Millions of Britons clobbered with extra fees when they leave the UK, but expert reveals hack to cut costs
Depending on when you signed up for your SIM plan, you could be charged over £2 every day when heading to Europe for a holiday
GETTY IMAGES | PICTURE POSED BY MODELS
All products and promotions are independently selected by our experts. To help us provide free impartial advice, we will earn an affiliate commission if you buy something. Click here to learn more
Don't Miss
Most Read
Trending on GB News
Heading abroad on holiday comes with plenty of costs, but millions of Britons are discovering an extra charge — their phone.
Yes, despite heartfelt pledges not to reintroduce the roaming fees abolished by the European Union following the UK's departure from the EU, that's exactly what many of the biggest mobile networks have decided to do. According to new research from Expert Reviews, three of the four top providers in the UK now charge their customers to make calls and use mobile data in Europe.
- View Deal | Get 5% off any Saily eSIMs for budget EU roaming with code "GBNEWS"
- View Deal | Get a Giffgaff eSIM for your travels to avoid expensive roaming charges
- View Deal | Shop the latest plans on O2, which doesn't charge for EU roaming
With EE, Vodafone, and Three adding extra fees to your monthly bill whenever you send a WhatsApp message, navigate on Google Maps, check your bank balance via a smartphone, scroll through Facebook, launch a website from a QR code, or use Google Translate to read a menu ...costs can quickly spiral. In fact, 45% of Britons now pay for roaming charges when travelling within the EU, research from Expert Reviews shows.
If you've got an EE SIM inside your phone, you could be charged over £2 per day to use your calls, text messages, and 4G or 5G data. That might not sound like much ...but it soon adds up. If you're travelling as a family of four, that means a fortnight away carries an extra £110 charge.
Whether you'll be charged EU roaming fees largely depends on when you signed your current mobile contract.
EE and Vodafone will only charge you to use your calls, texts, and mobile data allowance from mainland Europe if you signed up for a new deal, or renegotiated your current contract after August 2021. Three Mobile applies the same conditions to those who signed on the dotted line after October 2021.
Sky Mobile is one of the latest carriers to resurrect EU roaming fees, applying an extra charge to new customers from May 2022 onwards.
So, what's the solution?
Digging into this topic, Expert Reviews found that a majority of UK mobile networks won't charge you to make and receive calls, or use mobile data abroad ...it probably only seems that way because the most popular firms all do. Only 5 out of the 16 researched networks are currently implementing EU data roaming charges, the popular blog adds.
Tesco, Giffgaff, SMARTY, ASDA Mobile, and O2 will allow you to continue using your phone like you do in the UK at no extra cost.
It's worth noting that some of these brands do impose data limits when abroad. For example, Giffgaff lets you continue browsing the internet, streaming music and podcasts, and following turn-by-turn directions in Google Maps ...until you hit the 5GB data limit. Other networks are less specific about data limits and merely impose a fair usage policy.
But Expert Reviews offers another solution.
If your phone has support for an eSIM, it's easy — and affordable — to skirt around the EU roaming charges by signing up for a one-off plan to GiffGaff or SMARTY, both of which allow you to use your paid-for data in Europe.
- View Deal | Shop eSIM plans on Giffgaff
- View Deal | Shop eSIM plans on SMARTY
There's also a slew of dedicated eSIM brands that have flourished in the wake of manufacturers like Apple, Samsung, and Google adopting this technology to offer access to 4G or 5G data anywhere in the world.
Since the eSIM acts like a second SIM card slot, you'll keep the same mobile number — this is helpful, as it means your WhatsApp will stay associated with the correct phone number. When you get back to the UK, everything remains in place.
One of the most recent additions is Saily, which was built by the team behind NordVPN — one of the best VPN deals around. As well as bundles of mobile data for mainland Europe, Saily offers data coverage across North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, North Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia. Plans range from 7 to 180 days and offer data from 1GB to 100GB.
Use discount code GBNEWS at checkout for an 5% extra off any Saily eSIM plan.
- View Deal | Get 5% off any Saily eSIMs for budget EU roaming with code "GBNEWS"
- View Deal | Get a Giffgaff eSIM for your travels to avoid expensive roaming charges
- View Deal | Shop the latest plans on O2, which doesn't charge for EU roaming
Speaking about the research on EU roaming, Ben Johnston, Expert Reviews Phone Expert, told GB News: "With so many of the top networks now charging additional fees for using your existing package when travelling in Europe, it’s more vital than ever to check the roaming policy before signing up to a network.
"The daily fees are usually relatively minor but if you plan on spending a week or two on the continent, it quickly adds up. That doesn’t mean that you necessarily need to avoid going with the likes of VOXI – still our favourite network overall – but a little preparation ahead of your trip could end up saving you money in the long run. If your phone supports eSIMs, you can easily (and affordably) skirt around roaming charges by getting a one-off subscription to GiffGaff or Smarty, both of which allow you to use your paid-for data in Europe.
"Package prices start very cheap, so you could easily get an eSIM with enough data to see you through your trip for less than you’d be paying in daily fees with other networks. GiffGaff and Smarty are both on a rolling monthly basis, too, so you can then just cancel when you return from your trip.”