It is now a matter of a few hours: starting from 15 June, telephone roaming in the European Union will cease to exist, and it will therefore be possible travel in Europe with a smartphone in your pocket and the great advantage of paying for calls, text messages and data at the same price as your national rate (I roam like at home). Farewell, therefore, to the exorbitant extra costs that risked sinking the globe trotters' wallet.
It took time to achieve this result – it all started in 2013 – and a gradual transition from the end of April 2016 which made it possible to reduce the prices for using the foreign operator's network: down to €0,05 per minute per call made, 0,02 euros for each SMS sent, and 0,05 euros (excluding VAT) per megabyte of data.
Now we change and it will be a real one revolution, which will lead to a change in the habits of those who have always traveled abroad, for work or for holidays. Many preferred to have a second telephone to be used only outside Italy, others accepted offers (often very expensive) from telephone operators in order to be able to use their mobile telephone and navigate abroad.
BEWARE OF USING INTERNET DATA
Each user will continue to use their own tariff plan, drawing from the minutes, SMS and Gigabytes (GB) included in the agreement with their operator. While there shouldn't be any restrictions on calls and messages (for example, if you have unlimited minutes for everyone in Italy, you'll also have them abroad), there may be restrictions on the use of internet data depending on the operator. We try to explain them better.
If your national mobile data package includes a unlimited volume, the operator is required to provide a large volume of data roaming at home. Storage and handling roam like at home allow foreign operators to apply a safeguard limit (calculated on the basis of the retail price of the national mobile services package) if in Italy you pay less than €1 for 3,85 GB. The figure will drop to €3/Gb in 2018 and €2,25/Gb in 2019. But how “substantial” should the volume be? At least double the volume obtained considering the wholesale price (7,7 euros plus VAT). For example, with a rate of 40 euros/month, you must first divide 40/7,7=5,19 and then multiply by 2: the result is that you are entitled to 10,3 GB at the national rate. Once this "limit" has been exceeded, the foreign operator can apply a surcharge (7,7 plus VAT in 2017 and 6 in 2018).
The operator is required to inform the limit in advance and to advise if it is reached.
If you have one tariff with limited data volume or very affordable tariffs, however, it is necessary to calculate the adequate amount of data that can be used on the same model indicated above. If you pass, you can continue data roaming, but theThe operator will apply a surcharge, which will match the cap on wholesale pricesi.e. €7,70 per Gb of data in 2017 (excluding VAT), €6 per GB (excluding VAT) in 2018. The ceilings will further decrease after 2018.
CORRECT USE OF ROAMING
Speech fair use: lthe general rule is that as long as you spend more time or use your mobile phone more often at home than abroad, you will be able to roam at home when traveling anywhere in the EU. In the event that the condition is not respected, the telephone operator will have the right to contact the customer and ask for explanations, which must be provided within 14 days.
If the customer should continue to use roaming without having provided valid reasons for his continued stay abroad (the so-called "stable links": Erasmus students o workers who cross the border every day), the operator may apply the following surcharges (excluding VAT):
- Calls: 3,2 cents per minute;
- SMS: 1 cent per SMS;
- Internet data: €7,7 for 1 Gigabyte from 15 June. Amount which, as seen above, will drop every year until it reaches €2022 per GB in 2,5.
Consumers will not have to do anything to activate roaming at home. The operator will simply stop charging charges associated with roaming. By 15 June, each operator will have to contact their customers informing them of the zeroing of roaming costs. Unless explicitly requested to maintain one's current rate, the default rate for abroad should become the same for everyone roam like at home.
What is important to underline is that the new rights included in roaming provided for by the Community legislation concern the communications made when using roaming services in the EU, i.e. when traveling to another country. What happens if the call or text message comes from Italy to a foreign number? Roaming costs continue to be paid as the new directive does not intervene on this point, leaving prices unregulated. Basically, the contracts signed with the national operator are valid.
WHERE WILL IT BE POSSIBLE TO USE THE BENEFITS?
Roaming at the national rate can be used in all 28 countries of the European Union: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg , Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Hungary.
In the countries of the European Economic Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway), the service will be introduced shortly after June 15th.
The situation for travellers, therefore, seems to be rather complex. Surely all those who will undertake a trip to Europe from 15 June onwards will find benefits in terms of savings in this historic change, even if it will be necessary to pay close attention, especially to the use of Internet data, for which any overuse could trigger high surcharges. To unravel the thousand possible questions on the subject, the European Commission has made public a Q&A document to help users.
ITALY: HOW OPERATORS REACT TO CHANGE
Let's see how the main Italian telephone operators have dealt with the farewell to roaming:
- Vodafone: among the first to eliminate the roaming cost on some of its offers, from May 2016. The plans Red in fact, calls, SMS and Giga are also included abroad. What changes is that from 15 June Vodafone will extend the roaming included in European Union countries to other offers, while in countries not included in the EU or non-EU Regulation it will continue to offer Smart Passport tariffs. Smart Passport Europe and the USA (also in this case there are non-EU European countries): 60 minutes, 200 MB of internet for 3 euros a day (only if used), in the rechargeable version. The subscription version, at the same price, has unlimited minutes and text messages and 500 MB of internet (with speed reduced to 32 Kbps after this fee). Smart Passport Mondo, useful for other countries, costs 6 euros per day (only if used) for 30 minutes/sms/MB.
– Wind3: it was the first operator to apply (since May) the roaming cut on all tariffs. It has launched three promotions dedicated to those traveling abroad: "Mondo", which runs for a week, "Top Mondo", which is valid for a month and is automatically renewed, and "Europe&USA, which offers 150 minutes and 500 megabytes at 10 euros a week . Wind Tre's strategy in is to focus on offers valid in non-EU countries to respond in an increasingly targeted manner to customer needs.
- Tim: Tim has also reacted to the cut in roaming costs this week. The company has strengthened its offer for abroad with the "Tim in Viaggio Pass" package: for 10 days from first use abroad, the user has 10 Giga 4G, 500 minutes and 500 SMS valid throughout Europe (including non-EU countries) and in the USA at 20 euros every four weeks.
It remains available for travel to over 70 non-European destinations Tim in Travel Pass World that with a cost of 30 Euros, for 10 days from the first use, offers 100 minutes, 100 SMS and 500 Megabytes.
Finally, the Tim Special Unlimited offer, for a cost of 40 euros (again for 4 weeks) includes unlimited minutes and text messages on the national territory, 3000 of which can also be used in Europe and the USA and 6 Giga can be used indifferently both in Italy and in European countries and in the United States.
