Frantically checking your phone every hour of your holiday to make sure your mobile data is still turned off could soon be a thing of the past.
Starting today, the cost of using a mobile phone when on holiday in the EU will be lower after a series of new rules were introduced by the European Commission reports the Telegraph.
Mobile phone companies can now charge a maximum of the network charge plus 4p per minute for a call, 1p to send a text and 4p per MB of data used (all excluding VAT) under the new cap.
Obviously this will drastically reduce roaming charges with plans to completely abolish them by June next year.
However, it sounds like these changes will come as a big surprise to lots of people.
According to research by uSwitch.com over a quarter of people believe it doesn’t cost any extra to use a mobile in other EU countries. Oh dear.
Ernest Doku, mobile expert at uSwitch said:
It’s wise to add ‘check roaming charges’ to your pre-holiday to-do list – if in doubt about what add ons your network offers, give them a call.
So it sounds like we should be prepared to be extra jealous when the texts and photos come piling in from mates lucky enough to be on holiday this summer. Great.
