Mobile Roaming

[Ranchi]

Not 100%cruise related but still, here goes.
Got my mobile bill today and it was about £5 more than normal. Tried to find a reason for this but lost the will after scrolling through a good number of the 32 pages to which my bill went. Eventually rang the provider. They explained that I had made an international call. Straight away I recognised this. It was a call to an acquaintance who lives in Greece and was staying a few miles from us for a few days. I admitted making the call but then asked should the call not be free as the Greece is in the EU. Yes it would be free if I’d rang from any other EU country in the EU than the UK. I didn’t realise that limitation of ‘roam like at home’ rules.

[Mervyn and Trish]

As I understand it the roaming rules mean you pay the same as your home tariff when away in the EU. So if you pay extra for international calls at home you still will when away.

[Ranchi]

Yes, that’s the rule. I had misunderstood & thought mobile calls were free to Europe..the call was over a distance of all of 12 miles!
Live and learn.

[Stephen]

Hi Ranchi

Just to clarify, were you in Greece when you made the call or at home, which I will assume is the UK

Not sure why you were charged unless Greece isn't recognised as a roaming destination by your provider. I am with 3 which allows me to use my phone abroad the same I would at home and covers a vast array of destinations, including Greece. That doesn't mean to say I haven't been caught out with the odd extra on the bill, mainly on a cruise. Even if you are on the quayside at your destination you can still get charged. Something to do with the ships equipment, so I was told. How much truth there is in that I don't know, but I don't use my phone now until I'm well in-land.





This is what my provider states.

Making calls abroad.
You've got international roaming turned on. This means you can make calls and send texts while youre abroad.
Find out what you'll be charged to use your phone abroad.
-----------------------
Greece.
Including Crete, Corfu and the other Greek Islands.

This is a Go Roam destination. Choose another destination.

[Ranchi]

Hi Stephen,
Sorry for the delay.
I was ringing a person who lives in Greece but who was visiting family in the U.K. She phoned me (in the U.K.) on her mobile ( which would have been free as it was a Greek registered mobile and she was using the free EU roaming) but I was too slow to answer the call. I phoned her straight back ( call going to her Greek registered mobile which she had with her in the U.K.) and although the call was only going a few miles away it was classed as an international call from U.K. to Greece. If I had been on holiday and been anywhere in the EU but the U.K. when I made the call it would have been free.

[Stephen]

A lesson learnt.

We've all been there and done it Ranchi, your not alone.
Being a tight fist I'd have sent her a WhatsApp message asking her to ring back.

[Quizzical Bob]

You were in the UK so you were not roaming but your Greek friend was using a Greek phone whilst in the UK so they would have been roaming.

Your call to her would have gone out to Greece and then back to the UK so it was classed as an international call. This might seem a bit silly but that's the way that the systems work. If you were in Sydney airport on your UK phone and you called a colleague standing next to you on his UK phone then your call would go all the way back to the UK and then back out to Australia. Basically this is because you are calling a UK number.

Anybody in the UK who calls your phone whilst you are abroad will only be charged the standard UK rate for calling a mobile. This is because it is not fair to charge them for an international call because there is no way that they would know that you were on a foreign netork. You will pay a charge for receiving this call.

Have you thought of Skype or Whatsapp?

[david63]

Have you thought of Skype or Whatsapp?

But both of those require a wi-fi connection

[Mervyn and Trish]

Or mobile data. Then you're back to square one!

[david63]

Or mobile data. Then you're back to square one!

If I am not mistaken Watsapp only works over wi-fi

[Mervyn and Trish]

Or mobile data. Then you're back to square one!

If I am not mistaken Watsapp only works over wi-fi

Oh IT Guru I fear you are mistaken! Works on mobile data on my phone, but the point remains. No roaming no WA.

[Quizzical Bob]

Have you thought of Skype or Whatsapp?

But both of those require a wi-fi connection

Not so. They do both require a data connection though and 4G is enough.

[towny44]

Have you thought of Skype or Whatsapp?

But both of those require a wi-fi connection

Not so. They do both require a data connection though and 4G is enough.

Semantics really since in this context wi-fi is simply the household or hotspot method of accessing a data connection to the internet.

[Quizzical Bob]

Or mobile data. Then you're back to square one!

If I am not mistaken Watsapp only works over wi-fi

Oh IT Guru I fear you are mistaken! Works on mobile data on my phone, but the point remains. No roaming no WA.

WA? Is that Whatsapp?

Let's not confuse roaming with a data connection. Roaming is when your phone is connected to a network operator other than the one to which you are subscribed. In the UK There are many providers but you are not charged when using mobile data through their phone masts.

The problem can arise when 'roaming' on a non-UK network, such as the Channel Islands or indeed when cruising away from land when you will probably be using the ship's onboard service (my advice - don't). You would be wise to turn off data-roaming on your phone under such circumstances.

There have been instances of phone users on the south coast in places such as Dover or even south Dorset inadvertetly locking onto French networks but fortunately thanks to the EU roaming charges have been abolished.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26513546

There are (or used to be) particular circumstances in Bermuda in which visitors from the USA were being charged for roaming even though their phones didn't recognise that they were. Apparently the AT&T network was indistinguishable from those in the USA.

[Quizzical Bob]

But both of those require a wi-fi connection

Not so. They do both require a data connection though and 4G is enough.

Semantics really since in this context wi-fi is simply the household or hotspot method of accessing a data connection to the internet.

Not really. Your phone doesn't care about how the data moves. A far as it is concerned the packets of data look the same no matter which route they take. The difference is that wifi is usally free whereas mobile data is metered to some extent.

[towny44]

Let's not confuse roaming with a data connection. Roaming is when your phone is connected to a network operator other than the one to which you are subscribed. In the UK There are many providers but you are not charged when using mobile data through their phone masts.

Surely that's incorrect unless you have a contract with unlimited data.

[Quizzical Bob]

Let's not confuse roaming with a data connection. Roaming is when your phone is connected to a network operator other than the one to which you are subscribed. In the UK There are many providers but you are not charged when using mobile data through their phone masts.

Surely that's incorrect unless you have a contract with unlimited data.

Within your own data allowance there is no charge for using another provider within the UK. It's your own indivdual provider that monitors the data usage. Phone contracts usually have a 'fair usage' clause, especially the 'unlimited' ones.