How much using your phone abroad costs as Brits blocked from cheap roaming in EU

The Government also secured a deal which is expected to shorten queues for British travellers in Europe after years of misery, but the roaming arrangement has not changed

Brits heading to EU countries on holiday face hefty phone bills after the Government failed to improve a costly Brexit “dividend”.

Since the UK left the European Union, residents have not been covered by a 2017 bloc-wide law that made roaming, text, and calls free in all Member States. Many people have been caught out by the new rules, returning from their holidays to face a huge bill. One man revealed how he racked up a £200,000 bill during a four-day holiday in Turkey.

Earlier this week Keir Starmer unveiled an updated deal between the UK and the EU, with a number of breakthroughs on security and defence, law enforcement, trade, and measures to tackle illegal migration. The Government also secured a deal which is expected to shorten queues for British travellers in Europe after years of misery.

One issue where he was unable to improve on the Conservative Party’s deal is mobile phone roaming. According to The Telegraph, Starmer tried to persuade EU negotiators to allow the UK back into the free roaming deal as part of the “Brexit reset”.

According to the paper, the PM “had attempted to end roaming charges for UK tourists on the Continent by requesting that they be allowed back into a scheme letting travellers use mobile data at local rates when abroad”, but southern European nations including Spain and Italy objected.

If the UK had been allowed to rejoin the harmonised roaming zone, bills for British holidaymakers using their data, texts and calls abroad could’ve been cut significantly.

As the current deal doesn’t look like it will be improved anytime soon, it’s important to know where you stand and how much you’re liable to pay when roaming.

Under EE you can use your minutes, texts and data allowances in its European roaming zone – which includes most countries on the Continent – for £2.50 a day (up until midnight UK-time). You don’t need to do anything to opt in. If you use your allowances you’ll pay £2.50 for that day, and if you don’t, you won’t be charged anything. You can also buy a £10 ‘roam home’ seven day package.

The phone company offers free data roaming in the EU, so your data (subject to roaming limit), minutes and text allowances will work in the Europe Zone, just like they do at home.

If your UK monthly data allowance is over 25GB, you’ll have a roaming limit of 25GB when roaming in the firm’s Europe Zone. This means you can use up to 25GB of your allowance at no extra cost. O2 sends customers a text if they’re getting close to the limit, and again if they reach it. Then they can buy a ‘bolt on’.

For Pay Monthly customers, it’s a daily charge of £7 per day for unlimited calls, texts and date. For Pay As You Go customers, it’s a daily charge of £1.99.

Tesco Mobile recently unveiled its ‘Home from Home’ deal, which allows customers to to use their minutes, texts, and data while traveling to any of 48 destinations in the EU and beyond- so you can use your phone just like you do at home, with no roaming fees until 2026.

The provider makes it easy to cap your spend limit if you go over your monthly allocation, and also sells bundles for those travelling outside the UK.

Those customers whose plans started on or after October 1 2021 can unlock their data, call and text for a daily roaming charge. For Pay Monthly customers, roaming costs £2 a day in Europe and £5 a day in Go Roam Around the World destinations. The Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man are excluded from the daily roaming charge.

If you’re on a Three Your Way plan, it comes with up to 56 days of roaming included. If you run out – or you’re on a Standard plan – you can also buy three, seven, or 14-day Go Roam Passes. With a £5 a day Data Passport, you can get unlimited data to use when roaming.

If your plan doesn’t have inclusive roaming in the firm’s Europe Zone – which includes all European countries other than Ireland, the Isle of Man, Iceland and Norway – then it will cost you £2.57 a day to roam. You can reduce this cost with a European Roaming pass, available as £15 for eight days or £20 for 15 days (a cost increase of roughly 25% in two years)

A day starts from the time when roaming is detected and lasts for 24 hours. For example, if roaming is detected at 10am, the daily roaming fee would be valid until 10am the next day. If you bought your plan before 11 August 2021, roaming is included up to 25GB of data usage.

‘Roam Like Home’ is available to all BT Mobile customers at no extra cost. It lets you to use your minutes, texts and data allowances within our Roam Like Home zones without paying extra roaming charges.

From 15 June 2017, if your plan gives you 20GB or more of data each month, a surcharge may be applied if you use more than 15GB, while roaming, in one billing cycle.

GiffGaff has one of the most generous policies out there. The company’s plans can be used in the EU and selected destinations just as customers would use them at home and at no extra cost. If you opt to pay as you go and use credit instead, data, calls and texts will be charged at the firm’s pay-as-you-go UK rates while you roam in the EU.

There’s a fair use limit on data of 5GB. If you go over it’ll cost 10p/MB, or you can start a new plan early which will give you another 5GB allowance.

The company has a roaming passport which costs £2 a day and lets you access your UK data, calls and text allowances in over 55 popular holiday destinations, including the EU, the USA and Australia and more.