Vodafone global roaming program

[Marijnvb]

It took me quite a while to figure this out, because the advertisements are very misleading I must say, but here is the following:

I just moved to the UK from the Netherlands, and purchased a new subscription with Vodafone, including the global roaming program, since I expect to be back in NL quite often, and make calls back NL while I'm here. Now I just found out that roaming is indeed free, but if you're in the UK and call to NL, you actually do get charged (a ridiculous amount of around GBP 1/minute from my perspective). Apparently this type of call does not count as roaming and is therefore not regulated, which is ridiculous from my perspective, because if you would be in NL, making a call with a UK number towards for example Spain would actually be free, whilst this is way more expensive for an operator. 

Other than me just complaining, I wanted to ask if there is a way around this. Could I for example just buy a NL subscription, and use it in the UK free of charge (whether I'm calling to UK numbers, NL numbers or whatever EU numbers) ?

Or would one expect this to be adjusted after June 2017, once the regulation kicks in?

Thanks in advance

[jeffkinn]

By definition when you are roaming you are outside of the country where your domestic network is situated.

If you are a Vodafone UK customer and making calls from here you are not roaming and calls and texts to overseas numbers are expensive. I'm guessing it would be the same in The Netherlands. Calls from there to the UK surely are not part of your monthly allowance are they?

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/explore/costs/calling-abroad-from-the-uk/

Have a look at this page. It shows the add on you can get to reduce the cost of international calls.

[Marijnvb]

No they are not, but that's not the point I'm trying to make. If I would have an NL subscription, calls to the UK would be free of charge when I'm actually in the UK. When I'm in the Netherlands, indeed I guess this would be the same thing, since by definition you are not roaming.

The point I'm trying to make is that the concept does not make sense to me, hence my example for a workaround: if I would get a Dutch subscription, I could use it in the UK free of charge (besides my monthly fee of course), to whatever number I'm calling, as long as its EU.

So in general and to put by point more bluntly: it is more advantageous for a customer to get a subscription abroad than from its own country, since international calls (within EU) would then basically be free of charge

[Nabs]

@Marijnvb not sure about other countries network but if you use your Vodafone UK number abroad for more than 30 continuous days they can suspend your account.

Extract from the T+C's below:

Inclusive roaming allowances are only for our UK customers who are on short holidays or short business trips to countries within our Europe Zone. If you’re permanently roaming abroad - for example, you continuously use your phone from within our Europe Zone for more than 30 days – we may suspend international roaming on your account so you’re no longer able to use your phone abroad.

---

It's still using the old EuropeZone wording rather than the new "RoamFree Destinations" but I very much suspect the enforcement will be the same

[Marijnvb]

I doubt this to be honest, looking at the legislation:

"there should be no limits in terms of timing or volume imposed on consumers when using their mobile devices abroad in the EU"

This is the latest I could find:

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-3111_en.htm 

As far as I understand from this, the same fair use policy applies as does with your regular package (with unlimited calls for example). 

I am also thinking this is too strange/good to be true, but actually can't seem to find a good confirmation of how it is actually going to work in practice.

[Getafix]

Roaming is controlled by the EU Legislation, but that does not affect what the charges are while in your own country.

Regarding having a Netherland Line to cal back to Netherland or anywhere in EU, would that not be same or more expensive then buying a International Add on?

All this free usage in Europe it has to be paid for, which in a way we do as the Tariffs have generally gone up in recent times. The one who actually suffers moat is the one who never Travels and they pay for this.

Personally I preferred the £3 Euro Roaming. And to keep it in control could be capped at say 4 days ie £12 per month. So only those who use it pay for it.

[Nabs]

There will be limits. Ofcom changed the rules on in contract price increases a while back the operators just changed their T+Cs to explicitly include a price increase. I don't imagine they would hold back from doing the same (or similar) with roaming and it will be perfectly fine as you will have agreed to it when taking out the contract

[hrym]

That depends on how you interpret "timing" and "volume".  I take it to mean that you can talk for as long* as you like and as many times as you like.  Not that it means you can take out a contract in one country and then move on a more or less permanent basis to another.

I have a UK-based contract and would expect calls from there to another region to be chargeable unless I had an overseas call package add-on (do they still exist?).  However, if I went to (say) France for a week, I'd expect to be able to use my inclusive minutes for all calls, whether to France, Germany or the UK.   Yes, it's an anomaly of a sort but they're bound to happen.

* There's a little voice in the back of my mead that says there may be a 60 minute limit on inclusive calls before they start being charged.   I may be wrong and that may apply to a BT landline call plan - just check before you use your whole allowance in one call!

[jeffkinn]

The 60 minute inclusive limit is a BT issue and one that regularly causes me to have a 'chat' with my wife who likes a long phone call. 

It doesn't apply to mobiles although I'm sure it used to at one time.

[chistery]

There are other third party services you could use to lower costs, one I use is 2.5p per minute to call a NL landline.

Servies like Skype, Hangouts, Facetime and Whatsapp could help too.