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from the when-in-Rome,-charge-as-the-roamers-do? dept.
Free mobile phone roaming 'not guaranteed' with a no-deal Brexit
Britons visiting the EU could be hit with mobile phone roaming charges in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said the government would try to force firms to limit charges but he could not give a "cast iron guarantee" on the issue. The EU directive which capped the prices mobile phone operators could charge each other will no longer apply to the UK after Brexit.
Mr Raab said that two mobile operators had agreed to keep free data roaming. And the government is proposing to cap any data charges at £45 a month.
In an interview with BBC Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg, the Brexit secretary said the government was trying to give the "reassurance that consumers need" on the issue of mobile phone roaming charges but admitted that European operators could pass on charges. He said: "No, I can't give a cast-iron guarantee. What I can say is that the government would legislate to limit the ability of roaming charges to be imposed on customers."
(Score: 3, Touché) by hedleyroos on Friday September 14 2018, @08:11AM (3 children)
Do what the rest of the world has to do when they travel - get a second SIM. Dual SIM phones are readily available. Really, this is not a problem.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Friday September 14 2018, @11:10AM (1 child)
Yeah, because I really want a new phone number and an account with a new provider every time I cross a border. Searching for corner shops to buy top ups in a foreign country and then wasting unused credit when I leave again is just so much fun.
You know what's even less of a problem? Being able to go from the UK to France to Germany to Italy and just pick up my phone and dial it (and send texts, and use data) and be confident that it costs me no more than it would back home. I mean it's not as if it actually costs the operators any significant extra to send my voice from (say) Paris to London rather than from London to Edinburgh. Most of the big networks are Europe-wide companies with international infrastructure, they were simply gouging their customers for arbitrary roaming charges until the EU stepped in and put a stop to it.
You see that's the thing, for all the mendacious moaning from the right wing about the EU being "bureaucratic" and "undemocratic", the EU has done a far better job standing up for the rights and freedoms of the UK population than any modern Westminster government ever has. People say that the brexiteers want a "bonfire of regulations". What they actually want is a "bonfire of protections" - worker protections, consumer protections, environmental protections: Seeing these things ablaze is what really gives Rees-Mogg wet dreams.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @05:44PM
I agree. Life is so much better under German rule. A nation state that is directly responsible to its people is such a 20th century concept.
(Score: 2) by Fluffeh on Monday September 17 2018, @01:39AM
Of course, but the point of this is that the whole Brexit campaign as sold to the masses didn't include any of these "obvious" details. It was all "We're paying too much" "Get $300 million each week to NHS!" "Stop immigrants taking jobs!" and it's turning into "We'll still pay the same", "THe NHS won't really get that, we lied" and "You'll need to get your passports updated, apply for a visa when you go to Europe and now pay hand over fist for your phone".
Truth should not be a journey or an evolution of the story. Statements presented as facts have no right to change. If they do, they are aspirations and people treat them very differently.