Dealing with the loss of unlimited Eu roaming

[GeoffL]

Some lateral thinking here...
In their T&Cs, Three say, "If you divert your incoming calls to another number, we’ll charge you for each redirected call. The cost of the redirected call depends on your price plan and type of number." So if you divert to another UK number, your call will be usually be within your plan (assuming pay monthly contract). However, you can have a UK number that you can use anywhere in the World if you make use of VoIP. (For example, Localphone.com charge €3.75 set-up fee and €0.75 per month for a UK number that you can access from anywhere in the World where you can access the Internet).
So, you can divert your number to your VoIP incoming number, put a local SIM in your phone, receive all calls via VoIP and also make calls to UK via VoIP where that's the cheapest option.
FWIW, this is what we used to do when we went to Australia before World Go Roam because available.

 

[REC]

Three contacted me and told me I had to take a new contract with them to replace my previous data only. Have me two months to change. The new one meant I would have to pay for roaming so I changed to an ID sim which has better terms. We use a Vodafone.pt SIM 30days unlimited for 30euros when in Portugal, but that may have changed this year! We shall see!

 

[TJBi]

The Three Internet with legs 24gb/24 months sim now has a 12gb limit total when used abroad.

The LeClerc Reglo sim is available in different gb values, I think a 24gb one cost me something like €20 which included the €4.95 SIM card cost. I was happy to get internet and so the card was then a throwaway - it’s only money and needs spending on something . It does not work in Andorra at all (nor did Three), but for the few days we spent in Spain it worked fine.

Did the Leclerc Reglo SIM require any proof of ID, registration, etc.?

 

[SimonM]

Yes it did, they accepted my UK driving licence no worry, a passport would have sufficed . That was all, there was no requirement to sign up to anything, or any form of commitment. It lasts one month and then they want you to subscribe to their service. I didn’t, threw away the Sim and bought another.

do not buy 2 and start one, expecting to start the other one in a months time - it is activated immediately on the day or purchase. Don’t ask how I know.

 

[TJBi]

Yes it did, they accepted my UK driving licence no worry, a passport would have sufficed . That was all, there was no requirement to sign up to anything, or any form of commitment. It lasts one month and then they want you to subscribe to their service. I didn’t, threw away the Sim and bought another.

do not buy 2 and start one, expecting to start the other one in a months time - it is activated immediately on the day or purchase. Don’t ask how I know.

Thanks for the prompt response. Useful to know that I may need to get to a suitable Leclerc precisely one month later! I will have to look into ease of subscribing and unsubscribing, which might suit me.

 

[Drover]

Vodafone rang me yesterday to say I was close to my phone usage .... how come says I as it's all unlimited......sorry sir I got it wrong.. so I ask about my unlimited In Europe...im in Spain and will be for a few months... I got told to phone back Monday and they should be able to reinstate the unlimited data from the 25 gb on the text I got.. .
Will let you know how I get on

 

[GMJ]

Prior to this current trip I rang EE whilst at home so that they could spell out what costs I would incur when abroad. Last year we took out a 4G wifi plan at home as our wired broadband was rubbish. When I took the plan out I was told that I could take the router with me anywhere in the UK and also abroad. After speaking to EE in January, apparently this isn't true: it doesn't work abroad!

I pointed out to the chap on the phone that I was told I could use it. As a gesture of goodwill for the duff info he put both our mobiles data at unlimited data for the trip and confirmed also that there would be no call/text charges either for ringing back home. So fair enough!

He did point out though that the data was capped at 50Gig on a 'fair use' poilcy...so not really unlimited then??!! Also to increase the confusion on this, we received a text each from EE saying that it had suspended its fair use policy for the time being due to Covid!

So: capped or not? It's unlikely that we will reach that amount of data usage anyway but still confusing.

 

[Drover]

So after 90 mins on phone
Got nowhere really. They are adamant 25gb is the most anyone can give on a UK phone deal..
All they could do was wipe out the 9 months that was left on phone contract and unlock the phone .. around £500 worth ....
Not enough for what they have cost me over the years but it was the best they said they could do..
New unlimited sim (which is only available in uk) for 6 months and 25gb for the rest with no extra charge for 49 other countries... Will find out which when I read the e mails.
They could or can add a Amazon film account for a small extra charge..... plus a darn watch so I can leave the phone at home.......grrrrrrr I only wanted my unlimited data back....

 

[Owlhouse]

Just been reading about Esims - seems to be a lot of 'minor' service providers if you have a fairly recent smartphone? They seem cheaper, certainly on data and most with calls. Worth a look?

 

[Reevsie]

I left for Spain in Dec and to be on the safe side I rang EE and asked how much data I could use whilst in France and Spain. I was told during the pandemic they were giving unlimited data in the EU to people who had taken out unlimited data contracts before June 21. I was a bit wary as I was steaming my TV and I also use a lot of Data for my work whilst in the Van. In 2 1/2 months I have used 400gb of data and I have only been charged my regular monthly payment. I was told I could only use if for 2 months whilst outside of the UK, But I have checked this month as it is my third and I have not incurred any additional charges.

 

[Pauljenny]

We're in a similar situation, with 3.
They've been great, so far.
Keep us posted a to how you get on.

 

[GMJ]

I left for Spain in Dec and to be on the safe side I rang EE and asked how much data I could use whilst in France and Spain. I was told during the pandemic they were giving unlimited data in the EU to people who had taken out unlimited data contracts before June 21. I was a bit wary as I was steaming my TV and I also use a lot of Data for my work whilst in the Van. In 2 1/2 months I have used 400gb of data and I have only been charged my regular monthly payment. I was told I could only use if for 2 months whilst outside of the UK, But I have checked this month as it is my third and I have not incurred any additional charges.

Nice one.

They gave me unlimited data due to an error on their part over something when I took out my home 4G contract last year. This was for 2 months also, whilst we were was away. the chap said there was a fair use policy of 50G for each of us (which doesn't make sense of its unlimited but hey ho!!) however when we got to France we had a standard text message to say that the fair use policy was suspended due to the pandemic.

We used our iphone as a hot spot for around 3 weeks so far (we have free wifi on the current site we are on so don't need the hotspot) and didn't get over 30 Gig I think. That included streaming the rugby last weekend

 

[TJBi]

Yes it did, they accepted my UK driving licence no worry, a passport would have sufficed . That was all, there was no requirement to sign up to anything, or any form of commitment. It lasts one month and then they want you to subscribe to their service. I didn’t, threw away the Sim and bought another.

do not buy 2 and start one, expecting to start the other one in a months time - it is activated immediately on the day or purchase. Don’t ask how I know.

In fact, all you have to do is visit a Leclerc to top up the account prior to expiry of the first month and the credit will be applied on the anniversary date, which is what I intend to do. Just don't try putting the SIM into a mobile router - banned in the T&Cs.

 

[SimonM]

I’ll bear that in mind (hoping there’s a next time)

 

[Reevsie]

Forgot to update. Came back from Spain after 84 days. Streaming on the EE card I used a total of 494gb of data in 3 months. I have not received ant additional charges with EE.

With 3 I was limited to 12gb a month, but the calls were free. I got a bill in of 3 for £24 of data I was supposed to of used on the ferry. As far as I remember I did not use any. So a call to 3 customer services ands this was refunded. They said my phone was logging onto the ships WIFI on its own. Next time I will just turn my phone off whilst on the Ferry.

 

[REC]

Just for future reference, we again got the vodafone.pt "go total " SIM card which gives unlimited data in Portugal for 30 days (can be renewed for up to 90 days) and cost works out to 1euro a day.

 

[alcam]

Just for future reference, we again got the vodafone.pt "go total " SIM card which gives unlimited data in Portugal for 30 days (can be renewed for up to 90 days) and cost works out to 1euro a day.

Don't think they do that in Spain ?
Just got 60gb from Vodafone for €20

 

[Trotter]

Many mobile data providers are now charging for Eu data ontop of your plan. Three and Smarty have reduced roaming to 12gb per month and I think 3 may stop data all together if they notice more than 2 months in the Eu in a rolling 12 months. Smarty does have a 30 gb for 10 pounds a month plan unlimited text and std phone calls and we now plan 2 of these on our 2 phones. They allow tethering. That gives us 60gb at home and 24gb in the Eu, better than 12 in the eu with one unlimited plan. If 24gb is not enough we can get a smarty data only sim for one of our tablets 15gb for £8.10. That also ought to have 12gb roaming allowance. Giving 36gb roaming for £28.10 per month. We could also amalgamate these into a Smarty group and save 10%.

If you are going to use Smarty in Europe, remember to register your phones, sims, whatever, with them for travel, before leaving the UK.
I didn’t, Therefore was unable to use any data.
British Vodafone not working in Spain made for a perfect situation.

 

[TJBi]

Forgot to update. Came back from Spain after 84 days. Streaming on the EE card I used a total of 494gb of data in 3 months. I have not received ant additional charges with EE.

With 3 I was limited to 12gb a month, but the calls were free. I got a bill in of 3 for £24 of data I was supposed to of used on the ferry. As far as I remember I did not use any. So a call to 3 customer services ands this was refunded. They said my phone was logging onto the ships WIFI on its own. Next time I will just turn my phone off whilst on the Ferry.

The ferry's WiFi should not be an issue, but the Inmarsat mobile phone service is. Mobile phones will connect automatically and can run up extremely large bills (calls outgoing and incoming, plus mobile data). I always go for airplane mode after embarking but before departure and then just enable WiFi until the ferry has docked on the other side.

 

[Canalsman]

That's what I do to.