Use your UK bundles in Europe!

[Martin-O2]

Hi everyone, 

We have some great news regarding roaming in Europe.

from 15 June customers on O2’s Pay Monthly, Pay As You Go and Business tariffs will be able to use their inclusive allowances while travelling in Europe. So while the weather will hopefully be different to the UK, using their phone won’t be. And to celebrate, three lucky people will have the chance to win a weekend break to a European destination.

O2 customers don’t need to do anything to take advantage of the changes. Instead, from Thursday 15 June they’ll simply be able to make and receive calls and texts to anyone in O2’s Europe Zone and use their data allowance too. If they need extra data while they’re abroad, O2 customers will be able to add a Bolt On just like they can at home – they’ll be able to use any leftover data when they return too.

To help get people in to the holiday spirit, O2 is giving away three weekend breaks to a European destination and full details will be announced through its social media channels later today. Each break is for two people and includes flights, accommodation and £500 spending money. For more info on this giveaway check out the terms and conditions here 

O2’s Europe Zone covers 47 countries for Pay Monthly and Business customers. These are: Austria, Azores, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, French Guiana, Germany, Gibraltar (UK), Greece, Guadeloupe, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madeira, Malta, Martinique, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Reunion Islands, Romania, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin (French), San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands and Vatican City. Destinations outside the EU/EEA are also included – Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Monaco and Switzerland.

For Pay As You Go customers Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Monaco and Switzerland aren’t included in O2’s Europe Zone. Customers can still access these destinations at O2’s standard European rates or via the O2 Travel Bolt On. Pay As You Go £30 Big Bundle customers can use up to 10GB of their 20GB data allowance.

• From 15 June, O2 customers can use their inclusive calls, texts and data bundles when travelling to Europe at no extra cost.

• O2’s Europe Zone for Pay Monthly and Business customers covers 47 countries including Jersey, Guernsey and Switzerland.

• A chance to win one of three European weekend trips for two people in June, July and August including flights, accommodation and £500 spending money

O2 will be texting its customers about the changes from 15 May. For more information, including all the applicable terms and conditions see below.

Pay Monthly terms and conditions

Pay As You Go terms and conditions

If you have any questions about the roaming changes please ask 

[MI5]

Far too confusing for my tiny brain. I never knew I lived in a component, always thought it was a country.
Anyway, I'm still not concerned by it as I doubt there is much difference between the country's or components included by the networks and I certainly wouldn't  base any choice on whether the were 47 or 50 of them included as I would be spending the vast majority of the time in my home component where it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference.
Out of interest, have you have any response from ofcom about it?

[NFH]

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@MI5 wrote:

Out of interest, have you have any response from ofcom about it?

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Ofcom took a small interest, but believe it is a matter for the Advertising Standards Authority. You can submit a complaint at:

https://www.asa.org.uk/make-a-complaint.html

But please make it clear that you are complaining about only about the headline figure of 47 countries, which is factually incorrect, having been misleadingly calculated. Listing regions or islands, without double-counting them as countries in the headline total, is not misleading.

[Sparkybradley]

how will the o2 travel bolt on be affected do i need to cancel it ?

[MI5]

No as the travel bolt on will still apply outside of the EU.

[darrengf]

Is ofcom going to do anything about it.  Me it think it's easier as like I said people go to Canary Islands and don't think of it as Spain.  I'm sure by now that the ASA would have done something, it's been like this as long as I've had a mobile phone and all the networks do it.

like I said the eu networks say you can roam in the England, Scotland, Wales and Norther Ireland.  So even they list it as 4.

Im not sure of the harm, but I may be missing the point.  I do understand where you are coming from.

[NFH]

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@darrengf wrote:

people go to Canary Islands and don't think of it as Spain.  I'm sure by now that the ASA would have done something, it's been like this as long as I've had a mobile phone and all the networks do it.

like I said the eu networks say you can roam in the England, Scotland, Wales and Norther Ireland.  So even they list it as 4.

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@darrengf  - Nobody goes to the Canary Islands without realising that they're in Spain. I'm in the Canary Islands now, and it is blatantly obvious that it's Spain. The only difference from other parts of Spain is the lower VAT as the Canary Islands are outside the EU VAT area but inside the EU, just like Gibraltar, Ceuta, Melilla, Åland Islands, Livigno, French overseas departments, Heligoland, Büsingen am Hochrhein etc.

The ASA has not yet done acted because the headline figures of total countries and destinations advertised by UK networks have become prevalent only in the last few weeks.

Nearly all networks in other EU countries list the UK as one country, not as four.

[iphone4sir]

If only they would give us 4G. O2 travel abroad is useless with 3G - clearly throttled. If I can 'take my plan abroad' I want to have that flexibility. Moving to Vodaphone in Septermber who give you 4G abroad with your UK data allowance, shame as I've been with 02 for 13 years but they just won't move with the times.

[MI5]

Many feel the same.

[NFH]

All four primary UK networks are misleadingly inflating their total number of destinations. Even Three, which had previously played this fairly, has now joined in:

Note:

• Three has not yet disclosed all of its new destinations, but has published a figure of "60 destinations".
• Vodafone mistakenly includes the Faroe Islands within Denmark, deflating its published total by 1.

There are 227 inhabited Greek islands. If O2 counted these as well as Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily, it could inflate its total to a whopping "278 countries"! Whether O2 takes it to this extreme or counts only 12 bogus countries, it is nevertheless misleading consumers.

[MI5]

I just watched the Three commercial on TV and it states "60 Destinations" (not countries) and lists them here http://www.three.co.uk/feel-at-home