ByeBye Roaming in Europe

"Oh, damn! I forgot to dis-able the data roaming service" Does it sound familiar?

For sure you have forgotten to dis-able data roaming services when arriving in a new country more than once. We all have lived that situation when turning on our devices after the flight at least once.

What if we tell you that this will be soon a story from the past? What if you never have to be concerned about the bill when travelling abroad again? Can you imagine? Stop imaging: this is already reality already in some parts of Europe.

We got great news from the European Union some weeks ago: extra-charges by telephone providers to consumers when using data services abroad will be abolished. 

Write down this date: July the 15th, 2017.

As we all know, roaming means extra-charges by telephone providers when consumers travel to a different country than the one in which they contracted the service, whether for calling, consuming data, or both.

From a while ago, consumers who travel abroad frequently have claimed a solution to avoid extra-charges. This has speeded up the process to eliminate roaming charges and we finally have a date for it: 15th of July 2017.

Preliminary, this new policy only applies to countries from the European Union; however, non-communitarian countries are able to apply the policy or dismiss it. For instance, Norway and Switzerland have already stated that they will set up special agreements.

The new data roaming policy is expected to cause a radical change in data usage habits and it will imply new fares for incoming/outgoing calls as well as for "the forgotten SMS's".

Spain is in the first phase to eliminate data roaming services

The first phase to set up the new roaming policy in Spain started the 30th of April. Travellers will have to pay 0,05 euros supplement per each MB consumed at most and with 0,20 euros limit. 

The second phase will start in June 2017, by when all the telephone providers will have to eliminate any extra charge to consumers when using their services in any country of the European Union. In the meantime, we can already see how companies such as Vodafone are already advertising the elimination of roaming fares both for Europe and the US.

In all case, there is no doubt that this is a great step forward to travel around Europe without any problem. At The Wonder Trip, we recommend that before you start your adventure, you ask your telephone provider. This way you can make sure that you are not charged any extra-cost until the elimination of the roaming fares is completely effective.