THOUSANDS of VOXI customers will see a major shake up to their mobile plans from TODAY following an announcement by Vodafone.
The network provider has introduced new charges affecting how customers use their phones abroad.
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VOXI is a Vodafone brand, and its customer will now be affected by changes to roaming charges that are coming in to play.
From today, if you want to keep using your mobile plan while travelling to the continent, you’ll need to buy a European Roaming Pass.
VOXI told the Sun that customers who don’t buy a pass won’t be able to access their data at all.
The pass will cost £2 a day – or £1 a day if you purchase an eight or 15-day pass.
Crucially, the length of your pass will count down from the date you buy it, not from when it’s first used.
That means customers should buy the pass as close to the travel date as possible.
Previously, roaming in the EU was free, but this changed after Brexit when mobile phone operators could choose whether to charge for using texts, minutes and data when you’re in Europe.
Alongside these new charges, the same “fair use” policy applies as before, which limits the amount of data you can use while roaming to 20GB.
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And it still stands that VOXI Endless Social and Video Passes will only apply in the UK, so this usage will not be included in the roaming allowance.
Some of the eligible countries in VOXI’s European Roaming Zones include Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland and Spain.
The full list of countries included in the zone is:
- Austria
- Azores
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Canary Islands
- Channel Islands
- Croatia, Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark (including Faroe Islands)
- Estonia
- Finland
- France (including Corsica)
- French Guiana
- Germany
- Gibraltar
- Greece
- Guadeloupe
- Guernsey
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Isle of Man
- Italy (including Vatican City)
- Jersey
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Madeira
- Malta
- Martinique
- Mayotte
- Monaco
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Reunion
- Romania
- Saint Martin
- San Marino
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain (including Balearic Islands)
- Sweden
- Switzerland
If you want to avoid paying roaming charges without switching mobile networks, you can simply turn off your data roaming on your smartphone.
To do this, go to the settings app and switch the data roaming toggle off before you leave the UK to avoid any unexpected costs.
Not all companies are introducing roaming charges – here’s a breakdown of some other policies.
Automatic roaming charges
EE will also charge certain customers for data roaming abroad.
So using the minutes, texts and data in the EU and EEA is no longer included in your plan allowance.
Though customers on a pay monthly plan whose contract started before July 7, 2021, will not be affected by these changes.
Those who are affected will be charged £2 a day to use their data abroad, which came into effect in March this year.
EE says you don’t need to opt in to use data abroad.
If you use your allowances, you’ll be charged £2 for that day, and if you don’t, you won’t be charged anything.
You can read more about EE’s charges on its website.
Capped free roaming
Other providers such as O2, BT Mobile and GiffGaff allow customers a certain amount of data usage abroad at no cost, but it’s capped.
O2’s Travel Inclusive Zone Bolt On is available on selected O2 Refresh and SIM only tariffs, and provides inclusive data roaming in 27 international destinations at no cost.
But its website says you’ll get a daily allowance of unlimited minutes and texts, and data is capped at 25GB when you roam in a Europe Zone.
The full list of countries in the inclusive zones list is:
- 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
With BT Mobile’s Roam Like Home policy, customers can use their UK calls, texts and data abroad in 47 destinations without paying extra roaming charges, capped at 50GB.
Customers can find out more information here.
And GiffGaff customers are entitled to use their plans like normal when in Europe at no extra cost too, up to a limit of 20GB.
Free roaming
Big providers like Virgin Mobile, Sky Mobile, Plusnet and Tesco Mobile all still offer free roaming in EU countries, under certain conditions.
With Virgin’s Roam Like Home policy, you can use your UK allowance of minutes, texts and data in Europe, just as you would at home.
Though this is subject to fair use, similar to VOXI.
Check out the full policy on Virgin’s website.
Sky mobile customers can also make the most of their data usage abroad with Sky’s Roaming Passport.
This allows Sky Mobile users to roam in over 30 EU and EEA destinations at no extra cost.
Also, those with a Roaming Passport Plus can access their plan in 12 “far-away” holiday destinations for £6 a country for 24 hours.
Though Sky Mobile has announced it will be slashing this £6 cost to just £2 on May 3 for 24 hours only, which is next week.
Plusnet customers can make use of its Roam Like At Home policy that means plans can be used in any of its selected destinations no differently to in the UK, at no extra cost.
Check Plusnet’s website for a full list of included travel locations.
And Tesco Mobile users can make the most of its Home From Home policy which allows free usage in EU countries at no extra cost.
But it’s always best to double check your mobile policy before you jet off to make sure there are no sneaky usage fees that could catch you off-guard, as companies can change the rules at any time.
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