Roaming charges to end

bumper234

The number’s up: Europe votes to end roaming charges

http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/the-numbers-up-europe-votes-to-end-roaming-charges-30152284.html


Roaming charges will be ended across Europe by Christmas 2015

About time too, I wonder what "charge" the mobile providers will replace this with to keep fleecing customers.

Oh wait

Mobile phone operators have warned the new regulations could lead to higher domestic tariffs if they can no longer charge extra for roaming.

:rolleyes:

MS.ing

do americans have to pay roaming charges when they move from state to state in their home country too? or even in well any country with a state system like australians in austraulia too for example also.

a quick google looks like its just us euro chumps, seriously I mean wtf, how come the eu got away with it or rather imposed whats looking like some ****in charade now, now that they are suddenly saying 'ah no be grand, roam away now we were just having a laugh before and the joke was so good it never got old '. :rolleyes:

B.A._Baracus

On the subject of mobile phones and charges...

Sick of my smartphone taking up to a euro credit each day. Something to do with connecting to vodafone and the internet. Even if you dont use the internet. Was reading that the solution is to swtich off any internet features on your phone. Thne whats the point of having a smartphone

MS.ing

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

On the subject of mobile phones and charges...

Sick of my smartphone taking up to a euro credit each day. Something to do with connecting to vodafone and the internet. Even if you dont use the internet. Was reading that the solution is to swtich off any internet features on your phone. Thne whats the point of having a smartphone

facepalm.jpeg

NegativeCreep

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

On the subject of mobile phones and charges...

Sick of my smartphone taking up to a euro credit each day. Something to do with connecting to vodafone and the internet. Even if you dont use the internet. Was reading that the solution is to swtich off any internet features on your phone. Thne whats the point of having a smartphone

The solution is to switch plans so you can get free internet.

Guy:Incognito

MS.ing wrote: »

do americans have to pay roaming charges when they move from state to state in their home country too? or even in well any country with a state system like australians in austraulia too for example also.

a quick google looks like its just us euro chumps, seriously I mean wtf, how come the eu got away with it or rather imposed whats looking like some ****in charade now, now that they are suddenly saying 'ah no be grand, roam away now we were just having a laugh before and the joke was so good it never got old '. :rolleyes:

Is each state in America a separate country? Does each mobile provider have a different company operating in each state? Does your phone switch to a different network when going to different states or are you always on your own?

B.A._Baracus

NegativeCreep wrote: »

The solution is to switch plans so you can get free internet.

I top up by 20 euro a month and get free texts to all networks and something like 250mb of internet usage (which I never come close to using) When I am in my house I use my wifi....Vodafone still takes credit each day and I dont make calls. More of a texting man

MS.ing wrote: »

facepalm.jpeg

.jpeg? Irony being you couldnt even link to an image but took the time to write .jpeg :pac:

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

The Backwards Man

In fairness, roaming charges are only a fraction of what they were a few years ago so long as you have the right plan(s). My bill in 2004 was averaging €150 a month, it's less than €30 now. No such thing as unlimited internet then either.

Penny Tration

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

I top up by 20 euro a month and get free texts to all networks and something like 250mb of internet usage (which I never come close to using) When I am in my house I use my wifi....Vodafone still takes credit each day and I dont make calls. More of a texting man




.jpeg? Irony being you couldnt even link to an image but took the time to write .jpeg :pac:

Switch to Three. 20 euro a month gets you free any network texts, free Three calls, free any network weekend calls, and unlimited data.

ScumLord

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Is each state in America a separate country? Does each mobile provider have a different company operating in each state?

There are plenty of companies like Vodafone that operate across all of Europe, there are no technical reasons for having roaming charges, I can't imagine that putting a phone on a cell network is all that much different from connecting a PC to the internet, which isn't all that different from adding a PC to a local network.

These companies are more than likely using the same standardised equipment in every country so there's little reason for the charge.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

WilyCoyote

MS.ing wrote: »

do americans have to pay roaming charges when they move from state to state in their home country too? or even in well any country with a state system like australians in austraulia too for example also.

...........................................................................................................................................................................

No roaming charges between States

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Is each state in America a separate country? Does each mobile provider have a different company operating in each state? Does your phone switch to a different network when going to different states or are you always on your own?

Each State (to all intents and purposes) is a separate country. Each have their own laws/taxes/building codes etc. Providers are nationwide so no need to float to a different network when crossing State lines.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

krudler

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

On the subject of mobile phones and charges...

Sick of my smartphone taking up to a euro credit each day. Something to do with connecting to vodafone and the internet. Even if you dont use the internet. Was reading that the solution is to swtich off any internet features on your phone. Thne whats the point of having a smartphone

your phone is probably doing app updates in the background you can turn that off in the app store settings, or just get a data allowance that'll stop the daily charges.

Think of a phone as like a laptop, even if you're connected to the net but not surfing anything it's still using some sort of data traffic in miniscule amounts. If you#re at home just turn off your mobile data and leave wifi on, having both on is just running down your battery faster.

jimgoose

ScumLord wrote: »

There are plenty of companies like Vodafone that operate across all of Europe, there are no technical reasons for having roaming charges, I can't imagine that putting a phone on a cell network is all that much different from connecting a PC to the internet, which isn't all that different from adding a PC to a local network.

These companies are more than likely using the same standardised equipment in every country so there's little reason for the charge.

There is a cost associated with facilitating inter-cellular network roaming, mainly due to authentication and accounting procedures. The operators were taking the complete piss out of it for years, though.

Guy:Incognito

ScumLord wrote: »

There are plenty of companies like Vodafone that operate across all of Europe, there are no technical reasons for having roaming charges, I can't imagine that putting a phone on a cell network is all that much different from connecting a PC to the internet, which isn't all that different from adding a PC to a local network.

These companies are more than likely using the same standardised equipment in every country so there's little reason for the charge.

It's not just "Vodafone europe" though. It's lots of separate companies. If your with Vodafone and go to Germany say , your not always roaming on Vodafone Germany unless you manually select it and then you might not have coverage everywhere. What about companies that don't operate in the country your in?

Guy:Incognito

WilyCoyote wrote: »

Each State (to all intents and purposes) is a separate country. Each have their own laws/taxes/building codes etc. Providers are nationwide so no need to float to a different network when crossing State lines.

That was my point. Its different in Europe, where we actually are separate countries with different languages, currencies etc you cant compare us to the US.

andrew

So does this mean I can get a phone contract from a mobile operator in, say, Spain and use it over here with no difference as to data/text/call charges?

WilyCoyote

ScumLord wrote: »

There are plenty of companies like Vodafone that operate across all of Europe, there are no technical reasons for having roaming charges, I can't imagine that putting a phone on a cell network is all that much different from connecting a PC to the internet, which isn't all that different from adding a PC to a local network.

These companies are more than likely using the same standardised equipment in every country so there's little reason for the charge.

The cellphone companies did this because the politicians allowed it to happen. A lot of jiggery-pokery went on.

MS.ing

MS.ing wrote: »

do americans have to pay roaming charges when they move from state to state in their home country too? or even in well any country with a state system like australians in austraulia too for example also.

a quick google looks like its just us euro chumps, seriously I mean wtf, how come the eu got away with it or rather imposed whats looking like some ****in charade now, now that they are suddenly saying 'ah no be grand, roam away now we were just having a laugh before and the joke was so good it never got old '. :rolleyes:

I'm pretty sure americans have to pay to receive all calls and stuff anyway, they get charged more for mobiles and stuff than we do

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2010/10/us-canada-lead-the-world-in-expensive-cell-packages/
Mobile users in the US and Canada tend to pay more for a complete cell phone package than anyone else in the world
(The US and Canada's per-minute rate was doubled in the report because customers pay for both incoming and outgoing calls.)

Again, the US was among the top three when it came to expensive texts (and again, the US rate was doubled because we pay for both incoming and outgoing texts)


Imagine paying for incoming texts

WilyCoyote

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

That was my point. Its different in Europe, where we actually are separate countries with different languages, currencies etc you cant compare us to the US.

It is pretty much like the United States of Europe. Each State makes it's own laws but can be overridden by the Federal government - just like the European Parliament. Each State HAS it's own currency (on one side) with the USA stamp on the other - just like the Euro coins. As regards the languages .......... fancy overhearing a conversation between someone from the Bayou in Louisiana and a fisherman in Maine

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Call Me Jimmy

The EU: is there anything we can't do?




...

WilyCoyote

bluewolf wrote: »

I'm pretty sure americans have to pay to receive all calls and stuff anyway, they get charged more for mobiles and stuff than we do

.......................................................................................................................................................................................


Imagine paying for incoming texts

Especially the spam ones :mad:

Mammanabammana

Restrict your phone to wifi and use the likes of Skype, Viber, Tango etc. I'll be out of the country a lot this year and I'm fecked if I'm paying roaming charges when there's so many free options.

WilyCoyote

Mammanabammana wrote: »

Restrict your phone to wifi and use the likes of Skype, Viber, Tango etc. I'll be out of the country a lot this year and I'm fecked if I'm paying roaming charges when there's so many free options.

Not trying to be personal Mammanabammana ............ but did the priest that christened you have a bit of a stststammammer?

Mammanabammana

WilyCoyote wrote: »

Not trying to be personal Mammanabammana ............ but did the priest that christened you have a bit of a stststammammer?

He pronounced it perfectly. But the source was a perfectly articulated 'mammanabammana' from a YouTube video of a child talking pure gibberish in the back seat of her father's car. So we must blame the children. Well, child.

WilyCoyote

Mammanabammana wrote: »

He pronounced it perfectly. But the source was a perfectly articulated 'mammanabammana' from a YouTube video of a child talking pure gibberish in the back seat of her father's car. So we must blame the children. Well, child.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZFeO2t4luQ

MS.ing

WilyCoyote wrote: »

No roaming charges between States



Each State (to all intents and purposes) is a separate country. Each have their own laws/taxes/building codes etc. Providers are nationwide so no need to float to a different network when crossing State lines.

cheers thought so and knew it! which brings me to my real question how could this possibly have happened in the eu apart from some ****ed up corruption and why did we all say " ah ye bastards, but here *opens wallet*"

for us

:mad: :bangheadsmiley:



I miss bang head smiley

Knasher

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

Sick of my smartphone taking up to a euro credit each day. Something to do with connecting to vodafone and the internet. Even if you dont use the internet. Was reading that the solution is to swtich off any internet features on your phone. Thne whats the point of having a smartphone

You don't have to stop using WiFi, just the phones 3G connection (and turn it back on the days you explicitly want to use it). Even if you aren't using the internet, if you have 3G turned on your phone is, so it can maintain a connection to a server for receiving emails or internet messages or whatever.

Guy:Incognito

MS.ing wrote: »

cheers thought so and knew it! which brings me to my real question how could this possibly have happened in the eu apart from some ****ed up corruption and why did we all say " ah ye bastards, but here *opens wallet*"

for us

:mad: :bangheadsmiley:



I miss bang head smiley

just because some makes something sound like it suits, doesn't mean it does. The us is not separate countries. It might be "like" separate ones, but it's not. The European is made up of separate countries.

SpaceTime

ScumLord wrote: »

There are plenty of companies like Vodafone that operate across all of Europe, there are no technical reasons for having roaming charges, I can't imagine that putting a phone on a cell network is all that much different from connecting a PC to the internet, which isn't all that different from adding a PC to a local network.

These companies are more than likely using the same standardised equipment in every country so there's little reason for the charge.

There are technical reasons : they would make less money.

MS.ing

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

just because some makes something sound like it suits, doesn't mean it does. The us is not separate countries. It might be "like" separate ones, but it's not. The European is made up of separate countries.

sorry youre coming across as someone who works in telecominications. all Im hearing is stuff, non turkey voting for christmas stuff

MS.ing

SpaceTime wrote: »

There are technical reasons : they would make less money.

which magically the us or australia doesnt have. sure 'technical reasons'

B.A._Baracus

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

On the subject of mobile phones and charges...

Sick of my smartphone taking up to a euro credit each day. Something to do with connecting to vodafone and the internet. Even if you dont use the internet. Was reading that the solution is to swtich off any internet features on your phone. Thne whats the point of having a smartphone

Turn off background data and auto updates

Anita Blow

MS.ing wrote: »

which magically the us or australia doesnt have. sure 'technical reasons'

The US and Australia are countries. The European Union is not a country, it is just a supranational organisation made up of 28 different countries.

major bill

About time,

for Businesses that operate both in Ireland and the UK it's good news

It's silly having to contact Vodafone to enable roaming for people down the south working across the border.

Guy:Incognito

MS.ing wrote: »

sorry youre coming across as someone who works in telecominications. all Im hearing is stuff, non turkey voting for christmas stuff

My apologies for using silly like things like geographical and political facts.

Even worse now that you've included Australia too. How about China ? Is that the same as the Eu too?

As for your predictable "he doesn't demonise a company so obviously works for them " approach. In the interests of disclosure , I did work in a phone shop for a few months in 2001 so maybe that makes me a paid shill?

jimgoose

MS.ing wrote: »

sorry youre coming across as someone who works in telecominications. all Im hearing is stuff, non turkey voting for christmas stuff

I used to be the telecommunications equivalent of the inscrutable plumber who turns up when he feels like it, mumbles unintelligibly while doing Cheeses-knows-what to the gubbins, then buggers off again. I was an infrastructure engineer at Motorola for seven years. In fact, I was involved in the stuff that processes billing records for GPRS back in the late '90s, roaming and non-roaming. You might say, paraphrasing Rupert Brooke, that there's some corner of the network that is forever Goose!

SpaceTime

Anita Blow wrote: »

The US and Australia are countries. The European Union is not a country, it is just a supranational organisation made up of 28 different countries.

It's been a single market for everything else for a long time. Telecoms is just one of those loopholes that somehow snuck under Brussels' radar.

I'll tell you one thing though, the EU officials themselves and people working in and around the EU institutions are absolutely shafted by roaming charges on their own personal mobiles and it's probably a major overhead for every aspect of the EU's administration too.

You're constantly shuffling back and forth between Brussels (Belgium), Strasbourg (France), Luxembourg and Frankfurt (European Central Bank).

The Belgian networks are actually really not very competitive and quite small compared even to Ireland and I can 100% assure you there's no love lost at the EU for the huge bills they're all getting for driving a few KM down the road and crossing a boarder.

No matter how the industry spins this, they're in for a serious slapping!

bumper234

SpaceTime wrote: »

It's been a single market for everything else for a long time. Telecoms is just one of those loopholes that somehow snuck under Brussels' radar.

I'll tell you one thing though, the EU officials themselves and people working in and around the EU institutions are absolutely shafted by roaming charges on their own personal mobiles and it's probably a major overhead for every aspect of the EU's administration too.

You're constantly shuffling back and forth between Brussels (Belgium), Strasbourg (France), Luxembourg and Frankfurt (European Central Bank).

The Belgian networks are actually really not very competitive and quite small compared even to Ireland and I can 100% assure you there's no love lost at the EU for the huge bills they're all getting for driving a few KM down the road and crossing a boarder.

No matter how the industry spins this, they're in for a serious slapping!

What?

SpaceTime

bumper234 wrote: »

What?

For goods and services, the EU is a single market without tariff or trade borders.
That's kind of one of the fundamental principles behind the whole EU project !!!

Telecommunications and other utilities are still locked into the old setup that predates the EU basically.
Bit by bit they're smashing down the last remaining legacies :

Most things : already 100% open single market.
Aviation (done and dusted) - This is how Ryanair was such a huge pan-EU success story.
Banking (underway)
Telecoms (just beginning)
Power (also just beginning with the creation of large regional markets)

bumper234

SpaceTime wrote: »

For goods and services, the EU is a single market without tariff or trade borders.
Telecommunications and other utilities are still locked into the old setup that predates the EU basically.

Big difference

It's been a single market for everything else

SpaceTime

bumper234 wrote: »

Big difference

The big difference is that powerful lobbies like nationalised telecommunications operators and banks basically just bullied their way into refusing to change for a very long time.

National governments were always in love with their respective state-owned Telecom company or major national player and wouldn't do anything to harm it.

That's changed big time as the market became a lot more diverse.

They've been toying with the idea of a single EU telecoms market for a long time. There was even a plan to create Europe as "+3" in the 1990s. However, all the vested interests lined up against it.

GSM came about as one of these interconnected, open market ideas too - i.e. a single mobile standard for Europe with the SIM card allowing easy changes of network and all that.

I sincerely hope that Neelie Kroes can push this one over the line this time as it would be a massive boon to consumers and cut a lot of costs and hassle for businesses in Europe too. There's also probably a sense that it might spawn a lot more interest in smartphones and app development as you suddenly have a single big data market and more use for things like travel apps and navigation etc etc.

You can be 100% sure that the mobile operators (especially the dominant ones) will be throwing everything they have at preventing this.

bumper234

SpaceTime wrote: »

The big difference is that powerful lobbies like nationalised telecommunications operators and banks basically just bullied their way into refusing to change for a very long time.

National governments were always in love with their respective state-owned Telecom company or major national player and wouldn't do anything to harm it.

That's changed big time as the market became a lot more diverse.

Yeah it's only taken 20+ years. Roll on 2034 we will be able to get car insurance from another country.

SpaceTime

bumper234 wrote: »

Yeah it's only taken 20+ years. Roll on 2034 we will be able to get car insurance from another country.

That's powerful lobby groups for you!

At least the European Parliament seems to be capable of ignoring them more than national governments and the European Commission tends to be.

What usually happens is National Champion Bank or Telecom lobbies its government and next thing it's in the national interest of Country X to veto the market reform to protect its company.

That's pretty much been the pattern.

Jason_

Only a few years ago the scumbag Irish networks were charging €1 per minute to make or receive a call in Northern Ireland.

Holsten

Brilliant news.

No more being gouged while abroad!

Pixie69

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

On the subject of mobile phones and charges...

Sick of my smartphone taking up to a euro credit each day. Something to do with connecting to vodafone and the internet. Even if you dont use the internet. Was reading that the solution is to swtich off any internet features on your phone. Thne whats the point of having a smartphone

Watch less porn

ted1

andrew wrote: »

So does this mean I can get a phone contract from a mobile operator in, say, Spain and use it over here with no difference as to data/text/call charges?

No as your free bundles will only work on the home country and those outside your home country will be charged at the standard rate Which will now be inflated to cover such scenario