As we approach the summer period, many of us will be gearing up to go on holiday abroad.
While many will want to enjoy their time on the beach without any worries, you could be in for a nasty shock if you don't pay attention to the roaming charges with your mobile contract. If you're in the habit of regularly sending pictures of your holiday to friends and family, there's a chance you could rapidly build up loads of charges to your phone.
It's important that you don't assume roaming charges are the same for each country as rates could vary depending on your mobile provider and whether the country you're in is outside of the EU Zone. To help you prepare yourself for any extra costs, we've broken down the roaming charges for each of the UK's major network providers.
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The following costs will generally apply to a provider's pay monthly contract which you also purchased a phone with. If you're a pay-as-you-go customer or have a separate plan, make sure to contact your provider before going abroad to see what you may be charged.
EE
Based on a pay monthly contract, EE provides the following roaming costs for text and data allowances like you use at home:
EU countries
- France - £2.29 a day
- Greece - £2.29 a day
- Spain - £2.29 a day
- Italy - £2.29 a day
- Portgual - £2.29 a day
These costs only apply to EE pay monthly plans which do not include either the £15 Roam Abroad add-on or Roaming Inclusive Extra perk.
USA
- Calls to EE Europe Zone and back home - £1.54 per minute
- Calls to numbers outside of EE Europe Zone - £1.54 per minute
- Receiving calls - £1.54 a minute
- Texts to number in EE Europe Zone - 76p per text
- Texts to numbers outside EE Europe Zone - 76p per text
- Sending picture message - 83p per message
Turkey and Northern Cyprus
- Making a call - £2.34 per minute
- Receiving a call - £2.34 per minute
- Sending a text - 76p per text
- Sending a picture message - 83p per message
United Arab Emirates
Vodafone
Vodafone qualifies the start of day from the time when roaming is activated which then spans 24 hours. For example, if you activate roaming at 6am, it will be valid until 6am the following day.
EU countries - including France, Greece, Spain, Italy
For a pay monthly contract bought on or after August 11, 2021, alongside a data plan with 83 inclusive destinations, roaming is included up to 25GB. Otherwise, you'll be charged £2.25 a day on top of your existing plan for calls, texts, and up to 25GB of data.
However, if you bought your phone before August 11, 2021, then roaming is automatically included in your plan up to 25GB.
USA
For a pay monthly contract bought on or after August 11, 2021, alongside a data plan with 83 inclusive destinations, roaming is included up to 25GB. Otherwise, you'll be charged £6.85 a day on top of your existing plan for calls, texts, and up to 25GB of data.
However, if you bought your phone before August 11, 2021, and have a plan with 83 inclusive destinations, then roaming is automatically included in your plan up to 25GB. If not, you'll be charged £6 a day on top of your existing plan.
Turkey and Northern Cyrpus
For a pay monthly contract bought on or after August 11, 2021, alongside a data plan with 83 inclusive destinations, roaming is included up to 25GB. Otherwise, you'll be charged £6.85 a day on top of your existing plan for calls, texts, and up to 25GB of data.
However, if you bought your phone before August 11, 2021, and have a plan with 83 inclusive destinations, then roaming is automatically included in your plan up to 25GB. If not, you'll be charged £6 a day on top of your existing plan.
United Arab Emirates
If you purchased a phone with a contact on or after August 11, 2021, you'll be charged £6.85 a day ontop of your existing plan up to 25GB of data. However, if you bought it before August 11, 2021, you will instead be charged £6 a day on top of your existing plan.
O2
EU countries
O2 says it is the only major network not reintroducing EU roaming charges for up to 25GB. This means O2 users travelling to any destination covered by the Europe Zone can call, text, and use data like they would in the UK - however, this is subject to a roaming limit.
According to O2, the roaming limit for European Zone destination is up to 25GB with no extra cost. Data can still be used after this, but you will be charged £3.50 per 1GB.
USA
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
Three
EU countries
For EU Zone countries, and if you're on an advanced pay monthly plan that started before October 1, 2021, calls and texts to the UK will be included in your allowance. If your plan started after October 1, 2021, you will be charged the following:
- France - £2 a day
- Greece - £2 a day
- Spain - £2 a day
- Italy - £2 a day
- Portgual - £2 a day
USA
Pay monthly customers who started their plan after October 1 will face roaming costs of £5 a day in the States.
- Calling UK number - included in allowance (3p per minute outside allowance)
- Calling US number - £1.40 per minute
- Texts to UK - included in allowance (2p per text outside allowance)
- Tect to US number - Up to 2p per text
- Receiving calls from any number - no charge
- Receiving texts from any number - no charge
- Using internet and data - included in allowance (1p per MB outside of allowance up to £45 data roaming limit)
- Using voicemail - included in allowance (3p per minute outside of allowance)
Unlocking your UK allowance in a Go Roam Around the World destination - £5 for 24 hours (only applies if your current pay monthly plan started on or after October 1, 2021)
Turkey
- Calling UK number - £1.40 per minute
- Calling Turkish number - £1.40 per minute
- Texts to UK - 35 per text
- Texting Turkish number - 35p per text
- Receiving calls from any number - 99p per minute
- Receiving texts form any number - no charge
- Using internet and data - £3 per MB
- Using voicemail - £1.40 per minute
United Arab Emirates
- Calling UK number - £3 per minute
- Calling UEA number - £3 per minute
- Texts to UK - 35 per text
- Texting UEA number - 35p per text
- Receiving calls from any number - £1.25 per minute
- Receiving texts form any number - no charge
- Using internet and data - £6 per MB
- Using voicemail - £3 per minute
