Roaming outside the EU

It can be significantly more expensive to use your mobile phone outside the EU.  However, you can minimise your costs by choosing the best options before you leave home. Roaming costs vary for different countries.  Before you travel, check the roaming costs for the country you are visiting with your mobile provider.  These rates can be expensive, but you can reduce costs by making only essential calls and using data (for example social media and the internet) in free Wi-Fi zones. Ask your mobile provider at home which mobile network will give you the cheapest roaming rates in each country outside the EU that you are visiting.  You can then manually choose this one when your phone gives you a list of available networks.  

What alerts can I expect to receive when roaming outside the EU?

If you travel outside the EU you should receive a ‘data usage alert’ on your phone while travelling.  However, sometimes your home mobile provider cannot send this alert to the country you are visiting.  In these circumstances, you should receive a text message advising you that the data usage alert cannot be sent while you are roaming in that country.  You should be careful to manage how you use your phone as you will be responsible for the resulting bill. When your mobile provider can send you an alert, you can expect to receive two text messages: [table id=65 /]   Once you have received the alerts at 80% and 100% of this limit, you must opt-in to continue using data services. [table id=66 /]

How else can I manage my roaming costs?

Some mobile providers offer roaming packages that are tailored for travel outside the EU. They are usually charged on a per-day basis and provide a set allowance for calls, texts and data services.  Contact your mobile provider to discuss the best available roaming options. Alternatively, you might consider buying and using a local phone SIM card when you arrive at your destination.  You can only do this if your phone is unlocked and you can only unlock your phone if you own it outright or if you are out of contract.  You can get your unlock code by contacting your mobile provider.  You should do this at least a month before you travel as this process takes time. When you replace your at-home SIM card with this local one, it means you are paying local rates as opposed to roaming rates.  

Next week's consumer news item

In next week’s consumer news item we will continue our roaming advice series and provide you with some useful information on inadvertent roaming.  

See also previous weekly news items on roaming

Using your mobile phone abroad Roaming in the EU