Three UK has become the first UK network to abolish roaming charges for its customers who visit the US.
The network announced today that going forward, mobile customers will not incur any additional charges for calling, texting and using the internet whilst in the US, so in theory, using your mobile whilst visiting the US will be the same as when back at home.
For Three customers this will put an end to spending ages trying to squeeze everything in to one text just to save money and being paranoid that your phone is roaming and checking your emails in the background. Most of all, it’ll mean no huge bills upon returning to the UK, which is the main benefit. Calls, texts and internet usage made from a Three phone whilst in the US will simply come out of the monthly allowance as normal.
US roaming has been abolished as part of Three’s new ‘Feel At Home’ initiative which it launched earlier this year. Today the network has also put an end to roaming charges in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Macau, which are added to the seven countries which Feel At Home launched with – Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy and Sweden – taking the grand total to 11 countries in which Three customers can use their mobiles without fear of extortionate charges.
The downside to the plan is that customers have to remember that when in these countries, international call rates still apply. If you’re visiting any of Three’s ‘Feel At Home’ countries then you can call and text people back home in the UK, but doing the same to a number registered in the country you’re visiting will incur the same additional charges as you would get when doing so from back home in the UK, which seems fair. Finally, tethering isn’t allowed as part of the Feel At Home service.
There’s nothing to be set up to benefit from Three’s generous new offering so if you’re already on Three with either a contract or pay as you go mobile then all you need to do is hop on a plane and leave that data roaming setting turned on.