EE customers with pay-as-you-go sim cards will have to pay roaming charges from this week while on holiday in Europe. Customers travelling in 47 destinations will now have to pay to use mobile data, make calls and send texts.
Anyone with an EE pay-as-you-go subscription, or those who top up their phone with credit manually will be affected. The new roaming charges kicked in on June 6 and customers will now be charged standard EE rates by default, which includes 70p a minute for calls, 30p for texts and £3 for 550MB of data, the Mirror reports.
Previously mobile firms were banned from charging extra fees to holidaymakers using their UK allowance while in the EU. Now that the Brexit transition is over this no longer applied, so many of the major network providers have already reintroduced these roaming costs.
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As a result millions of families now face an additional cost when holidaying in the EU, adding to the financial pressures already caused by the rising cost of living.
The countries where EE customers will be charged are:
Austria
Azores
Belgium
Bulgaria
Canary Islands
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
French Guyana
Germany
Gibraltar
Greece
Guadeloupe
Guernsey
Hungary
Iceland
Isle of Man
Jersey
Italy
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Madeira
Malta
Martinique
Mayotte
Monaco
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Reunion
Romania
San Marino
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
St. Martin
St. Barts
Sweden
Switzerland
Vatican City
Those with a subscription package may be able to save money by purchasing a “Roam like Home” add-on. These let you use the UK allowances from your subscription pack and cost £2.50 for 24 hours or £10 for seven days.
Whether this will save you money or not depends on how much you’re going to be using your phone while abroad. If you’re concerned about the new charges you could also consider switching mobile networks, as not all have reintroduced roaming. Currently, both Three and O2 offer free roaming in Europe for pay-as-you-go customers.
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