Four in 10 mobile phone users don’t know they can challenge their provider on expensive monthly bills after using their phone abroad, a new study has revealed. The research by Which? showed that one in six people (17%) who used their mobile abroad in the past year were unexpectedly met with a high mobile phone bill on their return; 25% were charged more than £40 over their usual monthly spend.
The introduction of a new EU roaming charge cap this week will slash the maximum amounts phone companies can charge their customers for browsing the internet when on data roaming i.e. using a different network to access the internet on their phone while still billed by their provider.
From Today (1 July), the maximum operators can charge customers for calls (excl. VAT) will be 19 cents a minute, six cents for text messages and 20 cents for 1MB in downloads.
Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: ‘Capping EU mobile roaming charges is welcome news for millions of travellers, especially those who have faced expensive charges for data roaming when their mobile hasn’t even left their suitcase.’
Consumers should now be much clearer on the charges they have to pay, he added.
However, the new roaming charge caps only apply to mobile use within the EU and will not apply if travelling to a non-EU country.
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