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. 
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There are many different questions on this thread alone @Martin-O2..
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Thanks @Cleoriff I'll go through the thread once more to make sure everything is covered.
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As I said earlier I think the announcement was made before all staff were fully trained in the changes which has always been the case with o2. Customers shouldn't have to come on the community for answers.
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@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks @Martin-O2, your info (item 217 in this thread!!!) does indeed give some clarity at last. Not good for those of us who only need one or two calls or texts to get through a day 'roaming' in Europe. For us it will cost £1.99 for that first text.
I've just been through a lengthy set of calls to Customer Service who say they don't know about this. However, I finally got a Guru who explained that if I cancel the (free) O2 Travel bolt-on, I will just get charged 4.8p per text (same cost as now within the 'bundle'). Same will go for calls. This is presumably what you mean by the NOTRAVEL text number you mentioned. The Guru tells me this will definitely avoid the £1.99 daily bundle charge for just the odd text or call.
He also tells me that if I do need data, I should re-activate the O2 travel bundle to benefit from the the £1.99 rate for that day as the charge otherwise is a whopping 17.2p per MB.
Really "Null points" for the marketing department failing to explain this properly and for it to still be unclear more than a week after starting to put out texts. I hope my Guru is correct!!
I appreciate the feedback @Anonymous I will be collecting thoughts on this issue to pass up the chain. If you take a look at the accepted solution on this thread you can get a good understanding on how these changes will affect both light and heavy users.
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No worries @Anonymous If your unsure on anything else drop me an @ mention.
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@Martin-O2 wrote:
Just to add to @PhoneDoc's answer you can read the official statement below.
O2 Travel is changing for the better ...
- The new proposition change means that customers can have peace of mind over their spend – knowing that they won’t be charged more than £1.99 a day for using their phone ...
- Our customers have told us that they wanted a fixed price so they could use their phone as normal abroad without needing to constantly add up and worry about the cost ...
- The new proposition aims to make customers feel less restricted re using their phone abroad ...
Harrumph.
This must be O2's submission to the Oxford English Dictionary for a new definition of disingenuous !
a) I don't get peace of mind knowing that I could incur a charge of £28 during a fortnight holiday (double that when my partner's phone in included).
b) I never asked for a fixed price.
c) I don't feel "less restricted" ... I feel much more restricted now !
To expand on "c". Under this new regime I dare not use my phone for a single one second call (or accidental hit on a voicemail) or SMS without triggering a "huge" out of all proportion £1.99.
Yes, I know that the answer is to opt out of Travel, but it's pretty counter intuitive to have to disable an option called "Travel" when you are travelling in order to save money 
I think that they should have binned the old O2 Travel (cancelling everyone) and then introduced a new option for "heavy international users" or somesuch. I'm sure they have highly paid professionals to come up with a better name. A "Lite" option could also have been created, perhaps similar to the old "50p per call" of the legacy Travel bolt on.
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@GrahamW I must admit as a frequent traveller but low user I feel you make very valid points. I am lucky enough to have an apartment with Wifi and also use Tugo so it won't affect me too much. However, I will have to curb my enthusiam for sending spontanous texts and making calls until I am back within range of WiFi......
It suits some people. It wont suit all ...
