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Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

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211–220 of 359 posts

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#211
post #205

This is great, now I can ditch my UK Three SIM that I've had for years simply because they implemented a "feel at home" kind of policy long ago, where roaming within the EU is free. There was always a data limit, and you can't tether your phone to your laptop which was annoying, but it's been great for me who's been travelling in the EU frequently. Now I can drop that extra £30/month cost and don't have to carry extr…

Do you think it's likely it'll stay that way after Brexit?

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#212
post #175
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…

This doesn't really make sense - what was stopping them from raising prices before, if people are really willing to pay 3-4 EUR more?

[deleted]

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#213
post #84
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.

It's not free, it's just included in your existing contract.

You're paying for 300 minutes at home? When you're abroad and phoning to a EU number, you're using those 300 minutes. Before, you either had to get a special package, or pay roaming charges.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#214

Here in Switzerland we have some of the highest mobile prices ($30+) [1], yet our mobile providers will not remove the fee like the rest or Europe. Our politician try to enforce every single new EU-law, but when there's once something that would benefit the people, they come up with many excuses why this couldn't be applied and how Switzerland isn't part of the EU and doesn't have to follow through... [1] https://www…

Can't you hold a referendum like for everything else? ;)

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#215
post #205

This is great, now I can ditch my UK Three SIM that I've had for years simply because they implemented a "feel at home" kind of policy long ago, where roaming within the EU is free. There was always a data limit, and you can't tether your phone to your laptop which was annoying, but it's been great for me who's been travelling in the EU frequently. Now I can drop that extra £30/month cost and don't have to carry extr…

EU roaming was not free with UK Three. There were some countries missing, such as Germany. I had a Three spare card just for the feel at home feature and will continue to use it whenever I go to the US but it had to be extended significantly to fit new EU regulation.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#216
post #202

Here in Switzerland we have some of the highest mobile prices ($30+) [1], yet our mobile providers will not remove the fee like the rest or Europe. Our politician try to enforce every single new EU-law, but when there's once something that would benefit the people, they come up with many excuses why this couldn't be applied and how Switzerland isn't part of the EU and doesn't have to follow through... [1] https://www…

Amazing, $30 is considered high for a mobile plan. In Canada it's the price of the lowest end plan from the lowest end provider. A plan from a big name provider will be at least $60 with capped data.

In Italy I pay $10 for 15gb per month with unlimited calls. Looking forward to go abroad :-)

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#217
post #205

This is great, now I can ditch my UK Three SIM that I've had for years simply because they implemented a "feel at home" kind of policy long ago, where roaming within the EU is free. There was always a data limit, and you can't tether your phone to your laptop which was annoying, but it's been great for me who's been travelling in the EU frequently. Now I can drop that extra £30/month cost and don't have to carry extr…

Do you think it's likely it'll stay that way after Brexit?

Regarding Three, one of the telco available in the UK, as the parent said they were already aligned with this proposition with their "Feel at home" option.

Since it covers the EU and many other non EU countries (USA included for instance) I think it'll stay this way.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#218
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 telecom companies in different countries do not compete. So roaming charges are free money for all of them.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#219
post #199
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)?

Look at the most free market of them all with the least regulation: United States. Here using a mobile phone is WAAAY more expensive than in Europe. My US friends always thinks I'm lying when I tell them how little we pay for data in EU.

The size of the country will play a big role. Many European states are densely populated. Germany, for example, has more than 80mln inhabitants while it is smaller than the state of Montana.

You won't have reception everywhere in Montana but just covering major highways and the interstate system in the US adds a lot of network costs. The barriers to enter are huge whereas you can easily provide coverage for a large part of the population in some EU countries.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#220
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…

11 eur/month for everything unlimited here in Latvia. You just have to negotiate the price.
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