When you travel to a different country, your mobile phone continues to work, and it does so thanks to roaming. You can make and receive mobile phone calls, write text messages, or download songs. This means that your calls, text messages and other data services are being operated by a foreign network , since your telephone network does not work in that country. To provide this service, the foreign network operator will pass the charges on to your home operator, who will be in charge of applying it to your monthly bill.
Mobile data downloaded for each service
The price of a mobile data service is based on the volume of the data, which is measured in kilobytes (KB) or megabytes (MB).
- An email typically weighs between 1 and 50KB.
- A page of your online newspaper can download 100 KB or more.
- To download a song , 2 to 5 MB of data is transferred.
Your operator will charge you a price that also includes the rate that the destination network charges your local operator for providing the service.
How does roaming work within the European Union?
Now, you should know that roaming within the European Union does not include additional expenses . EU “roaming like home” conditions mean that when you use your mobile phone while traveling outside your home country in any EU country, you do not have to pay any additional roaming charges. You benefit from these conditions when you call (to mobile and landlines), send text messages (SMS) and use data services while you are abroad. These conditions also apply when receiving calls or text messages while data roaming, even if the person you are calling is using a different service provider.
When you travel abroad within the European Union, you pay exactly the same price for using these services with your usual mobile rate . In practice, your operator simply charges or considers your roaming consumption as part of the data included in your national mobile rate. If you have a contract with a mobile phone operator that includes roaming services, you can travel within the European Union without worrying about anything, when you arrive at the destination, your mobile will find the corresponding automatic network to connect and be able to use it without problem.
Cost of roaming when traveling outside the European Union
The landscape changes a lot when you travel outside the European Union. Think seriously before you go on a trip, if it is convenient for you to hire an additional rate for roaming in America or Asia.
Generally speaking, the rates are extremely high. The price per minute is close to or even exceeds 2 euros, but you also have to add the call establishment, which means increasing, in most cases, between 1 and 2 euros each call. Some cases, like that of Tuenti, are really interesting, with a price of 4.72 euros per minute spoken, and a call establishment that reaches 2 euros.
Worse is the price of the calls received, since it is usual to apply the same or similar rates as when calling. Lastly, data consumption is almost prohibitive with most operators. The highest, reach 12 euros per MB. A simple glance at email or leaving WhatsApp on for a few hours can mean increasing the monthly fee you normally pay, doubling the price. Other telephone companies such as Euskaltel or R reduce the price “only” to 3.60 euros per MB, but they are still high costs.
