Vodafone UK Updates on Changes to Roaming and Basics Plans
In August 2021, Vodafone announced that roaming charges would be changing for its UK customers. While those changes are now coming into effect, they won’t apply to everyone at the same time. Plus, there are still plans that provide inclusive roaming, as well as ways to keep roaming charges under control – helping to ensure that you won’t get any unexpected bills when returning from your next holiday or work trip. Here are some latest Vodafone UK roaming changes.
As of the 6th February 2022 there will now be new roaming options for Basic’s deals, which are as follows.
Vodafone Basics Plan vodafone uk roaming changes
Zone A (Ireland and Isle of Man) – Included at no extra cost
Zone B (49 European destinations) – £2 per day (or £1 per day with an 8 or 15 day European Roaming Pass)
Zone C (32 worldwide destinations) – £6 per day
Zone D (73 worldwide destinations) – £6 per day
In addition, Vodafone has removed data capping. Once a customer exhausts their data allowance, they will not be charged out of bundle. In other words, any further data use will simply be blocked until they buy ‘Data Extras‘, or their plan renews. This is in keeping with the rest of their Pay Monthly (SIM-only) tariffs.
Finally, Basics customers will gain access to a ‘Spend Manager‘ to help manage their usage, although for roaming you won’t be able to set this to ‘0’ because that might prevent customers from being able to pay their daily charge (£2 – £6) – customers will be informed about this once they arrive in a roaming destination.
Check out what others UK operators will charge you to use your phone abroad:
EE
ROAMING CHARGE: £2 a day, or £10 a month with a Roam Abroad add on
WHEN IT STARTS: March 3, 2022 (for those who started new contracts after July 7, 2021)
EE had said in 2020: “We don’t have any plans to change this based on the Brexit outcome. So our customers going on holiday and travelling in the EU will continue to enjoy inclusive roaming.”
However, it backtracked on that promise and now plans to introduce a charge for roaming in 47 European destinations.
Virgin Mobile
ROAMING CHARGE: no charge in EU subject to fair usage, but up to up to £12.50 per megabyte of data in countries outside the EU. Data spending capped at £52.05 per month unless you opt to remove the cap.
Virgin has introduced Roam Like Home so you can use your mobile wherever you go in the EU and pay no more for your texts, data and minutes than you would in the UK (subject to a fair usage policy ).
On top of this, you’ll pay nothing extra for calling and messaging other mobiles and landlines in the EU. And if you go over your allowances, or need a bit more data, you’ll still pay no more for extra minutes, texts and data than you would back home.
O2
ROAMING CHARGE: £3.50 per gigabyte over your allowance
WHEN IT STARTS: From August 2, 2021
O2 was the first network to bring back charges, with a 25GB cap on European roaming allowances.
If your data allowance is above that, you’ll still be charged if you go over the 25GB limit while in the EU.
O2 says fewer than 1 per cent of its pay monthly customers come close to using 25GB of data when roaming anyway.
BT Mobile
BT says all its phone and SIM plans include data roaming in 47 destinations worldwide.
It lets you use your normal allowance of minutes, texts and data without paying extra roaming charges.
Three
ROAMING CHARGE: £2 per day in Europe, £5 per day for rest of world
WHEN IT STARTS: From May 23, 2022 (for customers who started new contracts from October 1, 2021)
Three announced in September 2021 that it would be reintroducing roaming charges.
To unlock your UK allowance in Go Roam in Europe, there’s a £2 daily charge. When you Go Roam Around the World, it’s £5 a day. There’s a fair usage limit of 12GB before surcharges apply.
There are no fair use limits for calls made to standard landline or mobile numbers or texts sent within their Go Roam in Europe destinations, or back to the UK.
Go Roam Around the World does not include calls or texts to international numbers.
