The cost of call roaming within Europe has fallen for the second time in a few months, thanks to a new regulation coming into place.
The new regulation from the European Commission states that mobile phone networks cannot charge more than 32p per minute (plus VAT) to make a call to another country, and 10p per minute (plus VAT) to receive a call from somebody abroad.
Back in 2007 the European Commission first introduced the price regulation on roaming charges, with the aim to eventually equalise the cost of calls to other countries and calls within the same country. Roaming charges for Europeans have fallen by around 6% per year, with the new charges setting an all-time low standard.
Mobile data charges have also come down from 72p (80 cents) to 45p (50 cents) per megabyte viewed or downloaded. It’s still an astonishing amount, and you certainly wouldn’t want to use the web too much while abroad, unless you have a specific data plan of course.
A price cap has been put in place to stop those who inadvertently access the web running up a huge bill without knowing. Mobile networks now have to put a £45 or Є50 on data usage to prevent unexpected high bills being run up while on holiday. We’re sure most consumers will welcome this, as many get home from their holidays to find a phone bill in the hundreds thanks to meddling children or that hidden data roaming setting being ticked.
If you really need your data connection abroad, you can still call up your network and request to have it removed – just beware!
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