
The EU’s new roaming rules - doener
http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2017/06/economist-explains-13?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ed/
======
joshe
This is awesome. Traveling in Europe right now (from USA) and bought a 5GB
data only Ortel card in Italy on June 5 for 20 euro. June 11th I'm in Salzburg
and it doesn't work, which is my previous experience. I go to Slovenia for a
few days where it does work, possibly because of the new regulation, some
carriers apparently started it up on June 1. Yesterday June 17th cross back
into Austria and It Works!

It works now in Prague too, though maybe it would have anyway.

So now this one 20 euro prepaid data card has worked in Germany, Austria,
Slovenia, and the Czech republic.

This was so confusing before, lots of sim cards would roam in different
countries, but only for texts and sms. The data would just shut down.
Sometimes one type of plan would work and another wouldn't (on the same
carrier). The carriers were super confusing about what would work where,
digging through their sites would yield nothing about were things would work.
You had to talk to phone shop people and other travelers to figure it out.

It it so great not to have to manage this country by country or get a special
carrier to do this. And Europe is tiny, there was a guy on my train commuting
from Slovenia to Austria for his paramedic job. And see
[http://thetruesize.com/](http://thetruesize.com/)

The news is underplaying how much better this is. It rocks.

~~~
c2h5oh
It's more likely that it's your phone/device that is the source of the issue.

There are 10 LTE bands currently in use in Europe:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTE_frequency_bands#Deployment...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTE_frequency_bands#Deployments_by_region)

and 2 UMTS bands:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMTS_frequency_bands#Deploymen...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMTS_frequency_bands#Deployments_by_region_.28UMTS-
FDD.29)

Those are not necessarily the same bands that are in use in North America or
Asia, or some other region and as a result there are very, very few phones
that actually support all of them - even the EU variants.

Google Pixel is the only phone I'm aware of that supports every single one.

~~~
joshe
I buried the lede, the point is that it didn't work in Austria June 11, and it
did on June 17th. June 15th is when the rule went into effect.

Slovenia and Czech Republic working are speculation. (But I've heard so many
complaints about data roaming for prepaid that I think it's possibly better).

And so far its worked everywhere, after June 15th I _haven 't_ had issues.

But if it's relevant to anyone my iPhone 6S model (a1688) does have pretty
good LTE band coverage for Europe. Namely, bands 1,3,7,20,38.

[http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/iphone/specs/apple-
iph...](http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/iphone/specs/apple-
iphone-6s-a1688-4.7-inch-global-sprint-verizon-specs.html)

"Please note that this A1688 iPhone 6s model is compatible with LTE bands 1,
2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, (but not 30) in
addition to TD-LTE bands 38, 39, 40, and 41 -- is intended for Sprint and
Verizon as well as sold with a T-Mobile nano-SIM in the United States and a
wide variety of carriers in Canada, Europe, Asia, and elsewhere worldwide."

~~~
c2h5oh
Yeah, iPhones support quote a few bands too and each model released is doing
better, but they are still releasing multiple regional variants with different
bands supported:

[https://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/](https://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/)

------
mihular
Definitely positive for everybody. An example (Slovenia) is a new package from
A1(Vodafone) with 15GB everywhere in EU without limits for 20€. Previously was
like 22€ for 4GB local only.

~~~
wklauss
For some telcos this is a very tough deal. Countries with a lot of foreign
visitors, like Spain or Italy, will have to improve network capacity to
sustain the added data volume, and with no increase in revenue. A lot of
carriers still operate at local country level in Europe. I guess the long-term
plan is that that most telcos will end up merging into pan-european companies.

~~~
lorenzhs
Note that the telcos don't stop charging _each other_ for roaming, they just
stop charging _customers_. This might even be good news for Spanish and
Italian telcos.

~~~
kalleboo
True, but the regulation limits how much they can charge each other so they
need to make it up in volume.

Before they could charge 51.2 EUR/GB which is now lowered to 7.7 EUR/GB set to
go down in steps to 2.5 EUR/GB by 2022.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_roaming_regulat...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_roaming_regulations#Prices)

~~~
my123
51 euros per gigabyte is absurd.

~~~
seuss1969
You think €51 per GB is absurd? I have a Vodafone prepaid connection from
Germany. Currently traveling in Switzerland, Vodafone informed me my roaming
data charges are 17ct per 50 Kb.

A little back of the envelope calculation and that puts my rate at €3.500 per
GB. Now that's an absurd value!!

~~~
krrrh
I'm curious if that was postpaid. My prepaid Vodafone data started working EU-
wide without extra charges just over a year ago.

> Gut zu wissen: Du nutzt Deine Highspeed-MB mit Deinem CallYa-Tarif ohne
> Aufpreis in der ganzen EU. Falls Du den Basispreis oder Deine Tarif-Option
> nicht zahlst, kostet ein MB 5,95 Cent.

~~~
tpm
Switzerland is not in the EU

------
AnssiH
Note that if the new rules cause roaming net (roaming revenue minus roaming
costs) loss of more than 3% of the operator's mobile services margin, they can
apply for an exemption to add roaming surcharges (to cover expenses only).

The Finnish operators were all granted that exemption to prevent the domestic
price level from increasing:

[https://www.viestintavirasto.fi/en/ficora/news/2017/fouroper...](https://www.viestintavirasto.fi/en/ficora/news/2017/fouroperatorsauthorisedtoapplyroamingsurcharges.html)

~~~
asmosoinio
Ok, that explains my surprise today. Am in Austria with a Saunalahti (Elisa)
SIM and was surprised to see there is still a 7€/Gb roaming charge. This is
the SMS I got:

\--- Ulkomaan käytön normaalihinnat Itävallassa: Soitto Suomeen ja
tekstiviestin lähetys kotimaan hinnoin + 0.03968 e/min tai 0.0124 e/kpl.
Puhelun vastaanotto 0 e/min ja datasiirto 7.44 e/Gt. Ei koske Premium-
liittymien erikoishinnoittelua. Hätänumero 112 0 e/min.

------
poooogles
I pay £0.1 per MB when roaming. Any change from this frankly obscene price is
good news.

Sadly I feel this deal won't last for long when the UK leaves the EU.

~~~
Havoc
>Sadly I feel this deal won't last for long when the UK leaves the EU.

I wouldn't worry too much. The UK providers are quite good with this. e.g. The
contract I signed a month ago was 16GB anywhere in EU for 19 quid. (voda). And
the prepaid Three network cards can also roam with their data allowance in a
sizable number of countries.

~~~
ar0
But of course they can only offer these prices because the wholesale prices
for roaming are capped across the EU (this has been the case for a while now,
they have now just reduced those rates further). If the UK operators wouldn't
be able to benefit from the wholesale prices anymore, I doubt they could
sustain this. Just look at Switzerland, where "all in" contracts with roaming
in the EU will set you back around 70-90 CHF...

~~~
Havoc
>But of course they can only offer these prices

They've had them for a while already. Like months.

------
anothercomment
How is the network in a foreign country being picked? Here in Germany, we have
(at least?) three competing networks, O2, Telekom and Vodafone. Their coverage
differs, but afaik I don't get to automatically use another network if my
network doesn't cover my location.

So what happens in another country? Free roaming won't be much use if no
network covers my location? If on the other hand, I will be allowed any
network for the price of my home network, I wonder if it would make sense to
get a contract in another country, so that I can use all networks in Germany
for free?

~~~
Someone
Don't German networks have agreements to route traffic for other operators if
they don't have coverage somewhere? That would surprise me.

And the rules are made to make it difficult to get that contract in a
different country, as you aren't allowed to roam for 12 months a year for
free.

~~~
germanier
They don't. The gaps in coverage are very small at least for basic phone
service. LTE is available for at least 93%/90%/80% of the area respectively
for the three networks. Good coverage is also the main factor of competition.

~~~
mschuster91
They did, at least O2 had a inland roaming with Telekom back in its early
days; after the merge between O2 and EPlus the networks are still doing inland
roaming afaik.

And I'd say with O2 you don't get anywhere next to 90% LTE - not in the
countryside (where Vodafone and Telekom often enough also offer EDGE at best),
but also in major cities. Berlin is the worst (at Hbf and Gesundbrunnen you're
lucky to have actually working HSDPA!), next comes Hamburg and Duesseldorf.
Munich is fairly good, also in the subways.

The general problem with O2 is when the network gets congested - e.g.
demonstrations, festivals, sometimes on Autobahns even traffic jams! - there
is no Internet service at all. The phone may show a "4G" indicator but no
traffic goes through. Telekom and Vodafone seem to handle sudden congestions
way better, I am not sure how though.

~~~
germanier
Sorry, I edited my comment while you replied. O2 officially is at 80% LTE
coverage according to the latest BNetzA report. But as far as I know they
often use cells that can't handle the needed capacity.

When the networks where new, some offered roaming in some areas, I remember
that as well. The E-Plus/O2 roaming was more of a technical thing when they
merged, it should now be largely gone and a single network.

~~~
mschuster91
It's iirc their backhaul network that can't keep up, not the technology they
use in their BTS. Telekom and Vodafone have large fiber networks (Telekom for
DSL, Vodafone for cable-Internet) so they can use existing infrastructure
(conduits, electricity lines, right-of-way for houses housing concentrators,
routers etc) while O2/Eplus had to build out/rent everything.

In addition O2/Eplus historically got the cheaper but more inefficient
frequency ranges which made them the "low cost" players.

------
soVeryTired
Anyone pick up on this little doozy at the end? "The new law may not be all
good for all consumers; it is possible that non-roamers will end up
subsidising the more expensive needs of roamers, as the networks respond to
the lost roaming revenue."

The argument feels a bit naive to me, and smacks of the oversimplified
scenarios taught in economics-101. I'd agree with them if the increased
roaming charges reflected the extra cost imposed on the network, but in
reality the networks were just price-gouging a captive market.

They may be technically correct in that the networks could try to make up the
lost revenue by raising prices, but the reasoning feels specious. It's not a
question of one group being forced by law to subsidise another, it's a
question of an unsavoury business practice being forced by law to end.

------
zimbatm
The roaming rules are a bit complicated. It seems that only a fraction of the
data plan can be made available under "free roaming" rules.

I suspect operators will make their money back from "I forgot to turn off
roaming" to "I took too much from my roaming data".

~~~
ArmandGrillet
I don't think so, carriers are quite clear about their conditions. E.g. even
if you're not French you can understand on this webpage that you have
40GB/month, included in Europe, for 24,99€/month:
[https://shop.sosh.fr/mobile/forfaits-
mobiles](https://shop.sosh.fr/mobile/forfaits-mobiles)

~~~
johnchristopher
Those prices are insane compared to Belgium.

It goes to show why carriers lobbied so hard to prevent European citizens to
buy subscriptions from a different country considering roaming would truly
create European competition between carriers.

Keeping in mind Dutch,French and Belgian carriers are sometimes one and the
same entity it shows liberalism and free market is only promoted and applied
when it benefits the strong (carriers), not the weak (consumers).

It's still a very good and welcomed evolution for consumers though :).

~~~
rocqua
Cross country competetion would really suck because of the varying levels of
wellfare across the EU.

Between Belgium France and the Netherlands, there isn't much of a problem.
However, if you start comparing e.g. the Netherlands with Romania, things get
weird. Those consumer markets are vastly different, Romania is much cheaper.

I'd expect that, due to differing expectations of infrastructure building a
network in Romanio would also be cheaper.

~~~
johnchristopher
Good point even though I still think I am being ripped when comparing to
France.

------
newzzy
-BE to BE (in BE) : bundle

-BE to BE (in FR) : bundle

-BE to FR (in BE) : extra

-BE to FR (in FR) : extra

To Google & Apple Please add an easy way to allow roaming in EU but not in
other countries.

~~~
kalleboo
The last time I had a Swedish SIM card in my iPhone there was a separate "EU
Internet" option

~~~
ropiku
Yep, iOS 10 added it.

------
roesel
OK, I get that "roaming" now costs as if you were home, but what if you're
french and you go to germany and there you call a french number. Is that also
as if you were calling a fellow french person, or not?

~~~
matthewmacleod
It's annoyingly a bit complex. As I now understand it, for Three in the UK the
rules are pretty simple for most cases:

UK user in UK calls UK number – local country cost. UK user in Germany calls
UK number - same cost as calling locally from UK. UK user in Germany calls
German number – same cost as calling a UK number.

The weird edge-case is that calling a foreign number is less expensive when
roaming; calling a German number from e.g. France is now cheaper than calling
a German number from inside the UK, because the roaming regs affect roaming
cost but _do not_ affect what providers can charge for international calls
from the home country.

~~~
Markoff
this is correct, international calls from home country are not affected by
roaming regulation and cost more than same calls using foreign networks, they
should regulate this as well, to make at least international EU calls from
home country on par with roaming prices (aka domestic calls)

------
bathory
While this change is very welcome, a lot of ISPs still ask for , in my
opinion, unreasonable amounts of money for relatively small amounts of data
ie: [https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/finnish-like-unlimited-
mobile...](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/finnish-like-unlimited-mobile-data-
model-now-europe-pal-zarandy)

~~~
mtgx
It seems unlikely the EU regulators will ask for fair data roaming prices,
too, anytime soon, as the operators most likely told them this is a cash cow
for them in the near future. However, this may be irrelevant in 5+ years, if
the "Wi-Fi everywhere" program is implemented across the EU.

------
yannovitch
It's good for competition. In France the mobile plan I use from "Free Mobile"
evolved in few months from 3GB 35 days per year to 25 GB all the time, and
some others like Sosh (from Orange) or SFR evolved too.

------
sr2
What if you're on some obscure lesser known mobile network and the EU country
you're traveling to doesn't support that network? Vodafone (a non obscure
network) however seems to be ubiquitous in the EU.

~~~
vetinari
Doesn't matter. The networks using the same name are independent companies
anyway, for example Vodafone UK and Vodafone IE have the same agreements, as
your lesser known mobile network.

It may go even further - the brand name of the network you recognize may be
not owned by the same company, as the rest for the networks with the same
name. For example, O2 CZ and O2 SK are not owned by Telefonica (anymore), but
the other O2 networks are.

~~~
sr2
So does your device automatically choose the correct network depending on what
sim it has?

~~~
vetinari
From the observation, yes, but I'm not sure whether it is just up to the
device to choose a network with the same prefix (the ids are different), or
whether there is some network intelligence.

When there's no network with the same prefix, the choice is usually random. It
doesn't matter anyway, money-wise it is the same.

~~~
grantla
The SIM card has a preset of preferred roaming networks, which your home
provider may or may not update. Replacing SIMs every now and then may actually
help with your roaming experience.

~~~
kalleboo
Yep. Dumbphones often let you view or even manually edit this list as well.

------
kylehotchkiss
I'm a happy TMobile customer and it's always nice to get iMessages after
landing in another country.

~~~
Markoff
what has this to do with roaming? they just lowered the fees, functionality is
exactly same as before

------
tyingq
Was this coming anyway, or is this specifically designed to raise the pain
level of Brexit? (the idea that it might go away for UK)

~~~
M2Ys4U
It has been coming a long time, and was actually phased in over a few years.

