EU may end all roaming charges

[peterdoo]

I think that a "typical holiday" does not exist.

You will find a group of people that do not want to see a phone during a holiday except for emergency use.

Another group where during the holiday the usage of mobile phone/data is much higher than at home. Simply because one does not know the place and needs navigation, translation and information services. Also there is time available and a need to keep in touch with home (friends/family, social networks, news, entertainment). Home allowances where one tends to use WiFi at home and/or work and knows to minimize data use when no WiFi is available, are much too low for holiday use.

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

Those that do not leave the country at all.

I am sure, each of them are millions of people. Whatever rule they will establish, there will be large groups that will not be covered. Or if they make it too generous (which I doubt), it would be easy to overcome it, porting the number after certain time (or usage) to another provider.

[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.