Travellers in recent years have got used to the lack of roaming charges whilst visiting countries abroad.
The ability to flick your mobile data on and have it work as normal with no extra charge was something many of us had taken for granted. It has certainly been appreciated over the past few months for those travelling across Europe for the Euro football event, taking advantage of their own presence online with uk bookmakers and the ability to wager on go ? but it’s one of those Brexit promises that is quickly changing.
Back in June the first of the big providers had made a change as BT-Owned telecoms giant EE because the first to once again put charges back in place for those travelling outside of the UK, or for Europeans travelling into the UK ? it is something that may have been a little more difficult to notice or really gain attention given the travel restrictions that have been in place, but with the summer having arrived and travel looking much more possible, it is something that will surely be noticed by those looking to get away. Other big names have put a cap on, whilst stating it will only impact a minority of customers as both O2 and Three have said they will only charge over a certain limit, the former being 25GB and the latter 12GB, and not a realistic figure to pass for many who use their data normally and rely on Wi-Fi for other access.
There have been notable exceptions here as Vodafone have stated they currently have no plans to change roaming changes, but with the recent partnership between Vodafone and O2 there may still be changes for both yet to come, but for those who have noticed the change already for heavy data usage, it’s certainly a consideration to be monitored moving forward.
With the roaming regulations set to expire for the rest of Europe on June 30th, 2022, it does provide an opportunity to review the current restrictions ? whether or not they’ll stay in place for European residents to continue to enjoy as they have, or new regulations may put similar charges in place once again, it seems data usage abroad has become a little messy once again. The ideal situation is that the current regulation will stand so users can ‘roam like you’re at home’ as the senior digital policy officer at BEUC stated, but Britons will have to move forward knowing the possibility that additional charges could be just around the corner, and perhaps be a little more mindful of the way data is being used when away from home to avoid racking up some huge charges.
