Carefree roaming in the summer holidays
Year of issue 2023
Date of issue 2023.06.20
The main holiday season is about to begin. Thanks to the EU Roaming Regulation, consumers can make calls, send text messages and use the internet in other EU countries without having to pay roaming charges.
"Consumers can use their mobiles within the EU to call, text and use mobile data just like at home,"
said Klaus Müller, President of the Bundesnetzagentur. "But they do need to be careful when they are outside the EU or on ships or planes as they may then be billed roaming charges."
Care needed when using mobiles on ships and planes and near EU borders
Consumers may have to pay roaming charges when they use their mobiles on ships or planes because services are provided via satellite-based networks, which are not covered by the "roam like at home" rules in the Roaming Regulation. Consumers should therefore check whether their mobiles are connected to a terrestrial network or to a satellite-based network on board a ship or plane, especially when they are at seaports or airports.
Consumers may also have to pay roaming charges near EU borders if their mobiles automatically connect to a non-EU mobile network. The EU roaming rules apply in all EU countries and in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Consumers using other foreign mobile networks may have to pay roaming charges. This may happen to holidaymakers near Lake Constance, in Northern Italy or on the Greek islands, for example, if their mobiles connect to Swiss or Turkish networks without them noticing. They can avoid this happening by turning off automatic network selection and manually selecting a mobile network.
International roaming outside the EU can be expensive
The "roam like at home" principle does not apply outside the EU, so consumers must usually expect to pay much more for making calls and especially for using mobile data in non-EU countries. Mobile operators must still inform their customers travelling to popular destinations such as Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Thailand and the USA as well as other non-European countries about the roaming charges they will need to pay abroad when they cross the border.
Roaming charges for calls to value-added services
Consumers may have to pay expensive roaming charges for calling special numbers and value-added services (such as travel hotlines or customer service helpdesks) from abroad. Calls to these numbers from other EU countries are not covered by the "roam like at home" rules.
Mobile operators must tell their customers when they cross the border into another EU country that they may have to pay roaming charges for calls to value-added services and must also say which numbering ranges may be affected.
Information and complaints
All key information and questions and answers about international roaming are available on the Bundesnetzagentur's consumer portal at www.bundesnetzagentur.de/faq-roaming (in German).
Consumers with complaints about non-compliance with the rules of the EU Roaming Regulation can contact the Bundesnetzagentur's consumer protection service at www.bundesnetzagentur.de/rlah#vs (in German).