Ireland: Mobile Roaming Fears Vanish, 5.4GB/Month Use
Thanks to the EU’s ban on certain roaming fees, mobile roaming Ireland has seen significant growth, with Irish users now making and receiving calls 50% more often than a year ago. According to Comreg, the use of mobile data services like Facebook while abroad has surged by an impressive 256%. This increase in mobile roaming usage highlights the benefits that Irish travelers now experience, allowing them to stay connected without the fear of excessive charges. Whether for work, keeping in touch with family, or using navigation apps on the go, mobile roaming has become an essential service for Ireland’s mobile users.
The roaming laws do not completely cover all data costs, however, with stiff penalties still in place for some ‘all you can eat’ phone subscribers who try to use lots of that data abroad.
Overall, the average Irish phone user now uses 5.4 gigabytes per month, with the amount almost doubling each year.
Landline calls have plummeted in Ireland in the last year, as new figures from the telecoms regulator show. mobile roaming ireland
Irish people are talking on their phones 10% less than in 2017, with online and social media services such as WhatsApp and Apple’s FaceTime eating into traditional phone habits.
There has been a similar collapse in traditional SMS text messages as people switch over to free messaging services from Facebook and Snapchat.
And phones are now outpacing computers by an even greater margin, with smartphone online data usage up by half in the last 12 months.
Fibre broadband figures have tripled in the last year, albeit still at the low level of 50,000 subscriptions.
Comreg’s new figures also reveal that Ireland is one of Europe’s more expensive countries for home broadband, with ongoing disputes between Eir and other operators over the cost of accessing Eir’s national network. Outside of cities, Eir is the only major broadband infrastructure provider.
However, the figures also show that Ireland is one of the cheapest places in Europe to run a pay-as-you-go phone, at around half the price of many other EU countries.
