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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

#171

Post by filleokus »

Symbiote wrote: post #161
filleokus wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same thing happening in Sweden as well. Many people in the comments here are saying that their bills haven't been raised, but at least here in Sweden the price are only raised for new contracts. There is also (AFAIK) some limits on this. I.e, you cannot get a contract in a cheap neighbouring country and use it all the time roaming from you home country. To unify all EU telco markets and increase competition between c…

The standard monthly contract price, 150kr/month or whatever, is the big number that customers look at when signing a contract. It's where the companies compete, so they can't increase the prices beyond a reasonable amount. There's no longer the hidden cost of being caught with a bill for 500kr after returning from a European holiday.

That's true, and I agree that the high bill is nice to avoid. But also, I think it's classic pro-regulation-people to be surprised by companies levying the fee on the end customers. I guess also, that for most consumers, they would rather have some other system (reasonable way to buy cheap roaming-data?) for those European holidays instead of paying 10-30 SEK extra per month, for ever. I would guess most people don't roam even once per year.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#173

Post by mamon »

belorn wrote: post #128
_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)?

free market forces is great when the is information symmetry between buyer and seller. In that world no person would ever be surprised when the phone bill is sent. Now the question is, how many consumers knew roaming prices (for places which they would travel to) when they had the opportunity to compare companies and made the decision to enter into contract with a phone company. If the answer is almost everyone then…

There was another issue: most people don't travel very often, so roaming prices weren't even considered when signing contract with mobile operator. And when you do finally decide to go for that dreamed of vacation abroad you won't be switching your operator just for that purpose. So you just agreed to whatever roaming plan your current vendor had to offer. And then used your phone only for absolutely urgent things while abroad. Or bought a prepaid sim card from any of local vendors.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#174

Post by gmac »

walshemj wrote: post #144
gmac wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Should customers who don't go into the red subsides those that do then.

False dichotomy? Although if I had to choose (and speaking as someone who has never paid an overdraft fee), then yes, because it would be way less regressive than the current arrangement.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#175

Post by czr80 »

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…

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?

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#176

Post by eXpl0it3r »

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.swisscom.ch/en/residential/mobile/subscription-t...

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#177

Post by lmm »

walshemj wrote: post #144
gmac wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Should customers who don't go into the red subsides those that do then.

No, the point is the profit margin on all customers should be approximately the same; if any group is cross-subsidizing any other group then something's probably screwy.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#178

Post by dtech »

mrweasel wrote: post #106
imartin2k wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This sounds exactly what the free market is always sold on: lowest prices for consumers, only the most effective businesses stay afloat...

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#179

Post by dullgiulio »

czr80 wrote: post #175
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…

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?

In fact I suspect the raise in prices has nothing to do with this.

Inflation in LT and LV is between 3% and 4% now, and salaries are also growing at about 5%.

Re: Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today

#180

Post by seszett »

mamon wrote: post #166
gmac wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Roaming is relatively niche, but very expensive product, compared to other telecommunication services, so in my opinion it was fair to charge additional fee for that. Now that EU regulation is in place mobile operators are no longer allowed to charge the additional cost to people actually using roaming, they have to spread it across all their customers. So, net effect will be: poor people who do not use roaming (e.g.…

The EU has also regulated down the price that mobile operators are allowed to charge each other for roaming though, during the last years.

So roaming is actually not expensive anymore for them, and this latest regulation is the logical outcome, forcing the operators to pass their savings on to their customers.

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