EE to reintroduce roaming charges across Europe

EE to reintroduce roaming charges across Europe

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Discussion

Funk

26,297 posts

210 months

Saturday 26th June 2021
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airbusA346 said:
Condi said:
How does this work if you have a contract phone? Can you keep the phone, or do you have to return it as it's not paid off until the end of the contract period?

Guess that is why EE's changes are for new contracts only.
The changes are for upgrading customers too.
Basically anything that triggers a new contract term.

If you're in contract, you'd be mad to stay in it past the end date as your tariff won't drop in price but you've finished paying the 'phone' element of the total cost. Zombie contracts where people just keep paying the same must be worth an extraordinary amount to them. Change your tariff at the end, whether it's dropping to SIM-only or getting a new phone for the same monthly amount.

You're also able to sell your handset on after (usually) 6 months of the contract, even if it's a 24-month. That's certainly the case with EE.

anonymous-user

55 months

Sunday 27th June 2021
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Now the first operator has broken ranks on this the rest will follow, can't see it staying at £2 a day either.

They have gone cheap to get people to accept a minimal fee on the its only £28 for a 2 week break, the fee will rise when contracts get renewed and will be £5 a day before you know it.

smithyithy

7,258 posts

119 months

Sunday 27th June 2021
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Reckon it'll be cheaper to buy a SIM in the EU country you're visiting rather than use roaming data?

Driver101

14,376 posts

122 months

Sunday 27th June 2021
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smithyithy said:
Reckon it'll be cheaper to buy a SIM in the EU country you're visiting rather than use roaming data?
You have all the issues of getting a compatible SIM card when phones are locked to networks. £2 per day isn't enough for the hassle, but it'll soon add up if you're going abroad with the family a couple of times per year.

It'll soon be squeezed to more than £2 when people accept the charges.

Griffith4ever

4,285 posts

36 months

Sunday 27th June 2021
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Just go with Three UK - they've never charged for roaming, all over the place, with the odd exception.

I guess you have locked phones if you buy them on finance (i.e. a contract with a "free phone"). I've not had a locked phone for as long as I can remember.

Driver101

14,376 posts

122 months

Sunday 27th June 2021
quotequote all
Griffith4ever said:
Just go with Three UK - they've never charged for roaming, all over the place, with the odd exception.

I guess you have locked phones if you buy them on finance (i.e. a contract with a "free phone"). I've not had a locked phone for as long as I can remember.
Lots of people's phones are locked regardless of how they paid for it. It will be outlawed at the end of this year by ofcom and it was trapping customers.

EE is the best network in the UK. Three have the lowest customer satisfaction score of the big networks.



essayer

9,080 posts

195 months

Sunday 27th June 2021
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Hope Three don’t join in biggrin

RacerMike

4,209 posts

212 months

Sunday 27th June 2021
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essayer said:
Hope Three don’t join in biggrin
If you ever visit the US it’s worth a three contract on its own. Using your phone over there costs a fortune normally. I think I had a similar text after being there a couple of years ago.

I must be lucky with three coverage. Where I live and where I travel their coverage and connection are way better than any other network

Griffith4ever

4,285 posts

36 months

Monday 28th June 2021
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Driver101 said:
Lots of people's phones are locked regardless of how they paid for it. It will be outlawed at the end of this year by ofcom and it was trapping customers.

EE is the best network in the UK. Three have the lowest customer satisfaction score of the big networks.
Your phone is only locked if you buy it on contract. No other reason. And if you buy it on contract, it is locked to cover the cost of the phone over that period and stop you jumping ship before its paid off.

On contract means you are paying monthly for your phone - assuming you bought/were "given" your phone as part of the deal.

I buy my phones from phone sellers, not networks, so they are never locked. i.e. I buy my Xiamo from Xiaomi (or Eglobal etc). I then arrange my own sim only contracts. Locked phones are purely the result of phone financing contracts.

To be honest, I've never considered which network is "best". I just want my phone to work as a phone, and have data. In that respect I can't really see a difference between any of the networks, excluding specific black spots for specific networks.

When you are overseas it becomes irrelevent as you then roam to whichever network is local.

I can't remember the last time I thought "ahh, no signal", perhaps other than brief moments in the car when streaming Radio 6.

If the phone works, the phone works. Which actual cell network it's on is transparent.

I will totally agree their customer support is truly horrific. I've only had to deal with them once, recently, to change to a new deal. They messed it up and the lengths I had to go to, talking to India, were frankly absurd. So many calls, so many credits and incorrect charges.

Griffith4ever

4,285 posts

36 months

Monday 28th June 2021
quotequote all
RacerMike said:
If you ever visit the US it’s worth a three contract on its own. Using your phone over there costs a fortune normally. I think I had a similar text after being there a couple of years ago.

I must be lucky with three coverage. Where I live and where I travel their coverage and connection are way better than any other network
I spend 2 months at a time in NZ (well I used to!), and chunks in America. I've used the roaming extensively in Vietnam. Sadly it does not cover Cambodia or Thailand but then I just grab a local sim for £15 ish that covers a month of unlimited data.

Three really is the logical choice for the traveller.

Driver101

14,376 posts

122 months

Monday 28th June 2021
quotequote all
Griffith4ever said:
Driver101 said:
Lots of people's phones are locked regardless of how they paid for it. It will be outlawed at the end of this year by ofcom and it was trapping customers.

EE is the best network in the UK. Three have the lowest customer satisfaction score of the big networks.
Your phone is only locked if you buy it on contract. No other reason. And if you buy it on contract, it is locked to cover the cost of the phone over that period and stop you jumping ship before its paid off.

On contract means you are paying monthly for your phone - assuming you bought/were "given" your phone as part of the deal.

That's not correct. If you buy outright or prepay from the high street network shops the phones still came locked. Carphonewarhouse sells unlocked phones, but the brand specific shops used to always be locked.

It is changing and will soon be outlawed totally, but phones are or were locked.

There's hardly any point in jumping ship when you've signed a credit agreement.

camel_landy

4,918 posts

184 months

Monday 28th June 2021
quotequote all
Driver101 said:
Griffith4ever said:
Driver101 said:
Lots of people's phones are locked regardless of how they paid for it. It will be outlawed at the end of this year by ofcom and it was trapping customers.

EE is the best network in the UK. Three have the lowest customer satisfaction score of the big networks.
Your phone is only locked if you buy it on contract. No other reason. And if you buy it on contract, it is locked to cover the cost of the phone over that period and stop you jumping ship before its paid off.

On contract means you are paying monthly for your phone - assuming you bought/were "given" your phone as part of the deal.
That's not correct. If you buy outright or prepay from the high street network shops the phones still came locked. Carphonewarhouse sells unlocked phones, but the brand specific shops used to always be locked.
The CPWH phones were configured to lock to the first network they join. I suspect this was done to simplify stock control and on the assumption most phones would be bought on a contract.

O2 shop bought phones were often not locked but most of the others were.

M

Griffith4ever

4,285 posts

36 months

Monday 28th June 2021
quotequote all
Driver101 said:

That's not correct. If you buy outright or prepay from the high street network shops the phones still came locked. Carphonewarhouse sells unlocked phones, but the brand specific shops used to always be locked.

I stand corrected.

One then has to ask why you'd by a locked phone on PAYG? Just get one on the net for less and get any sim deal you want thereafter. I guess we all have our reasons.

Russ T Bolt

1,689 posts

284 months

Tuesday 29th June 2021
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Driver101 said:
EE is the best network in the UK.
Possibly at the moment, but won't last now that BT own them

camel_landy

4,918 posts

184 months

Tuesday 29th June 2021
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Russ T Bolt said:
Driver101 said:
EE is the best network in the UK.
Possibly at the moment, but won't last now that BT own them
Given the ESN requirements, etc... I suspect it WILL last.

M

Russ T Bolt

1,689 posts

284 months

Tuesday 29th June 2021
quotequote all
camel_landy said:
Given the ESN requirements, etc... I suspect it WILL last.

M
You think.

How involved are you with ESN ?

As an aside, ESN has no requirement for EE to be the best mobile network.

camel_landy

4,918 posts

184 months

Tuesday 29th June 2021
quotequote all
Russ T Bolt said:
You think.

How involved are you with ESN ?

As an aside, ESN has no requirement for EE to be the best mobile network.
Correct but then it depends on how you want to quantify "best mobile network". For the purposes of replacing the old Airwave TETRA network, a lot of it comes down to coverage and cell contention. You could argue that BT could simply deliver enough coverage to meet the ESN requirements and then let it stagnate while other networks continue to invest. Time will tell I s'pose.

Anyway, we digress...

M

Russ T Bolt

1,689 posts

284 months

Tuesday 29th June 2021
quotequote all
camel_landy said:
Correct but then it depends on how you want to quantify "best mobile network". For the purposes of replacing the old Airwave TETRA network, a lot of it comes down to coverage and cell contention. You could argue that BT could simply deliver enough coverage to meet the ESN requirements and then let it stagnate while other networks continue to invest. Time will tell I s'pose.

Anyway, we digress...

M
It doesn't, ESN addresses that as I am sure you are aware.

'Best' network is based on Root Metrics scores for the consumer network

camel_landy

4,918 posts

184 months

Tuesday 29th June 2021
quotequote all
Russ T Bolt said:
It doesn't, ESN addresses that as I am sure you are aware.
We're effectively saying the same thing.

M

Russ T Bolt

1,689 posts

284 months

Tuesday 29th June 2021
quotequote all
camel_landy said:
We're effectively saying the same thing.

M
I don’t think we are. You seem to think cell contention is an issue.

Do you have any knowledge of ESN ?