Today June 15 is a very good day for the history of telecommunications. The European Union will do things well and other things a little worse, but it is clear that the system of unification of markets in all areas does nothing but fully benefit users. It is clear that we have all heard today about the end of roaming in Europe but ... What exactly does it mean that roaming will no longer exist in the European Union?
So that you do not have doubts, and so that you can remember them again just before going on a tripWe are going to leave you the most frequent questions and answers about the end of roaming in Europe. This way you will be very clear about your rights as a mobile phone consumer wherever you are.
We are not even going to ask the first question, as we said just a few lines ago, from now on you will be able to enjoy free roaming, or rather, the elimination of roaming within the territory of the European Union, on June 15, 2017 It will undoubtedly go down in the history of telecommunications as a fantastic day, talking to our loved ones while we are traveling is not going to be an elitist attitude anymore.
In which countries does roaming cease to exist?
This new measure will be applicable to all the 28 countries that are currently part of the European Union, which leads in alphabetical order to: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Romania and Sweden.
Undoubtedly there are not a few, a significant number of countries to which any citizen of the European Union may travel only with their national identity document. Meanwhile, unless your rate includes it (as in the case of Vodafone), United States of America and Norway, as countries not members of the European Union, keep roaming in the same conditions as until now.
Do I have free roaming if I have a prepaid rate?
Here comes the first of the small letters. We must remember that for roaming to be totally free and under the same conditions as our usual rate, we must have a contract with the teleoperator company on duty. This means that prepaid users will enjoy free roaming, however, they will have it under the terms established in their rate. It is because of that We recommend that if you are going to travel through the European Union and you are a prepaid user, you call your company first to make sure of what are the characteristics and limitations that your prepaid rate has prepared for this case.
What are the limits of the end of roaming in the European Union?
The EU and the companies have established what is known as reasonable use. This means free roaming is obviously intended for someone who travels occasionally or for work / student reasons, not precisely to take advantage of the different prices of companies in depending on which country. This reasonable use, therefore, foresees even long-stay cases. For example, if you are an Erasmus student, you can take advantage of free roaming since your presence in the destination country is justified, and you continue to maintain a student link with the country of origin.
However, to avoid cheating, companies can ask the user for information about their long stay abroad, such as university fees, temporary employment contracts, etc. That is why the best way to avoid misunderstandings is to maintain direct contact with the company that is offering us the service.
What happens if I exceed "reasonable use"?
The operator may review the roaming activity of any user up to four months ago. If in that period of time roaming has been used more than the national service, the operator will call contact with the client, requesting information about it and thus justifying the stay, for this you will have a minimum period of 14 days from the communication thereof.
If everything works out more, fees will apply additional charges to the rate already provided:
- 1 cent per SMS
- 3,2 cents per minute call
- 7,7 euros for 1GB of mobile data (which will decrease annually, from € 7,70 to € 2,50 in 2022)
What if I live in one country but work in another country?
The user can choose a mobile operator from one of the two countries and benefit from roaming without surcharge. This type of mechanism is intended, for example, for border workers, such as Polish residents working in Germany, or French residents working in Switzerland. The limit is that the user must connect at least once a day to the national network of the selected country.
How do I activate data while roaming?
You have nothing to activate, within the EU or mobile data roaming nor any other type of mechanism, this elimination of roaming is automatic and it will be the mobile phone company who must worry about it.