Flying to the US in a week or so..

Does this mean iPad FaceTime calls will be free whilst there back to the UK ?

Should be, as long as you're on one of the partner networks.

This is also assuming that you get enough data throughput to support a FaceTime call, some people think they're being throttled.

Inclusive roaming in the USA and Canada is a fantastic selling point. Why others charge so much is a mystery in these days of 1p per min calls to both landlines and mobiles in North America. 3 could do very well attracting regular travellers to America with this initative. I have no doubt others wiill take note and replicate the offer if it proves a hit. Good call for 3 ridding customers from roaming roaming fear.

Plus EE must get preferential terms with T-Mobile USA as Deutche Telecom owns at least part of both networks.

For sure as does Vodafone from Verizon due to their ties until rrecently.HWL 3s parent comapny has no network in the USA but seem to have done deals to make roaming charges a thing of the past. It's not difficult to create a reciprocal agreement that benefits customers. Look at what Vodafone do in Turkey where they own a network 100%. They charge UK customers £1.69 a min for voice calls and £8 a MB for data when roaming. Local customers pay a fraction of that and a few miles away in Greece where EU rules apply they charge far less. Roaming could end up playing a significant part in the decision process when choosing a home network for those who travel abroad regularly.

Canada is not included in Feel at home.

Unusual as one tends to expwct the same terms for both as they share an international dialling code.

But fair enough.... perhaps something to follow.

Should be the same as their Europe rates now
http://www.vodafone.co.uk/cs/groups/...ftst044886.pdf

Frankly I think EE's long-running roaming plans had always been pretty decent value - and although 3 "like home" has been around longer (well, it was there a few years ago, withdrawn, and reintroduced) EE's roaming plans always had far more "useful" destinations in there. Also, EE had the bonus of unlimited free calls to all destinations within that zone while roaming so if you were in China you had unlimited free calls to USA, India, Australia and so on and not just the UK. EE also includes Switzerland and Norway within the free roaming zone, where other networks often rip you off due to their exemption from EU roaming rate caps. Finally, EE's equivalent of "like home" includes 58 countries, including all of 3's destinations (except maybe Hong Kong)

Vodafone also has lots of Europe in their use-your-allowance-abroad Eurotraveller plan including important non-EU countries too (i.e. Switzerland and Norway)

So 3's proposition isn't really all that unique. It includes the least countries of those lot, the only real difference is it's included for free.

Excellent news. Not before time.

Vodafone have been ripping off UK customers for years using a network they own 100%.

I can buy 1GB of data for 30 days using a local Vodafone TR SIM for 21TL (£6 approx) which is a lot better than 46p per MB (46p X 1024 = £471.04)! The £3 a day option is also expensive to avoid incoming roaming charges when calls cost just 7p a min to receive.

Welcome news anyway. Lets hope others now follow and offer this popular destination at more reasonable rates.

True, but if you're one of the lucky few with many GB's of data, and mainly use your phone for internet while abroad, it's not too bad. Looks positively generous compared to O2's £1.99 for 15MB.

I suppose if it allows the use of your UK data allowance then it's decent value. Anyone on a 4G plan paying £3 a day could use their phone like at home in Turkey with a generous data allowance that would see them through a holiday if they were not within reach of some free Wi-Fi.

Fair point.

They might share a dialling code, but the carriers that operate in USA and Canada are different, so any carrier covering both countries would need to negotiate separate roaming agreements.

Anyone in america able to confirm roaming is now free but also what the speeds are like for things like Facetime etc.

Thanks

Roaming must have earnt the telcos millions over the years, Three presumably have done to steal an edge on the competitors along with their 4G for free and is this before some EU regulation takes place forcing them all to reduce roaming costs anyway?

Anyway, it's a damned good deal for travellers, that's for sure and something that will make me think about moving to Three when my Tmob contract ends.

I'd love to know if they have resolved the issues.

Looking on there blog one of the social media people said the problem had been resolved and it only affected contract customers.

I wasn't charged again after my initial hiccup. 3 quickly wiped any charges I'd incurred.

The only thing I'm still not sure of is whether it should have been free to phone 3 Customer Services to talk about my issues. They said its chargeable but wiped my charges. Surely it should be free for a Feel at Home countries?

It should be free I think. If its free at home it should be abroad in a Three like home country as well.

Out of interest, now they seem to have it all sorted, what kind of download speeds are getting on AT&T and TM USA? Also how is streaming working?

Anyone in USA at the moment able to feedback about speeds now the charging issue has been fixed.

Would be interested to see speedtest findings but more important is it usable for things like Skype or FacdTime calls?

Thanks

In Florida at the moment.....on international drive

Download speed 6
Upload speed. 1

Haven't tried a FaceTime yet.....will be later today

Thanks, would really appreciate to hear how you find it, also things like using maps, music etc..

Cheers

FaceTime is ok....had a 5mbps download signal....def a bit of lag in signal.

Was standing outside Cinderella castle watching parade and was FaceTime back to UK....maybe amount of users in area affected signal...

Now was on FaceTime for about 10 mins....if it turns out to be free then brill !!!!

In US right now. Working great apart from the fact I had to manually select AT&T as It kept going onto Tmobiles Edge signal when ATT has 3G.

Am I better off using my Pentaband Nexus 4 when in the US, rather than my Nexus 5 then to get faster speeds on T-Mobile?