Ah, roaming charges- the bane of every holidaymaker’s existence. Even after you’ve carefully budgeted for every aspect of your holiday, you come home to find a big, fat phone bill on your doormat. You’d forgotten about roaming charges- but we want to make those unexpected bills a thing of the past. In this article, we’ll talk you through exactly what roaming charges are, why you have to pay them, and how to ensure that you’re completely clear about the cost of using your phone in your destination of choice- before it’s too late!
First of all, let’s clear up just what roaming charges are. To use your phone, it needs to be linked to a network. However, when you go abroad, you’ll usually need to latch on to another network to keep getting a phone signal. That host network then charges your regular network back home a fee every time you use your phone, whether it’s to make a call, send a text, or browse the web. These roaming fees can vary depending on where you are, and the more you use your phone, the more they’ll add up.
That being said, roaming charges don’t apply everywhere. For instance, last year the EU issued a new law that means whenever you travel to another EU member state, you can carry on using your phone as you would at home without any additional charges. Before, networks could charge you roaming fees even if you were in a country that was already covered by that very same network. Now, though, that loophole has been closed, which is set to save holidaymakers a fortune. Of course, that could all change once Britain leaves the EU, but for now, it’s a welcome move.
Unfortunately, though, the rest of the world is still to catch up with Europe. In your travels across the world, you’ll find that different countries- and different home networks- have varying policies when it comes to roaming charges. For instance, in some countries, you’re still able to make calls as normal, whereas others charge significant fees every time you use your phone. You’ll also find that there are a few countries where you won’t get any coverage whatsoever- so it’s best to check ahead in case you need to plan around this.
If you’d like to check what roaming charges, if any, will apply for your network in any country, then luckily for you, we’ve got the perfect solution. This interactive map makes it simple for you to check at a glance what services are available with each network in every country, since everything is clearly colour-coded. Just choose your network, and you’ll be able to see what the policy on roaming charges is for your destination. It really couldn’t be simpler! With this useful guide, you won’t have to stress about how much you’ll have to pay to use your phone abroad- everything is clear and simple.
