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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

#331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany I'm paying 19 EUR/month with a phone included. No limits on phone calls within Germany (fixed and mobile), but I pay for each SMS sent and only get 2Gb of data.

Sorry for the derail, but who are you with in Germany for that deal? All the contracts I've seen start at at least €40.

I pay 12 Eur for unlimited calls/sms within Germany; 3 GB data; w/o phone; w/o contract term (it can be canceled any time); 100min and 100MB free in other EU countries.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#332

Moving more freely in EU why are people against that? Sure LT, LV, Poland, Romania etc probably got a slight raise. At the same time these countries are heavily subsidized by the rest of the countries already. What they also have is alot of people working abroad… so then they are allowed to surf with their cheap plans in not so cheap countries. I can also note that this law has resulted in alot more unlimited plans.…

You are confused about why people are upset at having to pay more for something they don't get any value out of (unless they travel, and Eastern Europeans travel a lot less than Western Europeans)?

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#333
post #266

Moving more freely in EU why are people against that? Sure LT, LV, Poland, Romania etc probably got a slight raise. At the same time these countries are heavily subsidized by the rest of the countries already. What they also have is alot of people working abroad… so then they are allowed to surf with their cheap plans in not so cheap countries. I can also note that this law has resulted in alot more unlimited plans.…

As an American I was shocked at how cheap cell phone plans already are in Europe. You can get a great 4GB data SIM for like 10 euros, where it would easily be several times that in the US. My Verizon unlimited plan is $86/month per person, and even that is a special thing that's grandfathered in.

> My Verizon unlimited plan is $86/month

You Americans get royally screwed. With all that money they will pay off Yahoo, the FCC, congress and still make a huge profit. They don't even have to invest much in networks, because there's hardly any competition. However they will invest in mobile Ad technology, to get even more money out of you.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#334
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…

No change in France from one the main operator (Orange) (yet...)

Really? I had a SMS from SFR yesterday on this.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#335
post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an American who likes to travel to Europe, this is a godsend. I can buy a pre-paid SIM before I leave America and then use it all over Europe. Getting a TIM (Italy, 35 Euro for one month) SIM was a real pain in the ass and I would love to have found somewhere else to make the process much easier and cheaper.

You could also just use Google's Project Fi. My biggest complaint about them is it takes about 10 minutes to get an LTE connection when switching continents (which is basically to say I have no complaints).

That assumes he has a compatible device.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#336
post #280
post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an American I was shocked at how cheap cell phone plans already are in Europe. You can get a great 4GB data SIM for like 10 euros, where it would easily be several times that in the US. My Verizon unlimited plan is $86/month per person, and even that is a special thing that's grandfathered in.

It's not so bad if you shop around. T-Mobile has a PAYG SIM card that is $30/month for 5GB of data, unlimited texts and 100 minutes of calls. I suspect part of the difference in price is due to geography - the US has vast, vast areas of unpopulated land that people still want to receive cell coverage in. Europe has less of that. It would be interesting to see the customer response to a new US network that I'd cheaper…

Unfortunately T-Mobile has a noticeably bad network, and I just can't bite the bullet and put up with it. Whenever one of my friends is having trouble getting signal I ask what their carrier is, and it's always T-Mobile.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That logic doesn't work with telecoms, or with other big infrastructure type companies - water, power, sewerage.

Is wireless as bad as those three?

My understanding is yes, it is, mainly because spectrum is a limited resource

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#338
post #11
post #5

Cool, just as Brexit looks to be falling apart under its own incompetence.

What a fantastic comment. Well thought out, and spot on! Well done you. Please tell us your opinions on Trump as well!

If you want to continue commenting on Hacker News it can't be like this.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#339
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…

Same thing happened in Denmark. Several operators advertised a rise in prices with the exact reasoning: To pay for the loss of roaming charges. They actually advertised that the price rise was to pay for their lost income, as if to somehow try to gather sympathy from the average customer.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#340
post #243

Ah! Central regulations brought us inefficient telco monopolies and cartels. Surely some more central regulations will remedy the situation! "To each according to his needs." What could possibly go wrong?

"If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

Pray, Mr. Babbage, what is the "true value" of roaming?

How much profit shall we decree suitable, for private corporations? And why stop at telcos?

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