topic Re: Data in Europe Zone on PAYG Classic in Pay As You Go

Data in Europe Zone on PAYG Classic

Exazet — Sun, 30 Apr 2023 08:29:13 GMT

I might be taking a cruise holiday in the near future. The countries on the itinerary would all be in O2's Europe Zone and I'm on the PAYG Classic tariff. The "Roaming with PAYG" section in this helpful post indicates that any outgoing calls & texts will just be charged as if I were in the UK with no charges for incoming calls, which is great. The one thing I'm likely to want though is data, and I can't see from that post what data charges would be. Is it the same 1p/MB as I'd pay in the UK, and are there any data bundles available for PAYG Classic? Alternatively, would it be possible (and cost-effective) to use a separate data SIM in my phone's second slot?

Another thought: what happens if I use my phone while at sea (if it's even possible)? Presumably it would be considered within the Europe Zone out to 12nm from the coast of a Europe Zone member but is it ROW outside that, even when within the exclusive economic zone?

Re: Data in Europe Zone on PAYG Classic

Enlli — Sun, 30 Apr 2023 09:11:32 GMT

If you use the phone at sea and are on the ships system, be prepared to take out a mortgage

Also be careful around Greece Turkey and Cyprus

Not sure of data charges

Re: Data in Europe Zone on PAYG Classic

pgn — Sun, 30 Apr 2023 10:30:56 GMT

The PAYG Classic tariff is an old one, no longer available.

https://www.o2.co.uk/termsandconditions/archive/mobile/classic-pay-as-you-go-terms-and-conditions shows costs in the Europe Zone.

You could look at switching to a big bundle tariff and you would be able to use your phone in most of the European countries, with the caveats pointed out by @Enlli above, as you do at home, up to the limits shown in this for latest info.

Note https://www.o2.co.uk/help/pay-as-you-go/big-bundles

And https://www.o2.co.uk/international/calling-abroad-pay-as-you-go

Good luck, @Exazet.

Re: Data in Europe Zone on PAYG Classic

MI5 — Sun, 30 Apr 2023 10:19:23 GMT

@Exazet

Your costs in any EU zone are exactly as at home for everything.

I'd advise to keep phone off whilst on board the ship.

Re: Data in Europe Zone on PAYG Classic

Exazet — Mon, 01 May 2023 11:46:07 GMT

@Enlli I was surprised to hear that phones might be usable on a ship at all, but I guess it's not surprising that it's very expensive.

Re: Data in Europe Zone on PAYG Classic

Exazet — Mon, 01 May 2023 11:49:02 GMT

@pgn Thanks for the suggestions but the PAYG Classic tariff suits my usage (almost nil) extremely well. I don't want to lose it.

Re: Data in Europe Zone on PAYG Classic

Exazet — Mon, 01 May 2023 11:50:03 GMT

@MI5 Thanks for the link, interesting stuff. I don't want to switch my phone off completely because it's my camera, my watch and alarm clock etc. but I can put it in flight mode. Just to clarify though, if I forget to turn off or use flight mode would I be hit with charges even if I don't use it? Clearly if I make/receive calls or send texts I would expect to pay, but if I avoid that and mobile data is off?

I gather the ship has WiFi, which is no doubt very expensive too since it will all be going via satellite. Don't know if it's used for access to on-board services, must try to check before setting off.

Re: Data in Europe Zone on PAYG Classic

MI5 — Mon, 01 May 2023 19:25:58 GMT

@Exazet

Your phone will try and use data (assuming it's a smartphone) so definitely need to keep data and data roaming off if you forget to use airplane mode.

Re: Data in Europe Zone on PAYG Classic

Exazet — Tue, 02 May 2023 09:09:19 GMT

Yes, it's a smartphone. In normal (UK) usage IIUC it would only be able to use data if I consciously mobile data or consciously connect to a WiFi hotspot. Does it behave differently when abroad or onboard a ship with a satellite-backed service? Apologies if these are daft questions, I really have very little idea of what "roaming" actually is and how things behave when it's enabled/disabled.

Re: Data in Europe Zone on PAYG Classic

MI5 — Tue, 02 May 2023 09:12:06 GMT

@Exazet

Your phone will work the same way when roaming as it does in UK.

The point of safety is to make sure data connections are off if not in use to prevent the phone connecting automatically without your knowledge and racking up charges unintentionally.

Re: Data in Europe Zone on PAYG Classic

Exazet — Tue, 02 May 2023 09:17:56 GMT

OK, thanks.

Re: Data in Europe Zone on PAYG Classic

Exazet — Wed, 24 May 2023 07:11:57 GMT

Recently back from the cruise that was the subject of this thread so I thought I'd add a few comments of what I actually experienced.

The ship had an local web site (it referred to it as an 'app' but it was actually just a web site) for accessing details about restaurants, menus, entertainment schedules, excursions, safety procedures etc. and also for raising questions or reporting problems. That was accessed via the ship's Wi-Fi network, for which there was no charge (but no internet connection, naturally). Turning off Wi-Fi would prevent access to that, so not really an option.

When entering coverage of different countries there was often a text message from O2Roaming announcing the fact and outlining the tariff e.g. "Welcome to GREECE. Calls to the UK and within our Europe Zone are charged at the same rate as your UK tariff". That didn't seem to happen in every region though: Albania was announced when just sailing past its coastline, and Montenegro when we moored there, but no announcement from the Europe Zone countries visited in between (Italy, Slovenia or Croatia) - no idea why not.

There were occasions when my phone reported that the available carrier was a satellite-based system ("GLOBAL NETWORKS" or "ship's mobile network") but as far as I could tell it never attempted to make any data connections without an explicit request. I just kept Wi-Fi ON most of the time, and mobile data OFF except when in port or ashore in a Europe Area country but it was rarely needed - Wi-Fi was available to customers at nearly all restaurants, cafes and bars anyway, and even as a free general (though patchy) service by some towns organisations.

Hope that might be of some use or interest to anyone doing something similar in future.

Re: Data in Europe Zone on PAYG Classic

gmarkj — Wed, 24 May 2023 07:27:37 GMT

Thanks for the update @Exazet

Might be worth keeping an eye on your bill for the next 2 cycles in case any additional charges get posted late (which does happen - o2 depend on the other network sending them details about the charges).

As for the Albania and Montenegro notifications - they will be from your phone making a connection to the network even if for a brief time!

Not sure why nothing came through for the rest though...

Re: Data in Europe Zone on PAYG Classic

Exazet — Wed, 24 May 2023 08:06:22 GMT

I'm on PAYG so AFAIAA I don't have cycles but I'll try to keep an eye on my balance to see if anything unexpected happens. If they clear out the entire fiver I'll just have to accept the financial ruin.

Understood about the notifications being prompted by even a brief presence in their coverage, it's the absence of notifications from the others that I found surprising. Not something I'll lose sleep over though.