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Holidaymakers face ‘lottery’ on mobile phone roaming charges

13 August 2015

Mobile phone customers are unwittingly being hit with massive bills when travelling outside the EU, Citizens Advice has said.

The charity has uncovered major disparities in what firms charge for using the internet and data roaming - one company charges more than 80 times more for its standard rate than it does for its cheapest.

People travelling outside the EU can face bills of thousands of pounds due to high charges and because they do not realise how quickly costs can rise or even that they are using roaming data.

Within the EU the highest per megabyte roaming rate is capped at £0.17, but outside the EU there is no limit and researchers found it can cost up to £12.50.

Data from the charity shows:

  • Watching an episode of Eastenders could cost up to £1,360 in Turkey, compared to a maximum of £32 inside the EU.

  • It could cost up to £212.50 to upload 10 photographs to Facebook in the USA, which is 42 times more expensive than inside the EU (£5).

  • Plotting a two mile journey on Google maps could cost £17 outside the EU, much higher than the maximum £0.40 charge inside.

Some of the people the charity has helped includes:

  • Military personnel who were billed for thousands of pounds after leaving their data roaming on while deployed abroad.

  • A father who took out a contract on behalf of his daughter was hit with a £12,000 bill when she travelled outside the EU.

  • A holidaymaker who turned on data roaming to download an album while in Egypt was charged £1,500.

Consumers pay different rates depending on which provider their contract is with, where they travel, and whether they have bought a ‘bolt-on’ which gives them a set amount of data to use abroad for a fixed cost.

Currently providers only need to send one warning message to customers who are outside the EU when a bill reaches €50 (around £35), asking them if they want to continue. Citizens Advice says because there is no requirement to contact the customer again, consumers can ratchet up much higher bills without knowing.

Citizens Advice says there is things consumers should do to protect themselves - such as check that their data roaming is off or contacting their provider to find out their tariff - but companies must do much more.

Gillian Guy, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said:

“Using the internet on your mobile abroad can cost more than the holiday itself.

“Most people don’t think in megabytes, and don’t choose their mobile provider based on roaming rates.

“The market shouldn’t be a lottery where some customers can be unwittingly plunged into life-changing amounts of debt just because they used their phone.

“A voluntary price cap would help better protect customers and companies could do more by giving more warnings to customers if their bills start to rise.”

The charity’s analysis looked at the cost of using mobile roaming data across a wide variety of suppliers, comparing both ‘standard’ and ‘bolt-on’ rates for customers visiting popular holiday destinations.

The charity says ‘background data’ is one of the biggest risks when it comes to  high roaming data usage. Unless apps are fully disabled while a person is travelling, it can continue to download data without their knowledge and at high costs.

To help avoid these shock bills, Citizens Advice wants the Government to work with providers to strike a voluntary agreement, including:

  • Standard warnings for customers about how much they are spending on data at regular intervals above €50.

  • A maximum per megabyte cost, so customers have clarity over how much it costs to use data outside the EU.

  • Measures to ensure customers who are hit by shock bills are treated fairly and that money is not recouped immediately and people are not pushed into debt.

Notes to editors:

  1. Roaming charges quoted are based on website-advertised standard and 'bolt-on' rates from fourteen UK mobile network providers on 3rd August 2015. Bolt-on rates have been calculated at the lowest per MB cost our researchers were able to find advertised on the official website for each provider.

  2. Example download price ranges are based on all tariffs at 3rd August 2015 and on the following guideline download/upload sizes: 2.5MB for a single photo upload to Facebook, 2MB to plot a two-mile map route using an app.

  3. The Citizens Advice service comprises a network of local Citizens Advice, all of which are independent charities, the Citizens Advice consumer service and national charity Citizens Advice. Together we help people resolve their money, legal and other problems by providing information and advice and by influencing policymakers. For more see the Citizens Advice website.

  4. The advice provided by the Citizens Advice service is free, independent, confidential, and impartial, and available to everyone regardless of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion, age or nationality.

  5. To find your local Citizens Advice in England and Wales or to get advice online, visit citizensadvice.org.uk.

  6. You can get consumer advice from the Citizens Advice consumer service on 03454 04 05 06 or 03454 04 05 05 for Welsh language speakers.

  7. Citizens Advice Bureaux in England and Wales advised 2.5 million clients on 6.2 million problems in 2014/15. For full 2013/2014 service statistics see our quarterly publication Advice trends.

  8. Citizens Advice service staff are supported by more than 21,000 trained volunteers, working at over 2,500 service outlets across England and Wales.