Welcome to Brexit I guess.
That's not a political statement but more just a reminder that the only reason we had free roaming was because it was mandated in EU law. It wasn't something the networks wanted to sign up to although to be fair to Vodafone, they did introduce it ahead of time (albeit at a time where we knew it was coming) whereas other networks left it till the very last moment to make the change.
The reality is though, roaming is not free to the networks. The free EU roaming has always incurred costs at the network level which is why it's a no brainer that the networks want to remove it (let's see which of the other networks announce it next).
Understand people feeling sore at the timing of the announcements but sure the networks are all taking a calculated risk when it comes to customers jumping ship.
Whilst, as a frequent traveller, I'm not happy with these changes. I do understand the need for networks to look for new (or old) ways to generate revenue.
After all, I was reading articles (after EE made their announcement) which basically said the average spend per customer has reduced over the past few years (although I'd challenge that when the cost of my own package keeps increasing haha) whereas we're getting more demanding of our networks which is why they're spending money on 5G licences and rolling out the network.
Think my point is, it's sore. I don't particularly like it but now they're not legally obliged to offer roaming at a loss, I understand it.
I'll be interested to see how this is going to work moving forward.
I've got everything crossed they'll be offering the same kind of roaming bolt ons they offer PAYT customers.
