EU votes net neutrality into law, abolishes mobile roaming charges
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EU votes net neutrality into law, abolishes mobile roaming charges
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Re: EU votes net neutrality into law, abolishes mobile roaming charges
#2Paying the same rate at home as abroad is huge. I don't think I have ever experienced throttling but roaming charges make your phone almost entirely useless few kilometres beyond the border. You have to switch SIM cards, or chase WiFi. And the new regulation will include data[1].
One thing that worries me is what this means for small, local providers who often have great rates but are not backed by any of the EU-wide groups (Orange, T-Mobile).
Re: EU votes net neutrality into law, abolishes mobile roaming charges
#3Paying the same rate at home as abroad is huge. I don't think I have ever experienced throttling but roaming charges make your phone almost entirely useless few kilometres beyond the border. You have to switch SIM cards, or chase WiFi. And the new regulation will include data[1]. One thing that worries me is what this means for small, local providers who often have great rates but are not backed by any of the EU-wide…
> And the new regulation will include data[1].
Excellent. I wasn't sure whether it dropped data and voice roaming or only voice.
Re: EU votes net neutrality into law, abolishes mobile roaming charges
#4Paying the same rate at home as abroad is huge. I don't think I have ever experienced throttling but roaming charges make your phone almost entirely useless few kilometres beyond the border. You have to switch SIM cards, or chase WiFi. And the new regulation will include data[1]. One thing that worries me is what this means for small, local providers who often have great rates but are not backed by any of the EU-wide…
This is a huge step. But the EU states still have to agree on that. So it will probably still take many months for a final decision.
Re: EU votes net neutrality into law, abolishes mobile roaming charges
#5I said it before in the other thread, but I guess it's worth reemphasizing: The abolishment of roaming charges is huge and could really establish a single telecoms market. This point has somehow been lost in all the excitement and discussions about net neutrality.
Why is this huge?
The differences between domestic rates and non-domestic rates are what kept the European Telecoms market from becoming truly European. As a German, the only viable option if I am spending most my time within Germany was to go with a German carrier. Now with the removal of roaming charges, the EU becomes the domestic market and in principle I could shop around other EU countries to find the best deal. Austria for example has some really good deals, so maybe I will go with a carrier from there. And with SEPA even billing should not be an issue.
The other (intended) thing this will spur is further consolidation of the EU Telecoms market as there will suddenly be a much larger number of competing players on the market. As I said, in principle Austrian Telecoms are now for the first time directly competing for customers with Spanish Telecoms in Germany, so I guess we'll see a lot more mergers in the close future. Which might turn out to be anticompetitive in the long run, mind.
(I blogged about it here [1] in more detail and with a few more resources, in case anyone is interested. Happy to explore this further with anyone into this topic)
[1] http://sveme.org/removing-eu-roaming-charges-is-a-big-deal.h...
Re: EU votes net neutrality into law, abolishes mobile roaming charges
#6When does the roaming charge aboloshment go into effect?
Re: EU votes net neutrality into law, abolishes mobile roaming charges
#7It strikes me that the EU and the USA are really going in different directions in governmental philosophy.
The EU seems to be moving toward regulation to assure QoS (if you will) for consumers and harmonization across jurisdictions, relying on business to make do within centrally established frameworks.
The USA, on the other hand, is moving toward empowerment of established interests and relying on self-organization on the governmental and business levels to hopefully produce ideal outcomes. I see this happening in the rulings on net neutrality, electoral regulation, and IP. It seems to be driven by all three branches of government. I guess we'll see if the upcoming Aereo SCOTUS decision continues this trend.
I'm sure this abstraction is super-leaky...
Re: EU votes net neutrality into law, abolishes mobile roaming charges
#8It strikes me that the EU and the USA are really going in different directions in governmental philosophy. The EU seems to be moving toward regulation to assure QoS (if you will) for consumers and harmonization across jurisdictions, relying on business to make do within centrally established frameworks. The USA, on the other hand, is moving toward empowerment of established interests and relying on self-organization…
I just know that I never hear about consumer protection regulation in the US any more. I only hear about it in Europe. I think that in the US consumer protection got thrown under the bus in the general move toward laissez-faire in the 80s and 90s.
Re: EU votes net neutrality into law, abolishes mobile roaming charges
#9I said it before in the other thread, but I guess it's worth reemphasizing: The abolishment of roaming charges is huge and could really establish a single telecoms market. This point has somehow been lost in all the excitement and discussions about net neutrality. Why is this huge? The differences between domestic rates and non-domestic rates are what kept the European Telecoms market from becoming truly European. As…
But wouldn't it cost other people more money who want to get in touch with you if you did decide to go with a "non-domestic" carrier? For instance, if I have a non-German phone number, while living in Germany, and expecting people around here to call and text me? Or does that too fall under "roaming"? To me I think of roaming as being that I, with my German number, can still call and text other German numbers, and use my data, for the same price as I normally would, even when I am physically in another EU country.
Re: EU votes net neutrality into law, abolishes mobile roaming charges
#10I said it before in the other thread, but I guess it's worth reemphasizing: The abolishment of roaming charges is huge and could really establish a single telecoms market. This point has somehow been lost in all the excitement and discussions about net neutrality. Why is this huge? The differences between domestic rates and non-domestic rates are what kept the European Telecoms market from becoming truly European. As…
Being pessimistic... as the European Telecoms becomes "truly European", the carriers will probably start merging. Eventually you'll wind up where we are in the US, with a couple of huge carriers, a moderately sized carrier, and some small carriers that barely count. And then they'll start colluding, and providing poor service because they don't have to compete anymore.
Welcome to the club.