EU may end all roaming charges

[wco81]

Well in that case, guess no point in roaming with prepaid, might as well just get a local SIM if one plans to use a lot of data.

The other term they're using is "stable links" as in the user has to show an address or "stable links" to an EU address in order to receive free roaming benefits. Maybe that will rule out people visiting from outside the EU.

But it also seems like during the years they've taken to arrive at this point, roaming costs have dropped enough that a lot of people are okay with roaming for short periods of time.

Or prepaid data has also dropping in price. Or there are products offering free roaming within the EU already.

So to a certain extent, the market has solved the problem during the sweet time it's taken the EU bureaucrats to lift roaming costs.

[NFH]

Why should it make any difference whether a user is on a one-month SIM-only postpaid contract or prepaid? Why should the fair usage policy be any different?

[peterdoo]

To be able to get a contract, one normally has to prove the links to the country of the operator (credit rating, address, bank account...). In most of the cases it is not possible for people not living in a country to get a postpaid contract. So the probability is low that users from other countries would use a SIM in permanent roaming mode. There are still some possibilities to do it, however those should be stopped by the "60 days within 4 months" rule.

On prepaid it is very easy for anybody to get a SIM and use it in permanent roaming. This is something, the free EU-roaming was not designed for. That is why the operators got stronger tools to prevent that situations for prepaid.

The operators can use less strict FUP if they wish, like for example Vodafone Netherlands and Germany and Telekom Germany which currently use almost identical FUP in prepaid EU-roaming as they do at home.

[wolfbln]

This will be one of the new catches:
Many telcos here have actually raised rates for roaming outside of the new EU/EEA roaming area. The same is true to "foreign calls". These are IDD calls from the home country of the SIM abroad which remain unregulated under the new law even calling a EU county. Thus, it's going to be cheaper calling another EU country on a foreign roaming EU SIM card than from your home EU country on your home SIM. How ridiculous!

For you in overseas who are not so sure how "Europe" looks like (this includes Europeans often too), I've made a map some time ago for the Wiki:
http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.c...?file=EU-0.png

You see that there are some boarder zones where green meets red. These are quite dangerous. What Switzerland is concerned, the CEO of Vodafone is right. Vodafone UK includes it to their EU zone. But he is the boss of a twentysomething countries with Vodafone networks. Vodafone Germany doesn't include Switzerland. They don't have to, as Switzerland is not part of the deal. Vodafone will be the clear winner of this regulation as they can rely on own resources in most countries. They shouldn't play games like this.

Here is another one: Serbia is bordering 4 EU countries. Within the EU they sell 1GB at €10, roaming in Serbia: "€1.18 per 50 kB" (Peter has linked the rate plan above. Serbia is in Zone 4 for data). If you do your math right, you'll end up with more than €25000 per GB. We still can't be so sure that bill shocks are over. That's why I said: Better look on a map before and for God's sake shut off automatic network selection in border areas.

[wolfbln]

Hi. I used the bad weather on Good Friday to write the new article for roaming in the EU/EEA for the Wiki.

Please check it out: http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.c...pean_Union_NEW
And tell me what you think, what to add and what can be left out.
It will replace the old site with the old rules from June.

Writing this I really don't know what to do. Some people have already decided a verdict on the new rules. For some it's the end of all roaming charges, others see no real progress.

I don't want to subscribe to any of these views. We simply need to wait how providers will implement the new rules this summer.

The first new plans or tariffs for the time past June 17 are coming in. They are both encouraging and frustrating. For instance Orange in Belgium will implement the rules without any strings attached, but Orange in neighboring Luxembourg will undercut it by a special domestic offer valid in Luxembourg only. Luxembourg without roaming???

So you see the different operators react diffently according to market. Vodafone has been very groundbreaking so far and announced "roam like at home" for most of their major markets. In Spain they actually include the US to their fee-free zone. But what are they going to do in "cheap" countries like Romania?

Ironically, "roam like at home" is a principle that should bring people in Europe together. But as it looks now, some of the richer countries will usually get it, while users in some poorer countries will still face limitations.

[rfranzq]

Originally Posted by wolfbln

Please check it out: http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.c...pean_Union_NEW
And tell me what you think, what to add and what can be left out.
It will replace the old site with the old rules from June.

I did a quick peruse of the article. I am in USA and don't expect to
travel to Europe in the foreseeable future. So my thoughts might be mostly irrelevant. This looks like a very, very good start.


0. Should I have seen the 'edit' links? I really don't think you want me or anyone else touching this/your work.

1. When you do edit, have you considered marking the changes in some way for content that has changed or is different than what was there previously?
Marking content, but not style fixes. At least until you get to a near final product.


2. Trivia question. Living in California, the EEA has not been something I have paid attention to very much. Is the UK really, actually going to be leaving the EEA also?

3. Since a lot will change or become apparent as time marches on,
perhaps a regular update schedule can be announced and maintained?
Even if it says only that there was no update this week it might help visitors know when to expect changes.

[andy]

Originally Posted by wco81

But it also seems like during the years they've taken to arrive at this point, roaming costs have dropped enough that a lot of people are okay with roaming for short periods of time.

Or prepaid data has also dropping in price. Or there are products offering free roaming within the EU already.

So to a certain extent, the market has solved the problem during the sweet time it's taken the EU bureaucrats to lift roaming costs.

But only with a lot of kicking and screaming by the networks for years.

I became an Orange UK customer in 1999. Somewhere I still have the booklet about roaming charges. About 30 or 35 pence a minute in neighbouring countries like Belgium and France, about 60p in Germany, about 6p in Hong Kong - in other words similar rates to what people there paid, plus a bit. At the time Orange rates in the UK were about 30p a minute - so roaming with Orange wasn't much more than at home. Mind you other networks were higher, like Vodafone or O2 around £1 a minute each way.

In 2003 I was in Poland. Orange increased the roaming there from 51p a minute to £1.10 while I was there, and didn't even tell me. When I complained, they'd told people with monthly statements up to one date on one month's statement, and after another date on the adjacent month. There was a 12 day gap. Fortunately for me I'd got a local SIM and only spent a couple of quid with Orange.

So it's taken 15 years to get back to only a small margin on top of home rates, and not much of the time in between has been filled with innovative new roaming offers. Almost all of the drops have been driven by the politicians and the regulators.