I'm a phone expert and you can beat rip-off mobile data roaming fees – here's how

The summer break is just around the corner and if you are heading away from the UK then now is a good time to check your smartphone plan. Since Britain officially left the EU back in 2020, almost all of the main networks including EE, Three and Vodafone now charge customers to access data, make calls and send texts in popular destinations such as France, Spain, Germany and Italy. To make things more confusing, not all users are affected by these fees with those on older contracts still able to access their free EU allowance.

For example, EE only applies the extra roaming fees to those who have joined the network or upgraded their plan after August 2021. Vodafone also has similar terms with anyone on a contract purchased before August 2021 still able to roam for free. If you think you are on a new contract now is an ideal opportunity to find your deal and see how much you’ll be charged as the EU fees can be eye-wateringly expensive. For example, a family of four on a two-week break could find they rack up a bill of over £100 just to keep using their devices.

To help UK mobile users understand their bills and to keep costs down to a minimum, experts at eSIM provider, Holafly, have looked at some of the most popular UK mobile networks, to reveal just how much customers could unknowingly rack up in charges if they use data roaming when travelling in Europe.

Here’s how things stack up and how to beat the rip-off fees.

O2 customers can use their data from their pay monthly contract as they normally would up to a limit of 25GB limit, according to O2’s Roaming Fair Usage Policy. If customers exceed this data roaming limit over a 63-day period while abroad, they will then be charged £3.50 for every additional GB of data used.

Pay-as-you-go customers can also use data roaming in the same way up to the 25GB cap.

EE customers can use their data allowance in the European roaming zone for £2.47 per day up to 50GB per month as part of their monthly contract. To opt in, customers don’t need to do anything, and if you don’t use your data abroad, then you won’t be charged this daily fee. However, it’s not clear from their site how much you would have to pay should you exceed the 50GB fair usage allowance.

Those heading abroad for more than a week may want to consider purchasing the Roam Abroad Pass for £25 per month. This allows you to use your monthly data plan in Europe and the US without the daily charge. For those travelling abroad for two weeks who intend to use data every day, this works out nearly £10 cheaper, compared to paying £34.58 if you were to stick with the £2.47 daily flat rate.

Pay As You Go customers will receive a text to opt into either a Roam like Home for 24 hours plan for £2.50 a day or a Roam like Home plan for £10, which covers you for 7 days.

Three Pay Monthly customers will be charged a daily roaming fee of £2 per day, with a limit of 12GB of your plan. Beyond this, data roaming is charged at 10p per MB, meaning customers would be charged £10 per additional GB of data used abroad.

Pay As You Go Three customers will receive a text confirming the roaming charges in that country.

Vodafone charges their contract customers £2.42 a day or £12 for 8 days or £17 for 15 days to roam in the EU, with a data limit of 25GB. Pay As You Go customers can purchase a Europe Roaming Extra from £12 for 8 days.

Tesco Mobile

Tesco Mobile customers face no roaming fees and no fair use data caps until 2025, so they can use their data as they normally would at home.

Giffgaff

Contract and Pay As You Go customers of Giffgaff face no extra fees when roaming in the EU up to 5GB. Beyond this, customers will be charged 10p per MB for data usage, equating to a £10 surcharge for every additional GB of data used abroad.

A number of network providers have no extra charges for customers; however, they do have fair use data caps. These include iD Mobile, which has a 30GB cap and a extra usage cost of 10p per MB (£10 per GB) and Lebara, which also has a 30GB cap, but an extra usage cost of just 0.2p per MB (£2 per GB).

Lycamobile’s fair usage cap depends on the customer’s plan and both Smarty and Superdrug Mobile have 12GB fair usage caps, where an EU data pass or data add-on will need to be purchased to continue roaming.

Tips for avoiding unexpected data roaming costs

• Understand your plan. Before leaving the UK, make sure that you understand your mobile phone plan, especially your network’s ‘fair use’ policy which may charge you high costs for exceeding your data roaming allowance in Europe.

• Contact your mobile network provider if you are still unsure of your data roaming allowances and potential costs.

• Be prepared. Consider purchasing a travel pass if you plan to frequently data roam abroad as this may be more cost-effective.

• Alternatively, if you are planning to avoid any unexpected costs, disable data roaming in your mobile phone settings.