How to save money on mobile roaming charges while abroad

One of the many consequences of Brexit is that mobile roaming charges are back when you holiday in Europe. Most of the major mobile networks have reintroduced EU roaming charges, adding to the charges that never went away for using your phone in non-EU countries.

However, it’s not just uploading holiday snaps to Facebook or calling family from your mobile that can land you with hefty roaming charges. Even answering calls from home or picking up voicemail can result in charges when you are travelling.

If you want to avoid being whacked by a heavy roaming bill when you return from a trip, follow our guide to saving money when using your mobile abroad.

The mobile roaming costs

The amount you will be charged for roaming depends on what network you’re on, what type of contract you have, and where you’re travelling to. The general rule of thumb: assume nothing and check roaming charges very carefully before you travel, not least because you can often save money by buying roaming packages in advance (more on these later).

As a very sketchy rule, if you’re on a contract with EE, Vodafone, or Three, you’ll be charged £2 per day for using your mobile data in EU countries, although customers on pay-as-you-go contracts normally don’t face extra fees. O2 and several other virtual networks don’t charge extra for EU roaming, at the time of writing.

When it comes to roaming in the rest of the world, the charges vary enormously, from network to network and from country to country.

Some of the charges are, frankly, scandalous. If you’re an EE pay-monthly customer lucky enough to be holidaying in the Dominican Republic, for example, you will be charged £2.05 per minute for simply receiving a call (not making one) and 67p for every text you send. Other networks have similar charges. That illustrates it is not only using mobile data that can create bill shock.

How to save money on roaming

There are many ways to stop the roaming bills from running out of control and ruining a good holiday. Here are some of the ways you can keep a cap on costs when travelling:

Buy a roaming package

Many networks offer pre-paid bundles of roaming data, especially if you are travelling to countries outside the EU, where roaming data tends to be more expensive. Make sure to check for such packages before your trip starts. If not, you could end up facing some very stiff charges indeed. We have seen charges of £15 per MB for data for customers not on bundles, which means uploading one photo to Facebook could end up costing you £45 or more.

Note, there’s a (currently voluntary) limit of £45 per month on roaming charges, but there are exceptions to this in Ts & Cs, so don’t assume you can’t possibly run up a truly massive bill. The previous EU protections are gone.

Switch to a network with cheap roaming rates

If you’re frequently travelling abroad, you may be better off switching to a network that offers cheaper roaming rates. You will often find virtual networks offer the best deals when it comes to roaming.

Take Lebara, for example, which uses the Vodafone network in the UK. If you’re travelling in the EU or India, you can use your UK plan allowances while you’re abroad at no extra cost (or up to 30GB of data if you’re on an unlimited data plan). If you’re travelling for four weeks a year, that could land you a saving of more than £50, compared with using one of the major networks that charge £2 a day in the EU, not to mention any savings you might make on your regular plan.

Use a local SIM

If the roaming rates for your destination are super-expensive, you might consider buying a local pay-as-you-go SIM card when you get there. If you’re travelling to the USA, for example, you can get an Ultra Mobile Tourist SIM for $30, which gives you 3GB of data and unlimited US calls and international texts for 21 days. You can order the SIM cards on eBay before you travel.

Switching SIMs isn’t technically difficult – you simply pop out your current SIM and put in the new one. Some phones have dual SIM slots that allow you to use two SIMs at the same time, meaning your current and travel SIM cards can both receive and send calls while using the travel SIM for data.

Beware that you may have problems with some apps when switching SIMs, such as WhatsApp and banking apps.

Switch off roaming data

If you can do without checking Twitter every few minutes while you’re away on holiday or are prepared to rely on hotel wi-fi, you can switch off roaming data and make sure you’re not confronted with a horrible data bill when you get home.

To switch roaming off, go to the Settings app in either iOS or Android and search for “roaming” – you should find the option to switch roaming off.

Make calls on wi-fi

If you need to ring home when you’re abroad and you’re not on a roaming deal that includes free or cheap calls, you can always make calls in apps such as WhatsApp or FaceTime using local wi-fi connections. Most hotels offer free wi-fi.

Likewise, sending WhatsApp messages instead of text messages may be much cheaper.

Download rich media for free

Stockpile any music, movies, or even maps that you might need for the trip onto your devices for free over wi-fi, ideally before you leave, rather than waiting until the kids are shrieking in the back of a car during a long road trip.