Three follows Vodafone and EE in bringing back mobile roaming charges in Europe

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Three has followed Vodafone and EE and become, ironically, the third UK mobile phone company to bring back roaming charges in Europe.

We covered EE’s introduction of roaming charges here and Vodafone’s introduction of roaming charges here.

From 23rd May 2022, Three will charge to use your existing minutes and data allowance in Europe. This applies to contracts signed or upgraded from 1st October 2021, so if you sit tight on your current deal you will not be impacted.

The changes are outlined on the Three website here in a press release which states that “there are now too many unknowns” to continue offering it for free. This is despite the fact that Three offered free roaming in many countries in Europe and worldwide before the EU directive ever came into affect.

A lot of Three’s customers will have joined the network in order to enjoy free roaming despite the shaky mobile signal in many parts of the UK.. Now that the benefit is being scrapped many are likely to look at other networks which have better UK coverage.

The new charges will be:

£2 per day in the EU (the same as EE and Vodafone will charge, by amazing coincidence)
£5 per day outside the EU

It is worth noting that EE and Vodafone will begin charging in January, so Three customers get an additional four months of free roaming.

‘Pay As You Go’ customers are not impacted by this change.

If you are currently under contract with Three, you will not pay until after your next contract renewal. Any contracts renewed during September will continue to include free roaming after 22nd May where it is a published benefit – it will only be added to the T&C on contracts issued from 1st October.

Three Brexit Bus — That didn’t last long – “if the law changes we’ll give you free EU roaming just the same”…

Don’t believe what you read on buses…

O2 – the remaining holdout – has said that it has no plans to reintroduce roaming charge. It is introducing a ‘fair use’ cap of 25GB per month in the EU, with additional charges for any usage above this level.

Under the Brexit trade agreement, it was stated that the UK and EU would “co-operate on promoting transparent and reasonable rates” for mobile charges but no guarantees were made on roaming charges. At the time, the four major UK mobile networks said that they had no intention to introduce roaming charges which may have influenced the Government in deciding not to push for including it in law.

You can read more on the Three website here.

Category

General

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

P Costa says:

9 Sep9 September 14:29

I literally
Just moved from Vodafone to Three, partly for the roaming but mostly for the Tube Wi-fi. Turns out that the new PAYG offers at Three don’t include tube Wi-fi, so I reported them to the ASA. Now this comes along, there’s not a single reason to put up with their poor U.K. network. Off to BT I go.
Harry T says:

9 Sep9 September 14:50

Good old #brexitbonus
- kk says:
  
  10 Sep10 September 03:22
  
  i thought some druggie called that fearmongering
Graham Walsh says:

9 Sep9 September 14:51

Three Roaming was the biggest catch for me for being with them 10+ years. USA and Europe was good. Service was crap and 3G at best, YouTube streaming hardly worked as it was throttled. Contract is up next month, very timely for a Black Friday deal in November I reckon.
John says:

9 Sep9 September 14:59

This was all an entirely predictable outcome of Brexit (indeed, it *was* predicted by many), and I’d expect O2 to follow suit in their own time. Bit of a shame really, just another small inconvenience / extra expense to have to deal with when travelling.
- Will says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 15:37
  
  I suspect o2 will follow on however it does create a rather appealing USP for their network if they do continue it.
Brighton Belle says:

9 Sep9 September 15:00

Using Three in USA saved oodles. With US roaming terminated what’s the alternative?
- J says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 15:07
  
  It sounds like the 3 data sims will still allow free roaming (for now), so that’s easy if you have a second sim slot.
- lumma says:
  
  10 Sep10 September 13:22
  
  O2’s higher priced SIM only deals have extra destinations included, including the USA
MW says:

9 Sep9 September 15:04

Three roaming and unlimited everything plans are the only reason why I am with them since can hardly get any decent coverage where I live (SW London)
ChrisA says:

9 Sep9 September 16:09

Well that was slightly bizarre timing. Two minutes ago I activated a SIM from Smarty, who use 3, drawing to an end a 19 year ‘relationship’ with Vodafone. Then I read this. Perhaps Smarty will also introduce the charge, but the fact that the SIM only deal I needed was 40% cheaper than Vodafone’s best offering will still mean I hopefully made the correct financial decision.
Richie says:

9 Sep9 September 16:17

If your contract with three ends soon, say late October, can you leave early, pay the penalty, go somewhere else then go back to three on a 24mth contract before 1st October?
- Toby says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 17:39
  
  Yes. But, I’d also just call/chat them and ask to go on a 24 month contract. Bet they’ll be delighted.
  
  My contract with them expires in a few days so am going to lock in a 24 month SIM only then. However, my online account allows me to upgrade right away.