Vodafone follows EE in bringing back mobile roaming charges in Europe

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• Tom says:

  10 Aug10 August 10:36

  Brexit means Brexit. The ‘winning’ will continue as long as election outcomes favor these types.

  • flyforfun says:

    10 Aug10 August 14:56

    Brexit means taking back control – for the ultra wealthy with tax breaks and shelters everywhere (cough Dyson cough).

    The amount of issues its caused in a just a few months for me:
    -Medicines unavailable because of Brexit supply and border issues.
    -New car delayed at the border, price rises for those who bought from Jan 1 to cope with increased costs.
    -delays of surgical medical devices because of border issues meaning hospital surgeries cancelled and patients waiting longer.
    -Warehouse staff that never had to fil out customs forms needing to do so. Volume so great an extra head count is required just for the paperwork.
    -Repurposing internal systems to move medical devices across the channel. Stock being turned away at the border if paperwork not right.
    -Northern Ireland is a hot bed of special issues with customers based in Ireland but having ship-to’s in NI causing billing issues. Extra work for finance and legal to sort this out.

    These are not teething issues. The UK hasn’t even started it’s inward good checking yet! These are increased costs that need to be passed on to the consumer and health service. Frictionless trade is a lie. Brexit is a lie. The fallout will continue for years as people slowly wake up to being conned about it. Or the older generation die off and the younger generation take us back in.

    Vodaphone is the continuation of the ripping off of the British public. Lets see if 3 stay true and keep free roaming. I’m happy with them as they seem to work fine in the areas I go to.

    • J says:

      10 Aug10 August 16:56

      I fear the proposed Australian trade deal kills of any chance of us re-joining the single market in my lifetime. No way the EU would allow those agriculture standards free access into their market.

    • Fenny says:

      10 Aug10 August 21:44

      I’m pretty sure you don’t need to convince anyone here.

• Mikeact says:

  10 Aug10 August 10:54

  I thought that one of the issues with 3, was that overseas, while you can use it ‘like at home ‘, it doesn’t include local calls…so on the road it’s extra to call the hotel up ahead for a night.

  • flyforfun says:

    10 Aug10 August 15:15

    And if you were at home in the UK and called a hotel in another country, you would be charged, just “like at home”.

    • Mikeact says:

      10 Aug10 August 16:09

      I know that, but travelling around eg Australia, I can make local calls at no extra cost ? I think not, but happy to be corrected.

• Mikeact says:

  10 Aug10 August 15:57

  @fklyforfun. Sorry to read that you are feeling so bitter and twisted and are unable to move on.
  Of course, first and foremost this is a travel blog with today’s topic ‘Vodafone’ which has inevitably brought up Brexit, once again.
  So, I would be interested to know your thoughts as to how we arrived at a majority vote for Brexit. Who would you like to point the finger(s) at ?
  *The Big Red bus,
  *Labour sitting on the fence
  *Younger ones not voting
  *The older generation who’ve been through thick and thin
  *The media
  The list goes on.
  Of course, if you really cannot cope you could always move into the EU. Ireland is not too far away and they speak fluent English . But hang on to your NHS card..might be useful to come back for heart surgery as time goes by.

  • J says:

    10 Aug10 August 17:08

    “The older generation who’ve been through thick and thin” – unless they are over 70, they more or less only experienced ‘thick’ times up until the last decade or so. The two ‘thinnest’ points in that period are 2008-2009 and 2020-2021, both of which most young working people today have been affected by. https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/abmi/ukea

    • Ash says:

      10 Aug10 August 18:10

      You clearly wasn’t an adult in the 70s or late 80s. Very high unemployment for younger people then.

    • Ash says:

      10 Aug10 August 18:14

      Maybe not the best info out there but i couldn’t be bothered to find anything else to disprove such a ridiculous attitude https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/unemployment-1980s-it-felt-like-19149970

• Mikeact says:

  10 Aug10 August 17:29

  I always thought of the older generation as 70+, but now I’m not sure….pensionable age or is there some official age spelt out somewhere ? Whatever, I guess you’re pointing the finger at that generation for our Brexit issues.

  • J says:

    10 Aug10 August 18:01

    “Whatever, I guess you’re pointing the finger at that generation for our Brexit issues.” – Not at all, quite the reach to get that from my comment.

    Just that there is sometimes a bit of an obsession amongst certain (younger) older folks to assume their generation went through a lot of economic hardship when they were younger and that modern generations have it a lot easier – when the numbers don’t bear that out.

    • Ash says:

      10 Aug10 August 18:18

      Here you go, from one of your dream team https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/act-now-stop-youth-unemployment-22865429

      It wasn’t the bed of roses you pretend it was

• Danny says:

  10 Aug10 August 18:44

  Amazing how much vitriol this subject (Brexit) still brings, when the article was about the phone companies going back on their intentions and screwing the average person on their holiday! Hugely unimpressed with EE and Vodafone, not least because I have an apartment in Spain at which I use a roaming SIM card for internet, but more because they’ve been pretty disingenuous about their plans and it will impact anyone who goes on holiday to Europe. Just poor – needs some lobbying and shaming I think!!

• NFH says:

  10 Aug10 August 21:38

  Don’t forget what Dominic Raab said about this subject in 2018: https://twitter.com/monicabeharding/status/1425123673690759170

  • cinereus says:

    11 Aug11 August 22:12

    It’s almost like they knew full well they were peddling lies…

• Jonny Price says:

  11 Aug11 August 14:22

  Let’s be honest – there is a cost to these businesses when their customers use their phones abroad and, understandably, they want to recoup these costs and make a profit. When EU law meant they could not charge any extra for roaming, consumers still covered the costs somehow – it was just baked into other charges, such as higher line rentals. So it isn’t quite true that roaming has ever been “free” in the EU. Brexit just gives the operators the freedom to unbundle roaming fees again.

  • NFH says:

    11 Aug11 August 15:37

    The domestic retail price charged by UK networks covers the wholesale cost for roaming in most cases. There is no need for UK networks to surcharge for roaming in EEA countries, and in many non-EEA countries. So it’s a false argument that the wholesale costs merit roaming surcharges.

    You are right that roaming has never been free. In most cases, one has to pay a domestic price to roam. Whilst it might be surcharge-free, it is not free. There are very limited exceptions to this. For example, Three gives me 200MB per month on a Data Reward SIM, which I can use when roaming in 30 EEA countries and 27 non-EEA countries. This is completely free roaming.

• Charlie says:

  11 Aug11 August 16:28

  I guess brexiters are those who are too wealthy to care about paying more on their mobile bills and those who can’t afford holidays in EU countries.

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