Working abroad

[Chrislunn09]

I have moved to Cyprus for the next 3 years working for the RAF. I still have 5 months left on my contract, and the cancellation fee is nearly £300, and I’m not paying that. So I have an unlimited contract which is nearly £80 pcm, and I’m only being given 100 texts and minutes and 25gb. So I’ve tried to sort it out with Vodafone but they say they won’t do anything about it, even though I’ve stated that I’m living here and not on holiday? And ideas because I need unlimited data for my job? 

[BandOfBrothers]

Have you considered letting another person take on the contract as a change of ownership @Chrislunn09 as another route around the Early Termination option.

Transfer-of-ownership. 

Travelling-abroad. 

Edit.

I'm wondering if the armed forces contract break can be looked at.

i.e 

Armed forces contract break. 

[AnnS]

Hi @Chrislunn09 

As this data is for your job, it's surprising the RAF don't provide data access for contractors.  If you are in N Cyprus, that comes under Turkey.  When you are on an unlimited plan, data is capped at 25GB per month, this is the same for everyone.  However, if you are not on an unlimited plan it won't be capped.

If you are living in Cyprus and not being posted with the RAF on a tour of duty to a combat zone, not sure if you will be entitled to a contract break, also you need to return to the UK and still pay for the entire contract.

Vodafone are starting to stop permanent roamers and are going to start charging.  With your residing in Cyprus, you would be much better off getting a SIM with a local network.

[donnyguy]

I think you've probably been given the best choice of options by Ann and Band of Brothers.

• Vodafone make it clear that they cap usage when abroad so you are stuck with the 25GB limit on your unlimited plan. You could perhaps look at changing to a non-unlimited option for the remainder of your contract (e.g. a 100GB plan)
• Vodafone don't offer permanent roaming. Whilst it has been a grey area since launch in 2017, they are within their rights to charge customers who are permanently roaming (other networks do actually monitor and apply the charges)
• You could look at pausing your contract but then you'd have to unfreeze when you return to the UK

But when you do decide what you're doing with your current contract then, as the deals in Cyprus are quite expensive, then it might still be worth trying your luck with a UK deal such as 

• Voxi - 45GB for 20 GBP per month. One month contact so can be cancelled if you fall foul of the permanent roaming rule

Other than that, I'd be looking for a 30 day contact with the largest data allowance you can find as it'll probably still work out cheaper than taking a deal from a Cypriot network (unless things have changed since I was last there)