EU roaming charges are back after Brexit – beware high mobile bills

theguardian.com:

Roaming charges are back with a bang since Brexit, so if your mobile is never far from your hand it is important to make sure your post-holiday glow isn’t ruined by a shock bill for calls and data when you get home.

Almost all the big mobile phone companies, including EE, Sky Mobile, Three and Vodafone have reintroduced EU roaming charges, with giffgaff and Tesco Mobile the latest names to announce contract changes.

Giffgaff has told its customers that from 26 July they can only use up to 5GB of data a month in the EU. Above that level they will be charged 10p a MB. In a post on its website, the company blamed the move on the connection charges incurred when people roam in the EU.

Giffgaff said it had “taken the decision to mitigate some of that cost, so that we can at least give our members up to 5GB to roam in the EU, at no extra cost”. It pointed to 2019 usage data, which showed more than 90% of its members had used less than that figure when roaming in the EU.

In another change, the sun is setting on the free roaming enjoyed by Tesco Mobile customers on its Home from Home contract. From the start of 2023, new sign-ups and upgrade customers will lose this benefit; existing customers will continue to enjoy this perk provided they don’t change their device or move to a sim-only contract. The roaming charges will be 10p a MB of data, 20p a text and 55p a minute for calls.

In 2017, mobile networks in EU countries were banned from charging customers extra to use their phones in other member countries, with the right to make calls, send texts and, most importantly, use data allowances anywhere in Europe – as if at home – one of the most popular pieces of European legislation in the UK. However, the Brexit deal did not include