End of roaming: 5 infos to know
Since June 15, roaming is over! If you are traveling in Europe, you can use your mobile phone as in your country. Nevertheless, there are some pitfalls. To avoid being surprised, here's what you need to know!
International calls still overtaxed
If calling with your Luxembourg number from your holiday destination to Luxembourg will not cost you extra, the opposite is not true. So, if you are trying to reach a Spanish number in the Grand Duchy, your call will be surcharged and you will always be as expensive. Clear ? Speaking to your Spanish friend will cost you less if you do it from Madrid or any other European city, than from Luxembourg : a somewhat absurd situation!
Beware of countries not involved in roaming
If you go to Switzerland , Bosnia , Serbia and Montenegro or Ukraine , you will not be able to send messages, consume data and make calls without paying additional fees.
So be careful, for example, this summer, if you plan to go to France, near the Swiss border. As a precaution, and because your phone could suddenly pass on the Swiss network, it is better, as a precaution, disconnect your data.
On the other hand, you can use your phone in the same way as normally in Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein , although these countries are not members of the European Union. The same is true in the UK, but this could change as early as 2019, depending on the Brexit negotiations.
Of course, if you leave the European continent, no benefit is expected: Charges, rather exorbitant, will always be claimed by your operator if you make some calls or connect to the internet. It is therefore better to disable the data connection and use it sparingly if you really need it.
If you are cruising ...
On a liner, even if you only fly around European countries, do not think about connecting to the internet via your smartphone or sending multiple sms to your loved ones. The reason ? Your mobile phone has to go through a satellite connection to try to reach someone who is on land. Since this type of connection is not dependent on European regulations, it is not affected by the end of roaming.
Attention if you make a long stay abroad
Some operators may charge you extra if you use your package outside your borders for a period of more than 4 months . So, if you have decided to take half a year to do a tour of Europe, do not shout victory too quickly, since you will not be able to call and surf "like home" throughout your journey.
Once your package is exhausted ...
If you have exceeded the ceiling set by your operator while you are abroad, you will have to pay extra to continue using your mobile phone. The amounts of the calls and sms have nevertheless been fixed by the European Commission, so that there are no excesses: so, a call will cost you 3.2 cents per minute, and a 1 cent sms .
If you have a package with unlimited data , you will have a volume without extra cost accurate enough for overseas. Once exceeded, you will then have to pay additional fees.
To find out about this volume, simply perform a calculation: divide the price of your package by the current gigabyte wholesale rate (7.7 euros for 1 GB of data as of June 15, 2017), multiplied by 2. By 2022, the price of the gigabyte should fall to 2.50 euros.