Mobile roaming charges halved as EU introduces new caps

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jul/01/mobile-roaming-charges-cut-eu

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The cost of using your smartphone to surf the internet while you travel in Europe will be halved as the EU introduces a new cap on roaming charges.

From 1 July the chance of suffering "bill shock" when you return from a break in more than 40 countries has been reduced, after European leaders slashed the amount that mobile phone operators can charge for data downloads, and also made big cuts to the caps on texts and phone calls.

How much does data cost?

Operators can now only charge up to €0.20 (16p) a megabyte, plus VAT for mobile downloads and internet surfing – down from 70c in 2012 and 45c in 2013. This works out at about 19p for most UK consumers.

What does that mean in practical terms?

The European commission has produced a table showing the maximum it will now cost you to do some of the things people typically do on their holidays. Browsing news for 10 minutes a day for seven days will use around 35MB of data so cost up to £5.60 now (£6.65 including VAT), against just under £12.60 previously. Looking at a map five times over your holiday will use around 1MB and cost up to 80p (95p including VAT), around £1 less than before.

How about calls?

The cost of making a call is now capped at 19c (15p) a minute, down from 24c, while the cost of receiving a call is capped at 5c. The cap on texts has also been reduced to 6c from 8c.

Do I have to pay that much?

Not necessarily. These are the maximum prices operators are allowed to charge and some offer better deals.

The good news for frequent travellers in the EU is that roaming charges are set to disappear completely at the end of 2015.

More on the changes to roaming charges and how to avoid high bills can be found here.