Roaming MegaGuide

[EmilieT]

Yes! It’s that time of the year again where we dust off our suitcases, hunt out our holiday clothes and get ready to jet off to sunnier climates. Or a husky ride in Iceland, if that’s your thing. You have everything organised and now you just need to board that flight and relax. 

We want to make sure that you can relax by getting you up to speed with all the info you need for using your phone abroad – whether it’s to upload that amazing cocktail or mocktail to Instagram or check in at your hotel on Facebook, we’ve got you covered in this megathread.

If you’re off to one of our Europe Zones, forget about turning off roaming data when you get to the airport… Keep it on and go crazy!

Using your phone abroad

Have a look at the following guide one of our Community members has put together to give you an overview of international roaming and what it’s all about, and take a look at our top tips below. 

Using your phone in the EU

Nowadays, it’s just as easy using your phone in our Europe Zones as it is at home – no extra charges or costs and everything you use comes out of your usual text, call and data allowance.

We have a couple of guides from Community members that explain what you need to know:

EU roaming changes from 15th June 2017 - Pay Monthly

EU roaming changes from 15th June 2017 - Pay As You Go 

Don’t forget you can double check a specific country and which networks you can connect to right here. 

Travelling outside of the EU Zone? 

As we mentioned above, if you’re travelling outside our Europe Zone then O2 travel may be your best option. Please note that while O2 Travel is available to everyone, O2 Travel Inclusive only is for certain tariffs. Take a look at these two guides that will help you understand if it’s part of your existing tariff, or if you need to request it be added and check the costs:

• O2 contract with O2 Travel Inclusive
• Your guide on how to use O2 Travel

Other useful information 

Northern Cyprus and Turkey are not part of the Europe Zone, and do fall under the O2 Travel option. We have a bit more information right here: Roaming in Turkey or Cyprus.

Going on a Cruise? Or connecting to an Airline service? These aren’t covered through any of our roaming options and come with their own charges. Check out more information here - Cruise liners / Airline charges.

If you’re not going abroad, but rather, just looking to call someone who’s traveling or in another country, then take a look at the differences and useful information here International calling from UK versus roaming abroad.

Top Tips 

1. Check the country. We have a few different options and its really easy to find out the costs and networks you can use. Check them out here. 

Remember if you are travelling in our Europe Zone then you can use all of your allowances just like at home.

1. Check the tariff. Not in the Europe Zone? Don’t worry. Make sure you opt in to O2 Travel to help lower the cost. Check out which countries are included here.
2. Touch down. When you arrive and turn your phone on, you should get a message that welcomes you and outlines applicable roaming costs.
3. O2 Travel & O2 Travel Inclusive. These bolt-ons are activated by a sending a text, making or receiving a call or by using data. Even if you just send one SMS or click onto an App using data, this will trigger the activation for that day – it will then provide you with O2 Travel allowances up to midnight that day. 
4. O2 Travel Inclusive. With this, you will get 120 minutes, 120 texts and data for the day. This can be activated through the My O2 app or by texting O2TRAVEL to 23336. You can manage your usage via the My O2 app or website.
5. Charges. If you use up your daily allowance or are visiting a country that isn’t supported then you will be charged our standard roaming rates, which are £7.20 per MB of data (that can be used extremely quickly), £2 per minute for making or receiving a call, and 50p per text. You will not be charged for receiving a text.If you don’t want to incur any charges you can turn your Data Roaming off, switch off app updates and 4G calling. It’s always advisable to do this before you leave the UK. 
6. Text messages. If you see +447802000332 on your bill then don’t worry - this is the O2 Message centre number and is shown when sending messages.  
7. Data Roaming Cap. You can add on a data roaming cap so that you can limit the amount you can spend. The limit is set to £120 and if removed, you can go over this. There is also a lower limit of £48 that is automatically applied, unless this has been requested to be removed.

Community Specific information

If you want to get involved here are a few reasons why and how  

• 5 reasons to belong 
• How to register 
• Browsing the forum 
• Say hello to the community 
• Take a look at our positive feedback thread
• Off topic fun 

[Cleoriff]

Excellent guide @EmilieT 

If I had one thing to explain further, it would be O2 Travel and O2 Travel Inclusive.

O2 Travel is pretty much available to everyone, whereas O2 Travel Inclusive is ONLY available to customers with certain specific tariffs.

I would suggest that be made clear on the initial guide above if possible?

The information is also available on my guide here here Guide: Tips to avoid unexpected charges on your bill 

[Glory1]

Excellent guide @EmilieT and I agree with @Cleoriff about the additional information re O2 Travel and O2 Travel Inclusive, needing to be made clear.

Otherwise, it's a great addition to the travel information.

[jonsie]

Great guide and good to have ost things coered in one place

[EmilieT]

Good points @Cleoriff @Glory1, I've made some small amendments to clarify that

@jonsie With the holiday season being around the corner, we thought it might be useful to put all the great roaming community guides we have and pull them together! Hopefully it'll help some find the information they need ahead of their traels

[Cleoriff]

Looks really good @EmilieT . I agree it's great to have everything in one place

[pgn]

Inasmuch as travel has now been severely curtailed for the summer of 2020, I guess there may be many who are away from home if they have family living in the EU - so this information is very much needed! A great Guide, thank you. 

The first 3 [edited] x bullet points at the very end of the guide are broken though, resulting in this error for me this morning - if anybody else can verify so we can ask for them to be fixed 👍

[Cleoriff]

@pgn 

Only three broken for me.

5 Reasons to belong

How to register,

Browsing the forum

All the others work fine.

[pgn]

Yup, the first 3 here too, edited in the nick of time, thanks @Cleoriff 👍

[jonsie]

Why all the bother, O2 can't even fix the simple things. It will be a while before anyone can roam!