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For clarity's sake - "Don't let YOUR facts interfere with the other person's ranting". We're on the same page, believe me. Haven't seen the "nanny state" argument being used yet in the forum bashing, but the day is still young.
Anyway - back on topic - keep in mind that calling from EU country A to a EU country B number will still cost you (as that's not 'roaming').

Ah. I see
 
Another feature they have in Europe is all incoming calls are free.
I used to spend hours on the phone calling inbound with no charges to them using skype from America. Ended being like 2.5¢ a minute.
 
This is great BUT my carrier automatically charges me €10 more each month from now on even if I never will never need to use my phone outside my country.

Really? That is pretty bad, which carrier is that?

I am in Sweden as well, and being a very light phone user I used to be on the cheapest Comviq plan. When reading the news today I checked the Comviq page and learnt that my plan would no longer work outside Sweden, i.e. no roaming at all. I had to switch to the next higher plan, which has the roaming, and more included minutes+SMS that I have no use for. So for me this effectively meant a price increase, too, but I had to make that switch and confirm it - no automatic extra charging without my explicit consent. Is that even legal?
 
This is great BUT my carrier automatically charges me €10 more each month from now on even if I never will never need to use my phone outside my country.

I'm also from Sweden. Which carrier is that?

Update: Comviq hasn't changed its plans with the exception of the cheapest one, Fastpris MINI, which is kinda understandable. Their cheapest plan doesn't include mobile roaming now. They have also added a few Internet plans in case you end up spending all of your traffic while outside the country. The prices of the prepaid plans haven't changed though, so all is well for the time being.
 
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LOL, yeah, companies don't really want to raise their prices but are forced to by positive consumer legislation. Riiiight...
 
You honestly think we have no vetting of asylum seekers and just let criminals and terrorists in knowingly?

I do honestly think that! Yes. And I do think that many european governments allowed those criminals and terrorists to enter Europe and spread chaos then use it as an alibi to increase surveillance and give the police and the state more powers. In my view European immigration policy is a total failure if people have to live in constant fear. Europe has to stop conniving with States that support backward ideologies like Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iran etc. There are good people in each of those countries that need support there, their numbers is growing they risk jail time or even their lives to enlighten their people they want a secular state, tolerance and democracy, the European Union should invest in them and help them and pressure governments to protect them.
 
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This is exactly the kind of thing that the EU stands for: force large companies to play fairly for the benefit of the common good.

Of course, a significant number of UK voters still think that this kind of thing (and many other similar directives) are just European 'red tape' and wish to 'take back control'. Doh!
 
I do honestly think that! Yes. And I do think that many european governments allowed those criminals and terrorists to enter Europe and spread chaos then use it as an alibi to increase surveillance and give the police and the state more powers. In my view European immigration policy is a total failure if people have to live in constant fear. Europe has to stop conniving with States that support backward ideologies like Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iran etc. There are good people in each of those countries that need support there, their numbers is growing they risk jail time or even their lives to enlighten their people they want a secular state, tolerance and democracy, the European Union should invest in them and help them and pressure governments to protect them.
Our borders are in fact extremely comprehensive and advanced. Sure some people slip through but if you look at the figures, the proportions are ludicrously small. Also, particularly in the UK, the number of imported terrorists is minute compared to the number of British citizens committing acts of terror, where do you propose we send those to?
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This is exactly the kind of thing that the EU stands for: force large companies to play fairly for the benefit of the common good.

Of course, a significant number of UK voters still think that this kind of thing (and many other similar directives) are just European 'red tape' and wish to 'take back control'. Doh!
Unfortunately when the Brexit vote took place I believe the average voter thought "I want to cut immigration and the money we give to the EU". I don't believe they thought things like "My airfare is going to get more expensive. My mobile phone bill will go higher. My working week may well get longer without my agreement". But c'est la vie.

I was in a meeting with some of our EU colleagues a couple of weeks ago, thankfully they don't seem to hold Brexit against us yet.
 
In Denmark a lot of phone-companies have implemented this in advance.
The company 3 fx did this years ago, and have even included the US and canada by now.

Most carriers just put on an addon-charge at about 3 euro pr. month for the ability to roam at all, and if you pay you play :)
i have 10 gigs of data, free calling and free texting for like 16 Euro a month...
Not too shabby :D

in the next couple of years truely pan-european phonecompanies will emerge and compitition will lower the prices even further.
 
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"Mobile Roaming Charges Abolished in the EU"

As an eu citizen myself it should be no surprise that I'm quite happy with this news. For 'just' €26 euro's (about $30,-) a month I get unlimited time calling anyone throughout whole of the EU and unlimited data speed (4G where available) as well. It doesn't matter if I'm in France or Spain or some other country within the EU, I can safely talk for hours with my mom in Holland or establish a FaceTime connection without any extra cost and the other way around since my mom has the same account.

That (!!) is the way it should be globally i.m.h.o.

I expect that the prizes will even go lower in the future and that these kind of data / calling bundles will be globally integrated.

To bad England is leaving the EU, that's why I'm not sure this ruling will also count for England in two years time. Just like Switzerland which isn't member of the EU.

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Unless the UK and the EU can manage a EU deal that includes this ruling as well. Would be better both for the EU and England i.m.h.o. I still regret that England decided to leave the EU which is, again i.m.h.o. bad for both England and the EU. I believe more in working together rather then consolidating and trying to do everything as a single country in these globalising times....
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That would be wonderful.
Since Brexit....the pound has dropped...gasoline has gone up to unreal prices....the public was duped by a man now under FBI investigation.
 
As a person who lives 5 minutes away from the border, this is a godsend.

Does your phone sometimes connect to the bordering country's network(s)-like some customers "roaming" on French operators despite being in, say, Folkestone for example?

If so you could fall foul of the F.U.P and be liable for roaming charges.
 
I've had this for years with the '3' network. The zero cost roaming deal also includes USA, Canada, NZ, Austrailia and some other places.
My deal is £11/month inc VAT. 300minutes, 300 texts and 1Gb data. It is a 1 month rolling contract so I only have to give one months notice to avoid cancellation fees.

Oh, and some UK networks are excluding places like The Channel Islands, Isle of Man from the roaming. '3' does not do that.
 
Nice, now when will Europe be a single zone for Netflix and similar?
Sort of can already.
I'll take Premier League football (soccer) as an example. In the UK there is an agreement where no football will be shown on TV during 3pm and 5pm on a Saturday. This is because in the 60's one chairman of 1 club thought doing so may result in less fans going to non-televised games. As a result many pubs and even residents resort to streaming the content from other countries. Pubs in particular will sign up to a package from another EU country which can show these games and then show the games in the pubs. The Premier League (top league in England) took many pubs to court over the issue, many went bankrupt over it. One pub though stood up and claimed that due to EU law they are legally entitled to show these games as they are showing content from other EU countries, they won this case. Now many pubs openly show the games, however the Premier League are now trying to argue that showing their logo which appears in the content is an infringement on their rights.
 
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Or the vetting is shambolic and symbolic, like asking them to fill in a form where questions appear like: "are you a terrorist?" Yes [ ] or No [ ].
Vetting is more serious than that check their phones messages facebook posts ask their friends etc. Real investigation work since some of them destroy their passports and documents at the border etc.
 
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