O2 to scrap Europe roaming fees following EU abolition

[H0R53]

Good move, considering how so many companies are already part of a global business. Just wait till T-Mobile, ATT,  and Verizon do it here in the US...please...

The move echoes the scrapping of roaming charges in similar destinations by EE, Three and Vodafone.

It coincides with the incoming abolition of such fees by the European Union on 15 June. O2 customers will be able to take their UK plan into some non-EU countries as well.
These include Iceland, Switzerland and Monaco. When travelling in the Europe Zone outside the UK, O2 customers with the right plans will be able to make calls and send texts to any other country in the zone at no additional cost.

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39856384

 

 

And directly from o2's website:

If you want to stay connected while you're travelling abroad, then O2 Travel has you covered. It lets you use the internet, talk for longer and text while you're away in 65 countries worldwide. No need to worry about overspending. 

Just £1.99 a day in Europe, £3.99 a day in Turkey and £4.99 in selected destinations outside of Europe gets you all the data, minutes and texts you need (see below for the full list of countries covered). 

There's no limit to the amount of data you can use but you might find that speeds vary with usage. For receiving and making calls and sending texts there's a cap of 120 minutes and 120 texts a day. It's free to receive texts. 

 

I'm waiting, o2. Waiting.

[WereCat]

And do I have to be in O2 network for that?

[H0R53]

Just now, WereCat said:

And do I have to be in O2 network for that?

From what I read on the article, I'm pretty sure you have to be directly with O2 and not a subsidary (like metro is a sub of T-Mobile). According to o2's site it only applies to O2 customers but they may announce it to subsidaries since the EU is making these kinds of fees illegal.

[sof006]

Yay! Will be good for if I plan on going on holiday

[WereCat]

Just now, H0R53 said:

From what I read on the article, I'm pretty sure you have to be directly with O2 and not a subsidary (like metro is a sub of T-Mobile). According to o2's site it only applies to O2 customers but they may announce it to subsidaries since the EU is making these kinds of fees illegal.

Oh, I meant that I will have O2 SIM but I get out of range from O2 Network and it switches me to T-Mobile for example which means that I will be in Roaming network even in the same country.

 

[H0R53]

1 minute ago, WereCat said:

Oh, I meant that I will have O2 SIM but I get out of range from O2 Network and it switches me to T-Mobile for example which means that I will be in Roaming network even in the same country.

 

Do you currently get charged for that? I'm sure if you get charged then those fees will go away since that falls under the definition of roaming.

[WereCat]

Just now, H0R53 said:

Do you currently get charged for that? I'm sure if you get charged then those fees will go away since that falls under the definition of roaming.

I no longer use O2, I have T-Mobile which I only use for 4G (0.50 cents per day) and I use 4ka for calls and SMS, they also offer 1GB of data for 1€ but only in their own network, they have poor coverage so I am always in T-Mobile network with them, thats why I don't use their data, SMS and calls still cost the same though.

I was wondering if this is the same thing with O2.

[H0R53]

Just now, WereCat said:

I no longer use O2, I have T-Mobile which I only use for 4G (0.50 cents per day) and I use 4ka for calls and SMS, they also offer 1GB of data for 1€ but only in their own network, they have poor coverage so I am always in T-Mobile network with them, thats why I don't use their data, SMS and calls still cost the same though.

I was wondering if this is the same thing with O2.

Ah. I don't know, the article is short and O2's sitedoesn't elaborate very much, they haven't even issued an official report yet.

[Daan101]

21 minutes ago, H0R53 said:

Just wait till T-Mobile, ATT,  and Verizon do it here in the US...please...

Keep on hoping, the only reason this is happening is that the EU forced all carriers to do this, I don't know what agency in the US goes over carriers but im guessing there is more than enough lobbying taking place in there that it won't happen any time soon

[Teddy07]

29 minutes ago, H0R53 said:

Good move, considering how so many companies are already part of a global business. Just wait till T-Mobile, ATT,  and Verizon do it here in the US...please...

1

WOW!

I thought the US has no roaming since it is only one country. That is a ripp-off in my eyes

[Dylanc1500]

23 minutes ago, Teddy07 said:

WOW!

I thought the US has no roaming since it is only one country. That is a ripp-off in my eyes

I'm not aware of any carrier within the U.S. that charges for roaming anymore, as long as you stay in the U.S.

[Trixanity]

This EU legislation is a very bad deal. Sad!

 

On the surface it seems good but it's heavily skewed toward the southern parts of Europe aka tourist countries. So the rest of us will be paying out the wazoo for this 'gift'. 1 GB of data costs €7.7 which will be charged to your service provider. That's a lot of money for 1 GB of data. So as you can imagine this will be a huge expense for each service provider but providers in places like Spain and Italy will make bank on this as they'll be charging your provider for every ounce of data you use will roaming on their network and there isn't really an equal share of tourism all over Europe. I've already been hit by price hikes to pay for this. Granted not a big increase but an increase nonetheless and I'm betting that my provider will hope none of their customers will go on vacation because that'll be one hell of an expense for them. It's a deal they're losing money on that's for sure.

 

If they actually made a fair deal instead of having obvious winners and losers, I'd praise the EU for actually getting shit done but they shouldn't be patting themselves on the back for putting such a travesty through.

[H0R53]

33 minutes ago, Dylanc1500 said:

I'm not aware of any carrier within the U.S. that charges for roaming anymore, as long as you stay in the U.S.

They do outside the US, and considering the amount of loathed tourists that come from the United Stinks it's enough of a problem that people unlock their phones illegally.

[bigneo]

1 hour ago, H0R53 said:

From what I read on the article, I'm pretty sure you have to be directly with O2 and not a subsidary (like metro is a sub of T-Mobile). According to o2's site it only applies to O2 customers but they may announce it to subsidaries since the EU is making these kinds of fees illegal.

 

What about Tesco Mobile? It uses O2 Network.

[Dylanc1500]

11 minutes ago, H0R53 said:

They do outside the US, and considering the amount of loathed tourists that come from the United Stinks it's enough of a problem that people unlock their phones illegally.

I know outside the U.S. however, I took @Teddy07's comment as him thinking that we get roaming charges within the U.S.

 

I may have interpreted that wrong though.

[ashypanda]

38 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

This EU legislation is a very bad deal. Sad!

 

On the surface it seems good but it's heavily skewed toward the southern parts of Europe aka tourist countries. So the rest of us will be paying out the wazoo for this 'gift'. 1 GB of data costs €7.7 which will be charged to your service provider. That's a lot of money for 1 GB of data. So as you can imagine this will be a huge expense for each service provider but providers in places like Spain and Italy will make bank on this as they'll be charging your provider for every ounce of data you use will roaming on their network and there isn't really an equal share of tourism all over Europe. I've already been hit by price hikes to pay for this. Granted not a big increase but an increase nonetheless and I'm betting that my provider will hope none of their customers will go on vacation because that'll be one hell of an expense for them. It's a deal they're losing money on that's for sure.

 

If they actually made a fair deal instead of having obvious winners and losers, I'd praise the EU for actually getting shit done but they shouldn't be patting themselves on the back for putting such a travesty through.

it's not just tourist countries, the EU has scrapped roaming for all EU28(soon EU27) countries, and some networks scrapped roaming fees to include EEA countries, it doesn't matter if you go to estonia, or ibiza you don't get charged roaming fees.

[Teddy07]

26 minutes ago, Dylanc1500 said:

I know outside the U.S. however, I took @Teddy07's comment as him thinking that we get roaming charges within the U.S.

 

I may have interpreted that wrong though.

 

Yes, my question was if US telecom companies charge inside the US for roaming? e.g. Calling to a person in another state. 

[Trixanity]

9 minutes ago, ashypanda said:

it's not just tourist countries, the EU has scrapped roaming for all EU28(soon EU27) countries, and some networks scrapped roaming fees to include EEA countries, it doesn't matter if you go to estonia, or ibiza you don't get charged roaming fees.

You didn't understand my post then: I don't have to pay, but my service provider does, so they'll charge me to recoup their loss. That's how this works. That's why this deal favors tourist countries immensely as they'll get to throw fines your way at €7.7/GB. This roaming-free thing is bullshit at the end of the day as the price per GB is insane and it'll only get somewhat reasonable in five years.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

I'm actually unhappy about the end of roaming. Because the EU regulation isn't concerned with domestic prices (and domestic markets aren't very competitive), I already pay less for using my phone abroad than at home. Therfore, when they abolish roaming I'll have to pay MORE for using my phone abroad. Unless that can enforce the current roaming prices as domestic prices as well, it's better to keep things as they are :-(

[SpaceGhostC2C]

2 minutes ago, Teddy07 said:

Yes, my question was if US telecom companies charge inside the US for roaming? e.g. Calling to a person in another state. 

To be fair, they would be more justified to do so than EU carriers to charge across boarders, given the distances involved. 

But to have a competitive market we need a unified, roaming-free market over the whole US / Europe. 

[Dylanc1500]

Just now, Teddy07 said:

Yes, my question was if US telecom companies charge inside the US for roaming? e.g. Calling to a person in another state. 

That's what thought. They stopped doing that mid 2000s. Even then, the roaming charges were because of leaving your carriers service but being in an area where another carrier had service. So, for example, I have AT&T. If I had gone to an area they didn't have coverage, but Verizon did, then I could have gotten roaming charges. Carriers don't do that anymore within the U.S. anymore though.

[handymanshandle]

Well stateside, our carriers only charge for international roaming fees. Or at least the bulk of them do. 

 

And honestly, I guess in this case. I'm going to be more pro business in the case and say that, I think carriers have a right to charge for roaming if they need to. 

Verizon does not charge particularly charge for roaming in the continental United States, they may charge in Hawaii/Alaska and US territories.

[handymanshandle]

8 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

I'm actually unhappy about the end of roaming. Because the EU regulation isn't concerned with domestic prices (and domestic markets aren't very competitive), I already pay less for using my phone abroad than at home. Therfore, when they abolish roaming I'll have to pay MORE for using my phone abroad. Unless that can enforce the current roaming prices as domestic prices as well, it's better to keep things as they are :-(

5 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

To be fair, they would be more justified to do so than EU carriers to charge across boarders, given the distances involved. 

But to have a competitive market we need a unified, roaming-free market over the whole US / Europe. 

Or just scrap the EU :^

 

----------------------Should just leave it at that since the CS is a literal shit--------------------------------------------

[Dylanc1500]

1 minute ago, wcreek said:

Well stateside, our carriers only charge for international roaming fees. Or at least the bulk of them do. 

 

And honestly, I guess in this case. I'm going to be more pro business in the case and say that, I think carriers have a right to charge for roaming if they need to. 

Verizon does not charge particularly charge for roaming in the continental United States, they may charge in Hawaii/Alaska and US territories.

I hated when they used to. Man, I got charged for my phone just connecting to a Verizon tower, whether I was using it or not.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

1 minute ago, wcreek said:

Or just scrap the EU :^

 

Well, that wouldn't exactly increase competition and reduce fees.