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Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

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Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#101

Post by endijs »

Retric wrote: post #84
endijs wrote: post #63

This idea was good. But in reality what happened in Latvia was very simple and expected move by telcos - all three of them raised prices for all subscriptions by about 3€-4€ monthly (which is ~30% increase). Yes, now you can feel better while traveling, however everyone now pays extra every single month. For some situation now is better, while others pay for it even if they do not need such freedom. Those who are in…

If roaming is free, can't you just use another countries cellphone provider? And if so, it's likely the cheapest country needed to raise rates should people from more expensive areas do so.

Telecom services are pretty cheap in Latvia if we compare to other countries in EU. However we cant forget, that Latvia is also one of poorest EU countries. While for some that 3€-4€ increase is nothing, others do feel it and are not happy.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#102

Post by andmarios »

_miroz wrote: post #38

I'm wondering why the regulation was necessary and why the free market forces didn't bring the prices or roaming down? What are the forces in telecom industry that kept the prices so high (assuming that the prices were higher then necessary)?

There is no free market. There can be only so many telcos in one country anyway, so instead of a race to the bottom, telcos of each country form cartels.

In Greece for example, we have 3 mobile operators and they announce exactly the same changes to their plans within a couple weeks difference. Things like “we increase our basic plan by 5 euros” or “you have to top up your prepaid phone at least once every 3 months instead of 12”. This way, there is no point at switching.

Especially roaming was a golden goose until few years ago, because each telco charged termination fees for roaming subscribers. So your telco was like “I can't do much, I have to pay the foreign telco”. What happened in EU, is that by law these termination fees started getting smaller until today where they become zero.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#103

Post by stuaxo »

gmac wrote: post #59
_miroz wrote: post #38

I'm wondering why the regulation was necessary and why the free market forces didn't bring the prices or roaming down? What are the forces in telecom industry that kept the prices so high (assuming that the prices were higher then necessary)?

Because it's a confusopoly[1] and roaming charges (like data overage charges) weren't part of the headline offer, which was generally UNLIMITED calls and texts and a FREE phone when you pay £X per month . Same as 'free' banking in the UK, which is in reality heavily cross-subsidised by the poorest customers paying overdraft penalties. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confusopoly

What a great term. Mobile companies are the obvious ones to do this. Energy companies use this to great effect - there is never a like-for-like to compare.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#104

Post by endijs »

matteuan wrote: post #85
endijs wrote: post #63

This idea was good. But in reality what happened in Latvia was very simple and expected move by telcos - all three of them raised prices for all subscriptions by about 3€-4€ monthly (which is ~30% increase). Yes, now you can feel better while traveling, however everyone now pays extra every single month. For some situation now is better, while others pay for it even if they do not need such freedom. Those who are in…

The european antitrust should punish this behaviour!

Local antitrust agency recently told that they will look into this "synchronized pricing rise". However I really doubt that they will do anything about it.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#105

Post by matteuan »

martinald wrote: post #74
matthewmacleod wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that the price of foreign calls will be affected – everything is simply charged at the home plan rate. Calling e.g. a French number will cost the same regardless of whether I am in France or the UK.

Incorrect. The regulation only applies when roaming. To take three UK for example: Calling Spain from the UK: 46p/min Calling Spain from France while roaming: inclusive in minutes allowance, otherwise 3p/min. I also checked Vodafone.de and it's the same thing - nearly €1/min if you're in Germany, or inclusive if you're roaming. It's a bit of a joke really. I don't know why the EU didn't think of this.

Some years ago happened a similar thing with SMS. For example within Italy they costed 15 cents, but between countries 13cents because of the EU regulation.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#106

Post by mrweasel »

imartin2k wrote: post #39
mrweasel wrote: post #14

Yeah, the telcos have already found a way out. They simply remove EU roaming from their standard subscriptions and it now becomes an add-on. So if you want to use your phone in a different country during the holidays, you'll need an EU roaming subscription. The politicians once again failed to be sufficient precise in formulating a law that would produce the decided result. They should have added a clause that state…

You are probably way too negative. Yeah, some telcos are looking for ways around it, and some plans will become a bit more expensive, temporarily. However, there is healthy competetion in most European telecoms markets. So it is very likely that over the mid term, competition will push prices down. Why is it so damn hard to be happy about a giant step forward, just because it doesn't happen in the most perfect way? (…

Competition in the Danish market isn't actually health. It's good for the consumers, but the providers are running on extremely low margins compared to pretty much anywhere else.

It's basically the world's toughest market for mobile telephony.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#107

Post by [deleted] »

endijs wrote: post #63

This idea was good. But in reality what happened in Latvia was very simple and expected move by telcos - all three of them raised prices for all subscriptions by about 3€-4€ monthly (which is ~30% increase). Yes, now you can feel better while traveling, however everyone now pays extra every single month. For some situation now is better, while others pay for it even if they do not need such freedom. Those who are in…

[deleted]

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#108

Post by occamrazor »

morsch wrote: post #76
pulse7 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not possible! The rule is clear: in every EU country you can use your mobile phone under the same conditions as in your base country (with some minor exceptions mostly for mobile data). Telcos not obeying this rule will be fined (or may even lose Radio Frequency License if not willing to obey).

Not quite. Providers are still free to offer contracts without any kind of roaming.

Do you have any source for this information?

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#109

Post by occamrazor »

morsch wrote: post #76
pulse7 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not possible! The rule is clear: in every EU country you can use your mobile phone under the same conditions as in your base country (with some minor exceptions mostly for mobile data). Telcos not obeying this rule will be fined (or may even lose Radio Frequency License if not willing to obey).

Not quite. Providers are still free to offer contracts without any kind of roaming.

Do you have any source for this information?
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