O2 Travel Changes 7/4

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

I have been usng the free O2 Travel bolt on since 2016 as I travel to European countries quite often. I use it primarily to browse for when wifi is unattainable. I browse and I get charged £1.99 for the day. In terms of of making phone calls and text messages. If I text a UK number whilst in a European country I get charged 4p. So the overall current setup is:

"While travelling in Europe just pay a 50p connection charge to make and receive calls between European countries then talk for free for up to 60 mins. You'll pay just £1.99 for the days you use data in Europe & there’s no upper limit, but traffic management steps apply. £40 monthly spending limit for data outside Europe."

An email has been sent out from O2 stating changes to how O2 travel works. It now states that:

"From 7 th April 2016, we’ll be adding calls and texts sent back to the UK and within O2 Travel destinations, to the data you already get with our O2 Travel Bolt On. This will give you data, up to 120 minutes and 120 standard texts, per daily charge within selected destinations in Europe. With O2 Travel you’ll only be charged for the days that you use it."

My udnerstanding is that from 7/4 if I am in a European country and I text a UK number, rather than being charged 4p like I used to be, I will be charged £1.99.  Is this correct? I appreciate they are saying you can send up to 120 messages and still get charged £1.99 but I never send 120 messages. I usually send just a couple. By this logic, the £1.99  charged that was activated only when you used data, will now also be activated by sending a text message. If I send one text per day for 3 days I will end up paying £5.99? 

Can someone please verify tell me if I have misunderstood the change?

Thank you.

PS: I am not asking to be told about the different options to circumvent sending a text.. I just want to know that I have understood the changes correctly.

[MI5]

It'll be interesting to see what you get speed wise.
I think the fact that it is unlimited on o2 travel means it will be heavily throttled to discourage use for streaming etc.

[darrengf]

Also here is o2 Traffic Management Policy

http://static.o2.co.uk/www/docs/kana/traffic_management.pdf

Roaming abroad O2 Travel customers who exceed 50Mb per day will experience limited throughput for web browsing, e-mail, social networking, video and VPN services, which may slow these services down. O2 Travel customers’ who use Peer to Peer, file transfer, network storage or gaming applications or services whilst roaming abroad, will be provided with limited throughput which will slow these services down.

[jonsie]

Let's hope O2 make an official announcement quickly. It beggars belief that admin have been trying to get us information yet figures are being published in the media. You would think their own staff would be the first to know but it seems apathy is rampant throughout the company these days.

Thanks for your research @darrengf

[bexinthecity]

Is the data allowance on the o2 travel the same as your normal amount? I.e I get 10gb a month - if I spend £1.99 can I use up to 10gb in one day when I go abroad. (Never actually going to use that much in a week let alone a day but just for arguments sake). I see above the cap is 50mb and then it slows down. Ideally I'm going to want it for mapping, looking up train timetables and whatsapping etc.

[jonsie]

O2 Travel has nothing to do with your normal allowance, that is for use in the UK only

You are able to use Call/text allowances using TU over wifi if you are a contract customer but data is charged at £1.99/day which includes calls and texts.

[bexinthecity]

But I'm trying to figure out what the data limit is.

[MI5]

Data is unlimited if you opt in or charged per mb if you opt out.

[bexinthecity]

Ohh okay - that's what I wanted to know - thank you

[darrengf]

O2 have updated there own business page with new rates now. 

http://www.o2.co.uk/business/products/international-business/going-abroad/call-and-data-costs-while-...

but still nothing on Consumer. I'll PM Toby for help

[MI5]

Still waiting for consumer tariff info I guess....?