on 17-03-2022 09:35 - last edited on 16-11-2023 14:55 by Dave-O2
For many of us, we've not had a holiday outside the UK for a couple of years now - or possibly even longer. In that time a lot has changed, but the good news is that O2 is the only major network that isn't bringing back EU roaming charges. Up to 25GB.
So, if you're thinking of going on holiday or a trip to one of our Europe Zone destinations, you'll be able to roam freely just like if you were at home. This thread will give you all the info you need to ensure you're fully informed on allowances, costs, options, and what to expect when you travel abroad, even if it's outside of Europe.
Oct 2022 Update: We have a new roaming page here that makes it easier than ever to check your destination to see if O2 Travel is available or to check costs for roaming in that country. Check it out here.
Great news! We cover roaming in our Europe Zone as part of our Tariffs. So your data, minutes and text allowances will work in our Europe Zone, just like they do at home.
Destinations included in our Europe Zone
The below is for reference only, and is correct as of 16 March 2022. Please refer to our website for the most up-to-date list.
Austria | Azores | Belgium |
Bulgaria | Canary Islands | Croatia |
Cyprus* | Czech Republic | Denmark |
Estonia | Finland | France |
French Guiana | Germany | Gibraltar |
Greece | Guadeloupe | Guernsey |
Hungary | Iceland | Ireland |
Isle of Man | Italy | Jersey |
Latvia | Liechtenstein | Lithuania |
Luxembourg | Madeira | Malta |
Martinique | Mayotte | Monaco |
Netherlands | Norway | Poland |
Portugal | Reunion | Romania |
Saint Barthelemy | Saint Martin | San Marino |
Slovakia | Slovenia | Spain |
Sweden | Switzerland | United Kingdom |
Vatican City |
* Not including Northern Cyprus
Tariffs with more than 25GB of monthly data
If your UK monthly data allowance is over 25GB, you’ll have a Roaming Limit of 25GB when roaming in our Europe Zone. This means you can use up to 25GB of your allowance at no extra cost- we’ll text you if you’re getting close to the limit, and again if you reach it. You can still use data if you reach our Roaming Limit, but you’ll be charged £3.50/GB.
These charges will apply until the following (depending on which is earliest);
**If you use all your UK data allowance when roaming outside the UK, you’ll need to buy a data Bolt On if you want to keep using data. See our data Bolt Ons here.
Tariffs with 25GB or less of monthly data
These tariffs are not subject to our Roaming Limit of 25GB. But if you use all your UK data allowance when roaming outside in the UK, you’ll need to buy a data Bolt On if you want to keep using data. See our data Bolt Ons here.
We want going on holidays or roaming abroad to be as stress-free as possible, but we do have some rules in place to prevent abuse and ensure as many of our customers can enjoy uninterrupted access while abroad as possible.
Permanent Roaming
Using our services in our Europe Zone for more than 63 days in any four-month period is what we consider to be unfair use. If you do this we’ll send you a fair usage notification by text. If you continue to use these services after we’ve notified you, we’ll apply surcharges for further usage that we recognise as overage.
These surcharges are £3.50 per GB for data, 3.3p per minute for calls and 1p per text. The surcharges will appear on your next month’s bill. We’ll stop applying surcharges to your European Zone usage once the majority of your usage over the previous four months has been in the UK.
What options do I have?
You can continue to use your phone in our Europe Zone, but you should be aware that usage will be charged at the rates given above. For example, if you use 1GB of data and 100 texts after receiving the notification, you’ll be charged an extra £4.50 - that’s £3.50 for the data and £1 for the texts.
If you find yourself living in the EU for a long period of time, it may be more cost-effective for you to buy a local sim card or take out a contract with a local network.
If this has happened to you and you think it might be a mistake, call 202 from your mobile or 0344 809 0202 from any other phone.
Use of our services in our Europe Zone is subject to our fair usage policy.
What's not included?
Good news, our O2 Travel Inclusive Zone Bolt On is now included with selected O2 Refresh tariffs over 90GB and SIM only tariffs over 100GB. You can also select the O2 Travel Inclusive Zone Bolt On as your Extra if your O2 Refresh tariff is between 30GB and 89GB.
With our O2 Travel Inclusive Zone Bolt On, you get a daily allowance of 120 calls, 120 minutes and data roaming in 27 additional destinations (our Inclusive Zone) including USA, Australia and New Zealand. You you can find all of the the included destinations here.
Destinations included in our Travel Inclusive Zone
The below is for reference only, and is correct as of 16 March 2022. Please refer to our website for the most up-to-date list.
Argentina | Honduras |
Australia | Madagascar |
Botswana | Mexico |
Canada | Myanmar |
Chile | New Zealand |
Colombia | Nicaragua |
Costa Rica | Panama |
Ecuador | Paraguay |
El Salvador | Peru |
Greenland | Rwanda |
Guatemala | United States |
Guinea | Uruguay |
Guyana | Venezuela |
Yemen |
If you go over your allowance, you’ll pay the standard international roaming rates for the country you’re roaming in. See rates for your destination
Calling from the USA
From 2023, you’ll be unable to use your UK mobile phone to make regular calls when visiting the USA because of changes to their mobile networks. However, you’ll be able to use your phone to make calls using the 4G network – provided you have a compatible phone.
Follow the steps listed here to check whether your phone is compatible, or you can find a list of compatible devices if you go here and click the link shown in the screenshot below the most up-to-date compatibility list.
If the device you have isn't compatible with 4G roaming, then you will be unable to make and receive calls when you're roaming in the USA. This down to USA network technology changes rather than anything on our side, or that O2 is in control of.
You can still get our full O2 Travel Bolt On for £6 a day in selected destinations. Your data allowance will reset at midnight every night and you will only be charged for the days you use it.
If you go over your O2 Travel daily 120 minute/text allowance, you will be charged standard rates. Cruise ship travel is not included in this Bolt On and your O2 Travel Bolt On cannot be used in the UK.
To UK | To our Europe Zone | To Rest of World | |
---|---|---|---|
From our Europe Zone | Included in your allowance | Included in your allowance | Making calls £1.79min Receiving calls free Sending texts 50p |
From Rest of World | Making calls £2min Receiving calls £2min Sending texts 50p Using data £7.20/MB |
Making calls £2min Receiving calls £2min Sending texts 50p Using data £7.20/MB |
Making calls £2min Receiving calls £2min Sending texts 50p Using data £7.20/MB |
If you're travelling in our Europe Zone, use your phone like you do at home, at no extra cost, on Pay As You Go plans. There are over 40 countries included in our Europe Zone. When travelling within any of these countries, you can make calls and texts like you would in the UK. You can also receive calls and texts at no extra cost.
Calling or texting premium rate, directory service and some non-geographical numbers will incur additional charges. If you are using your Pay As You Go or Big Bundle plan abroad for an extended period, beyond a holiday or short break, you could be charged or suspended from your service.
If you're travelling to Monaco, Jersey, Isle of Man, Guernsey or Switzerland (MJIGS, in the table below), you can stay connected with O2 Travel Pay As You Go. For £1.99 a day, you'll get 100MB data. Calls back to the UK and within these five countries cost 4p a minute. Texts sent to the UK and the five countries included cost 1p, but are free to receive.
To UK | To Europe Zone | To MJIGS 1 | To ROW 2 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
From Europe Zone | RLH | RLH | 4p/min (MO) 1p/text |
£1.79/min (MO) 25p/text |
From MJIGS | 4p/min (MO) 1p/text |
4p/min (MO) 1p/text |
4p/min (MO) 1p/text |
£1.79/min (MO) 25p/text |
From ROW | £2.00/min (MO/MT) 50p/text £7.20/MB (CUK) |
£2.00/min (MO/MT) 50p/text £7.20/MB (CUK) |
£2.00/min (MO/MT) 50p/text £7.20/MB (CUK) |
£2.00/min (MO/MT) 50p/text £7.20/MB (CUK) |
We know there's a lot of information covered above, so we have this section that acts as a sort of summary, along with some useful tips and tricks you should check before leaving the UK.
If for any reason you're unclear or unsure about any of the above, just let us know or get in touch with us over the phone, or you can also contact us on our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram page and we'd be happy to help.
Bon Voyage! 🏖
on 18-01-2024 12:31
Am I correct that the 4 month rolling period is 120 days? How can I find out how many days I have been roaming for? If I am in Europe with my phone and I do not make a call send a text or use data during a day is that counted? What if I recieve a text message or a call - does that count as a day? I am happy to abide by the fair use policy, but I need to know where I am with it.
on 18-01-2024 12:44
on 18-01-2024 12:44
T&C's here https://www.o2.co.uk/termsandconditions/mobile/roamfairuse
on 23-01-2024 11:49
still mystified by roaming Europe with various contracts. We ve just returned from 2 weeks in Madeira and canaries and afaik I havent been charged and also received the usual 'welcome to Portugal and roaming will not be charged' txt. However before leaving for the holiday I had seen that monthly sim only contracts (which is what I have) were not eligible for included roaming. Naturally I m happy to have benefitted from included roaming, but I still wondered actually what are the inclusions for the various sim only contracts, as all the info I could find said that roaming wasn't included?
on 23-01-2024 11:52
Everyone, regardless of type of contract, gets free included EU roaming.
https://www.o2.co.uk/eu-roaming
on 15-03-2024 09:03
Hi there - I have just bought a 1gb 'Data Roaming Zone 1' and it has been confirmed by text. I waited over an hour on the phone to buy this as it would not let me purchase on My O2. Can someone confirm if this will work in Georgia (the country)?
on 15-03-2024 09:18
The following will work in Georgia.
If you’re on our new billing system, you’ll be able to buy one of our data roaming bundles. We’ll send you a link when you land, or you can buy one in My O2 before you travel.
100MB | £26 |
500MB | £45 |
1GB | £65 |
on 14-06-2024 15:15
My son has just arrived in Bulgaria and his data isn't working. He has a 5G symbol on his phone why can't he access data?
on 14-06-2024 15:45
on 14-06-2024 15:45
@Graham14 wrote:My son has just arrived in Bulgaria and his data isn't working. He has a 5G symbol on his phone why can't he access data?
Check Roaming Data is enabled on the phone.
Check idata is enabled on the account if an iPhone user, or change the data APN to "mobile.o2.co.uk"
Manually search for another network.
A network showing as Forbidden in a Manual Search can be used fine when roaming.
Reboot the phone.
Sometime turning off 5g in network settings can help the phone latch onto a Roaming partner network.
If still not working then contact O2 to remove the Roaming bar on the account.
Message O2 on Facebook ( https://o2uk.co/O2CFB) , Twitter ( https://o2uk.co/O2CTW) or Instagram ( https://o2uk.co/O2CIG) , they should be able to help with this.
Good luck @Graham14
on 14-06-2024 15:45
on 14-06-2024 15:45
Ask your son to change the network bands to 4G as there wont be any 5G roaming agreements in places, and I know from experience there isnt in Bulgaria ..
on 15-06-2024 12:04
on 15-06-2024 12:04
Thanks Don. The APN change has fixed it. Cheers Graham