Roaming charges fall

August is traditionally a slow news month. The press are therefore hungry to hear of human interest and holiday disaster stories to fill the empty pages.

Unfortunately for the papers, one such story relating to high charges for internet mobile access may have gone for ever.

On the 1 July, new EU rules came in which limit the amount that operators can charge to connect to the internet via mobile, dongle or data card. Not only that, once your roaming bill reaches 50 Euros in a month you will have your internet connection suspended. Prices charged for mobile calls, but not for texts, have also fallen from the same date.

In recognition of the fact that there are times when greater connectivity is required abroad, it is possible to contact your mobile operator and arrange either for a higher limit or to opt out of the scheme. However, beware that an opt-out could leave you with high charges and no way of claiming that you didn’t know how much the bill would be.

The majority who stay within the scheme will also be more aware of how much they are being charged. When you travel into a new EU country, the local operator has to send you a text advising how much they will charge you for providing internet services and also the cost of calls. In addition, a reminder will be sent out once 80% of the limit has been reached. Calls have to cost no more than €0.39 per minute to send and no more than €0.15 per minute to receive. The rules on texts remain at no more than €0.11 each to send and free to receive. All these charges will have VAT added on top.

These changes pose an interesting dilemma for those who currently use VoIP to make their calls. VoIP (voice over internet protocol) is a way of making telephone calls over the internet. VoIP to VoIP calls are usually free and VoIP to landline or mobile are usually cheaper than calls from ordinary landlines or mobiles. With a variable charge for using the internet on your phone when abroad, together with reduced calling charges, those with phones which allow internet access will have to take some time to calculate their cheapest method of communication.

On a final warning note, whilst these charges cover most countries in the EU, this excludes Switzerland, Turkey and Croatia. Travelers who decide to go further afield will still need to keep a close eye on their mobile charges so perhaps the press may still have a few stories to fill their papers after all.