Roaming

[Arboleas]

Why did O2 feel it necessary to increase their charges so much on 15 June 2017?

Calls from O2 Classic PAYG, whilst roaming in Europe, were 4p/minute and texts 1p to any European Country up to and including 14 June 2017. Unfortunately, from 15 June, these charges were increased dramatically! Calls whilst roaming in Europe are now 5p back to the UK but £1.50/minute to any other European Country, including the one you're roaming in! And texts whilst roaming in Europe are now 5p back to the UK and 35p to any other European Country.

It seems O2 tricked customers with a generous interim roaming arrangement up to 15 June: many may now have a nasty shock! O2 are now one of the most expensive mobile operators!

[MI5]

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@Arboleas wrote:

Thank goodness for VOIP with call charges as low as $0.002/minute to ring landlines, and $0.012 to ring mobiles, in Europe from anywhere in the World.

A VOIP call to a mobile uses the mobile network for part of its transmission, so I wouldn't expect mobile charges to be much more than 200% of the VOIP costs.

I appreciate that mobile operators have more overheads, but does that really justify charges up to 16,000% greater than VOIP's for ringing other mobiles? And 80,000% greater for ringing landlines!

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As you are fully aware, this is only relevant to charges on the classic PAYG tariff and is completely irrelevant in the discussion here.

If you want to take advantage of using UK mins, texts and data you need a bundle, if you are such a low user that you don't top up your classic sim that often, the equivalent UK charges billed when abroad will be insignificant.

If you are somehow an exception to this, change to a big bundle tariff when travelling and change back when you get home.