often than a typical french or spanish mobile user.

[peterdoo]

Pure mathematics: the smaller the country, more of its area (in percentage) is close to the border

When there is a city close to the border (Strasbourg, Frankfurt/Oder Salzburg, Bodensee area, Badajoz,...) the amount of people that are often crossing the border and suffer from roaming prices is very high.

[NFH]

Originally Posted by peterdoo

Pure mathematics: the smaller the country, more of its area (in percentage) is close to the border

It's not as simple as that. It depends on the shape of the country and the length of its coastline. Look at Denmark for example. The inadvertent cross-border roaming issue is also affected by mountains. Many countries' borders are formed by mountains. It's definitely not down to maths but a whole range of factors. Belgium is not a good example. Luxembourg is a much better example.