Among all the things you have to pack for your next overseas jaunt, the powerful cell phone barely makes sense — and it could cost you, bigtime. There, in your pocket, is your indispensable travel companion that will also keep you in touch with friends and family back home and let you discover new places at once, but it can also be the downfall your financial, with strong roaming of the European Union payments.
It is a sorry scenario that has happened to lots of British people since the The United Kingdom has left the EU, which led to most major British phone networks to stop free roaming in EU countries. Now, if you’re not aware that you’re racking up tons of roaming charges, you could be hit with a bill in the thousands when you get back home.
UK mobile network Lebara has performed a EU roaming charges survey earlier this year and found that almost half of the 2,000 people quizzed had been landed with mobile phone bills of around £1,000 after their holiday – mostly made up of data roaming charges. And you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s just a few pence, but using all those apps on your phone gobbles up a whole heap of data, potentially leading to big charges.
Foreign Roaming: Heavy on Social Media Feeds
You might think that once you’re away on holiday in Europe, the last thing you’ll be paying attention to is what everyone else is doing back home, with their endless goofy antics posted on social media — but you’d be wrong. At least according to the Lebara survey, conducted in August by OnePoll.
It found that 44% of those who took part were glued to social media apps during their time outside the EU, almost certainly also posting their high jinks abroad; and the other big use of mobile data, with 42% of respondents, was for maps on phones. Why ask a stranger who doesn’t speak your language where the nearest pub is when you can Google Maps?
The people surveyed said they also used music streaming services, such as Spotify, while on holiday in European countries such as Spain, Germany, France and Italy (28% of respondents) and mobile gaming was another big slice of the data roaming pie, with 20% saying. that’s the most they did with their phones and data. Another 16% had other things on their minds — love, or a daunting stranger — and were hoping to hook up with someone using a mobile dating app for which they needed roaming data.
EU Data Roaming: Check Before You Go
It may seem obvious, but one of the first things you should do before you go abroad is to check the details of your mobile phone contract and see what’s included — and what’s not. Most of us don’t give our contracts a second thought after we get them, and this can get us into financial hot water when we’re overseas, as is constantly happening to Brits in the EU.
If your phone contract doesn’t include free data roaming in EU countries, a good solution is to get yourself a SIM-only deal from a provider like Lebara — no contract and the all data you will probably use during your vacation.
with the the cost of living crunch bites hard as we head into winter, no one wants the shock and misery of being hit with a huge mobile phone bill when they return from their already expensive trip abroad. So bring along an extra SIM and it can be your new best friend, giving you peace of mind in these uncertain times as you enjoy your trip away.