Horror stories of using phones abroad could be a thing of the past as roaming charges are now cheaper, with abolishment following in 2017.
The European Union announced last year plans to lower charges, starting April 30th, 2016. Guess what? That was was three days ago and for those that went way for the long weekend, put your worries away, you didn’t get charged that much.
Even better, 2017 will see the complete abolishment of roaming charges!
How much did it cost before?
Here’s how much it costed us before April 30th.
- £0.17 per minute for an outgoing phone call
- £0.05 per minute for an incoming phone call
- £0.05 per minute for a text sent
- £0.18 per MB of data
You’re probably thinking that’s hardly any skin off your nose, not even worthy of dry skin flakes from constant nose blowing. But if you add it up, it can get a bit cumbersome. A call spanning thirty minutes adds up to £5.10.
Not everyone spends that long on the phone on holiday, but we all do enjoy chilling in the comfort of a hotel room, with some sort of viewing pleasure. Louis Theroux’s Drinking to Oblivion on iPlayer is 340 MB to download. Which equates to £61.20. Ouch.
How much is it now?
Below are the current roaming charges which went into effect last week, April 30th.
- £0.05 per minute for an outgoing phone call
- £0.05 per minute for an incoming phone call
- £0.02 per minute for a text sent
- £0.05 per MB of data
Let’s do the maths again (fun). Making and receiving calls are now the same price for half a penny! A thirty minute phone call will now only cost £1.50.
Louis Theroux’s harrowing hour long, 340MB documentary works out to be £17.
When will the madness end?
As mentioned the EU will abolish all roaming charges, on June 30th 2017. It’s over a year away, but there are already networks that offer free roaming charges. Three allows users to spend their allotted minutes and data in a list of countries, not just in the EU.
There could be some fallout from all this good news, maybe not now, but most likely in 2017 when full abolishment is in place. We could be seeing higher contract prices due to a drop in profits for network providers.
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Image credit Mobile News.
