[Everything Goes]

EU Data Roaming charges will end in June 2017 after a deal was reached.

However firms will be allowed to add surcharges to their domestic rates for a 14-month interim period from April 2016.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33325031

[moox]

Not convinced it's all it's cracked up to be.

Companies like Vodafone have already shown that they're happy to raise domestic charges when roaming caps came in, so how long is it before the networks cushion their loss of revenue by doing the same?

As someone who isn't a frequent international traveller I'd rather pay the lowest possible UK rate for UK usage

[Mark C]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Everything Goes

EU Data Roaming charges will end in June 2017 after a deal was reached.

However firms will be allowed to add surcharges to their domestic rates for a 14-month interim period from April 2016.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33325031

More here

http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/pr...aming-charges/

Ironically, my current inclusive roaming contract with EE expires the same day !

[jaffboy151]

I see higher charges for all in the long run. To be honest I prefer a mixture of the way things are now with a bit of protection for those accidental data uses, I don't mind paying a couple of ££ a day to use my phone abroad, sometimes you need it as information isn't as widely available these days as before the Internet era in towns and cities, always found £5 a bit steep as I've never wanted unlimited data as that's not what I'm there for, to sit on the phone £2-3 for say up to 1gb us fine, with say 100mb fare usage for those accidental people who leave there phone data on.

[jonmorris]

Providing data access when roaming isn't that expensive, especially with reciprocal agreements, so I fear we'll see surcharges to try and offset the loss of money that was made from pure greed and nowhere near representative of the actual costs.

If there was a small increase, which there won't be, I'd accept it for having a tariff that just works throughout the EU. Instead we'll get a rather cynical attempt to restore the money lost (or to be lost) through this amazing cash cow.

And let's obviously remember that we're only talking about the EU. Go beyond the EU, or even to places like Switzerland or Turkey, and you'll still get shafted big time. Possibly more.

In theory competition would solve this, and we'd also see networks expanding schemes like Feel at Home, but it's clear the industry is still being quite protective and not going too far.

[omnidirectional]

Spare a thought for those on Manx Telecom (Isle of Man isn't in the EU) who are paying 68p/min to make a call, 35p/min to receive a call and £6.99/MB when roaming in mainland Europe. Although come 2017 the UK might be going the same way.

[d123]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Everything Goes

EU Data Roaming charges will end in June 2017 after a deal was reached.

However firms will be allowed to add surcharges to their domestic rates for a 14-month interim period from April 2016.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33325031

Where do you see the domestic surcharge?

The EU page only talks about the maximum price from next April for roaming, not domestic charges.

Quote:

Under the agreement, roaming surcharges in the European Union will be abolished as of 15 June 2017. However, roaming providers will be able to apply a 'fair use policy' to prevent abusive use of roaming. This would include using roaming services for purposes other than periodic travel.

Safeguards will be introduced to address the recovery of costs by operators.

Roaming fees will already go down on 30 April 2016, when the current retail caps will be replaced by a maximum surcharge of €0.05 per minute for calls, €0.02 for SMSs and €0.05 per megabyte for data.

Your BBC link says:

Quote:

From April 2016, telecoms operators will be able to add a surcharge of no more than:
€0.05 (3.5p) extra per minute for calls
€0.02 extra per SMS sent
€0.05 extra per megabyte of data used
The cap would make roaming within the EU 75% cheaper during the interim period, the European Commission said.

What that means is that's the maximum that they can charge to customers roaming in the EU. It's actually a reduction on the current roaming charges.

[Everything Goes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by d123

Where do you see the domestic surcharge?

The EU page only talks about the maximum price from next April for roaming, not domestic charges.



Your BBC link says:



What that means is that's the maximum that they can charge to customers roaming in the EU. It's actually a reduction on the current roaming charges.

From the BBC article when it was first posted. I have a screen cap since you dont believe me

http://tinypic.com/r/zygcn8/8

[kmusgrave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Everything Goes

From the BBC article when it was first posted. I have a screen cap since you dont believe me

http://tinypic.com/r/zygcn8/8

I read that as meaning they can add a surcharge on top of their domestic rates while roaming. Am I reading it wrong? There is no need to add a surcharge while at home as they can charge what they like for that.

[d123]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kmusgrave

I read that as meaning they can add a surcharge on top of their domestic rates while roaming. Am I reading it wrong? There is no need to add a surcharge while at home as they can charge what they like for that.

Thats the same way I understand it.