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Awareness of ‘roam like at home’ in EU

When you travel outside your home country to another EU country, you don’t have to pay any additional charges to use your mobile phone. This is known as “roaming” or “Roam like at home“. Your calls (to mobile and fixed phones), text messages (SMS), and data use (web browsing, music and video streaming etc.) are charged at domestic rates, i.e. the same price as calls, texts and data within your home country. Awareness of ‘roam like at home’ in EU

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The same rule also applies to any calls or text messages you receive while you’re abroad – you aren’t charged extra to receive calls or texts while roaming, even if the person calling you is using a different service provider.

More than 81% of those who travelled in the past two years indicate they benefit from the ‘roam like at home’ rule, latest Eurobarometer reports. Out of all EU residents contacted, 43% had travelled to another EU/EEA country in the past two years. Most of the people going abroad in the EU/EEA had travelled just once or twice a year (72%), staying abroad typically for less than one month (85%). Slightly more than 80% are aware that when they make phone calls, send text messages or use mobile internet, respectively, they do not pay additional charges for doing so. 80% say they use their phone in the same way and as frequently as they do at home. When asked about mobile data usage, 18% used more data, 38% the same amount, and 42% said they used less mobile data than domestically.

Key findings about Awareness of ‘roam like at home’

roaming survey

A large majority of travellers (84%), across the EU, feel they benefit from roaming without surcharges. Most respondents in this survey are aware that EU residents can make voice calls (83%), send text messages (81%) and use mobile internet (82%) without surcharges when travelling occasionally to another EU/EEA country.

Mobile phone usage when travelling to another EU/EEA country

When asked about their use of mobile data the last time they travelled to another EU/EEA country, overall 56% say they used about the same or more amount of mobile data as when not travelling. (38% used about the same and 18% used more mobile data whilst being abroad in an EU/EEA country). 42% of respondents say they used less mobile data than they usually do in their home country (including 4% who indicated that they did not use any data at all).

roaming

28% indicated that they restricted mobile connectivity at least occasionally during their last travel, as a result of reaching their roaming data limit, and 23% did so as they were travelling close to an outside border of the EU

Experience with roaming

When travelling to another EU/EEA country, 19% of respondents say they reached their roaming data limit. 14% say they were surcharged for using roaming services.

27% experienced lower internet speed than in their home country, and 26% felt the broadband network standard was lower than in their home country.

Experience with roaming

 

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Driven by wanderlust and a passion for tech, Sandra is the creative force behind Alertify. Love for exploration and discovery is what sparked the idea for Alertify, a product that likely combines Sandra’s technological expertise with the desire to simplify or enhance travel experiences in some way.