Vodafone has now pledged to follow in the footsteps of EE and will be introducing roaming charges in Europe from next year.
This was not the original plan for the company, however clearly greed has gotten the better of them in this instance.
Following the departure of the UK from the EU, mobile networks had said they were not looking to reintroduce tariffs for the EU.
Something that had not been charged since 2017, therefore allowing customers to use their minutes, texts and data across Europe.
However, the Brexit trade deal has now allowed them to backtrack on that decision.
Therefore, from January 2022 EE will be charging customer if they had purchased or upgraded following the 7th of July, at £2 per day for use of their tariff in Europe.
They will also offer 30 day packs for people who are required to spend longer in Europe, the charges are said to, “support investment into our UK-based customer service and leading UK network”.
From the 6th of January Vodafone will be following suit and will introduce 3 new tariffs. The sim only deals will have restricted use in Europe, with only emergency calls allowed.
The Xtra plans will include free roaming, however the plans will cost a little extra. Finally, all other plans will have £2 per day roaming fees as standard.
There will be extended time periods at just £1 per day, these will be available in eight- or fifteen-day packages.
The big networks, EE, O2, Vodafone and Three had all previously said there would be no increase in the fees for European roaming following Brexit.
Three and O2 are upholding that promise made to customers, so maybe it is time to reconsider your provider.
There are still additional roaming charges with those operators if you spend over 62 days out of the country in a four-month period.
Despite the charges and the complaints, they will no doubt cause, it is worth bringing your mind back to prior 2017, when roaming in Europe could cost astronomic sums.
The trade deal that has been signed will encourage networks to have “transparent and reasonable rates” for roaming.
There will also be safeguards brought into force by the UK government, to protect consumers from possible big bills.
Included in these is a £45 cap on roaming, which the user will have to opt out of when the cap has been reached.
