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guzhogi

macrumors 68040
Aug 31, 2003
3,735
1,824
Wherever my feet take me…
Update: Some readers are reporting that mobile carriers in certain EU countries have already raised their plan prices, although it's still unclear if this is a direct result of the legislation that came into effect today.

Not surprised by this.

To be fair, roaming does incur extra costs and the consumer who uses a service that costs more to provide should pay for those costs. The scam is in the exaggerated prices that consumers had to pay until recently.

I don't work in the cell business, so I can't confirm. I'm a little curious why, but can't say that I'm totally surprised by that, either.
 

SuperHamster

macrumors member
Nov 18, 2015
79
95
Cambridge
Yay. My carrier informed me that it "needs to compensate itself for added roaming costs" by upping my monthly fee by £12. Thanks EU, I really needed to pay £144 each year so that I can save a few quid when I go on vacation in Ibiza.
 
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rockarollr

Suspended
Apr 3, 2010
152
224
USA
The next move needs to be making it unlawful to lock a phone to a particular network. That law needs to go into effect all across planet Earth. It's such an archaic, greedy, controlling way of doing things that makes life difficult for many, many people.

If you want to keep my business that badly... earn it.
 

MLVC

macrumors demi-god
Apr 30, 2015
1,603
3,744
Maastricht, The Netherlands
Yay. My carrier informed me that it "needs to compensate itself for added roaming costs" by upping my monthly fee by £12. Thanks EU, I really needed to pay £144 each year so that I can save a few quid when I go on vacation in Ibiza.

Thank your carrier who is taking advantage of the situation. My carrier lowered prices actually. But I guess that’s the British thing to do, blame the EU for everything.
 

arkitect

macrumors 604
Sep 5, 2005
7,072
12,408
Bath, United Kingdom
The next move needs to be making it unlawful to lock a phone to a particular network. That law needs to go into effect all across planet Earth. It's such an archaic, greedy, controlling way of doing things that makes life difficult for many, many people.

If you want to keep my business that badly... earn it.
Absolutely!
I think Three is the only network with unlocked phones…
 
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petsk

macrumors 6502
Oct 13, 2009
477
417
I'm italian. We recently got a sort of gay-marriage law only after years of pressure from the EU, treating us like stupid kids... because we actually are stupid kids who need help.
It's full of decent laws, from phone companies regulation to civil rights, we can enjoy becuse the EU. And most italians are mad at the EU because they don't allow us to let immigrants die in the mediterranean sea. I don't know if I want to live here.
(Sorry for the long, not-so-related post).


Are you talking about the EU which is forcing terrorism and multiculturalism upon people who don't want it? That's right. EU now sueing Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic for not letting in terrorist into their countries. That's right. That's the great elite EU you are talking about. Destroying Europe from the inside.
 
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DanielDD

macrumors 6502a
Apr 5, 2013
524
4,447
Portugal
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.


Yes, it does. I have it set to search network manually. But oftentimes I need to cross the border and I need to select the neighboring country's network which is a hassle.
But what you said is not a concern. If you connect with the network of your home country at least once a day, then you should not have anything to worry about.
[doublepost=1497533655][/doublepost]
Yay. My carrier informed me that it "needs to compensate itself for added roaming costs" by upping my monthly fee by £12. Thanks EU, I really needed to pay £144 each year so that I can save a few quid when I go on vacation in Ibiza.

Strange. My carrier just increased my data plan from 12GB to 16GB free of additional costs. Perhaps your company is just scapegoating to get some extra pennies.
 

symphara

macrumors 6502a
Nov 21, 2013
670
649
I don't work in the cell business, so I can't confirm. I'm a little curious why, but can't say that I'm totally surprised by that, either.
Well there's more hardware and software to maintain, to handle the billing and VLR. Then inter-network traffic will probably incur a higher cost as well, especially internationally. And at the very least, making agreements and handling software/hardware issues with networks in foreign countries is in itself a more costly thing.

There's no free lunch here. The networks will not lose money on this. They'll just raise prices.

Think of this measure as the poorer (people who don't travel and don't need roaming) subsidising the richer (people who do travel and use roaming) - like most regulation that seems "social" on some level.
 
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DanielDD

macrumors 6502a
Apr 5, 2013
524
4,447
Portugal
There's no free lunch here. The networks will not lose money on this. They'll just raise prices.

Nope. Major networks will gradually buy smaller ones to get an integrated infrastructure. Raising prices is not very feasible, as competition is very tight.
 

jlc1978

macrumors 603
Aug 14, 2009
5,476
4,261
That's a truly great news, especially considering that here, in France, you can have unlimited call, sms, mms + 40Go of data for 10€ (11,2USD). That means that I can use my 40 Go when travelling across Europe. A move in the right direction!

Some readers are reporting that mobile carriers in certain EU countries have already raised their plan prices, although it's still unclear if this is a direct result of the legislation that came into effect today.

I ink you'll see prices rise as carriers look to recoup the lost roaming money. Those who ram a lot would win since the carriers can spread the price hike across all subscribers. The carriers aren't simply going to eat the lost revenue.
 

symphara

macrumors 6502a
Nov 21, 2013
670
649
Nope. Major networks will gradually buy smaller ones to get an integrated infrastructure. Raising prices is not very feasible, as competition is very tight.
Competition isn't very tight due to the nature of the business, i.e. limited spectrum which is extremely expensive to license.
 

jlc1978

macrumors 603
Aug 14, 2009
5,476
4,261
Of course it would be weird if I had to pay roaming charges between different states.

It used to be that way in the US; until we had consolidation and national carriers emerged.
[doublepost=1497535328][/doublepost]
That’s not true, you can use the entire data your contract allows you to, in this case 40GB.

Not quite, there is a data limit and charges afterward:

Data limits - national bundles with limited data
If you have limited or very cheap mobile data (less than €3.85 / GB in 2017), your operator may apply a "fair use" limit for data when you are roaming. The limit is calculated on the basis of the retail price of your domestic mobile bundle as in the case of unlimited data (above). Your operator must inform you in advance about this limit and will have to alert you when you reach it. Be aware that you can continue data roaming but your operator will apply a surcharge. This surcharge will be the wholesale data cap = €7.70 / GB of data in 2017 plus VAT, €6 / GB plus VAT in 2018. The data cap will decrease further after 2018.

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/telecoms-internet/mobile-roaming-costs/index_en.htm
[doublepost=1497536061][/doublepost]
Really? I'm with EE and have 10Gb and I'm allowed to use all of it in Europe.

I'm curious as to why they have instigated a clause that stops you for example buying a cheap sim in Spain and using it in the UK. However I'm not sure how they can enforce that.

Prevent competition from cheap SIMs. If you could get a cheap SIM from another country and roam 100% of the time in your own country how long would it be before cheap SIMS posed up on eBay and carries found a lot of users buying them simply to get cheap service by abusing roaming? The EU directive includes fair use limits and caps to prevent that; although the cheap SIM companies would probably go out of business if enough uses bought them from abroad simply because the roaming fees that pay the other carrier would exceed the revenue form the plans.

Providers can prevent this by simply not allowing roaming on specific plans; nothing in the directive requires roaming be part of a plan.
 
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martint235

macrumors 6502a
Apr 13, 2016
604
1,530
Some readers are reporting that mobile carriers in certain EU countries have already raised their plan prices, although it's still unclear if this is a direct result of the legislation that came into effect today.

I ink you'll see prices rise as carriers look to recoup the lost roaming money. Those who ram a lot would win since the carriers can spread the price hike across all subscribers. The carriers aren't simply going to eat the lost revenue.
On a kind of side note, just think if we'd kept the spectrum nationalised and leased it out to the companies. Prices wouldn't be as high because they wouldn't have had to spend billions getting the licenses and we'd be able to have more competition due to companies like Giff Gaff, Tesco et al being able to lease the spectrum from source rather than piggy backing off the big 4. (This is UK by the way)
 

Cloudane

macrumors 68000
Aug 6, 2007
1,627
217
Sweet Apple Acres
That feel when you get informed about this by EE but know it'll only be less than 2 years because more than half your country wanted out of this great thing and can't even figure out how the **** to do it..
 

symphara

macrumors 6502a
Nov 21, 2013
670
649
On a kind of side note, just think if we'd kept the spectrum nationalised and leased it out to the companies. Prices wouldn't be as high because they wouldn't have had to spend billions getting the licenses and we'd be able to have more competition due to companies like Giff Gaff, Tesco et al being able to lease the spectrum from source rather than piggy backing off the big 4. (This is UK by the way)
For starters, that's exactly what happens - the spectrum IS nationalised and licensed/leased out to companies. The license is not perpetual, in the UK for example is guaranteed only for 20 years.

Secondly, there's a huge amount of physical and software infrastructure required to actually implement the network. Tesco/Giff Gaff etc simply don't have the money and expertise to do this.

Which is why the licenses are awarded to companies that do, they have all sorts of coverage obligations btw which makes the implementation really expensive, and then Tesco/Giff Gaff etc lease service instead of spectrum, which actually works, and works better in the end.

This is a complicated issue because of the inherently limited nature of the resource, unlike many other domains. Not everybody should lease spectrum, there's relatively too little of it.
 

martint235

macrumors 6502a
Apr 13, 2016
604
1,530
That feel when you get informed about this by EE but know it'll only be less than 2 years because more than half your country wanted out of this great thing and can't even figure out how the **** to do it..
I like the way the companies are spinning it as "Look what we are doing for you, our customer, out of the goodness of our hearts to make your life better". No mention it's enforced.
 
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Rigby

macrumors 603
Aug 5, 2008
6,222
10,168
San Jose, CA
Italy needs a vetting system you can't let everybody in because you feel guilty.
Italy and other European countries do have thorough vetting of refugees.
For those who are not fit (criminals, terrorists) they need to be driven back home
This kind of thinking may seem plausible if you live on a continent that is separated from the rest of the world by oceans. Many refugees don't have papers, and if they do, their home countries in many cases refuse to take them back. So what do you do with refugees arriving on your shores in overcrowded boats? Let them drown?
at the same time european leaders should stop supporting religious parties in those countries and pretend that they are democratic.
Huh? What the heck are you talking about?

Most refugees leave their countries because they are fleeing war (e.g. Syria) and/or extreme poverty and famine. Political instability and climate change are primary drivers.
 

PR1985

macrumors 6502a
Jun 16, 2016
893
241
Germany
I like the way the companies are spinning it as "Look what we are doing for you, our customer, out of the goodness of our hearts to make your life better". No mention it's enforced.
Some carries did it before ( Pay more, if you need it!) That was ok for me (5€, Deutsche Telekom).
 

one more

macrumors 601
Aug 6, 2015
4,504
5,657
Earth
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

Switzerland, nevertheless, is a member of the EEA, so some providers opt to include it into their plans, while others don't. In France, for instance, Orange includes it and Bouygues does not.
 

cube

Suspended
May 10, 2004
17,011
4,972
Note that some carriers are recouping the costs by raising the rates in areas not covered by the new regulation.
[doublepost=1497539350][/doublepost]
Switzerland, nevertheless, is a member of the EEA, so some providers opt to include it into their plans, while others don't. In France, for instance, Orange includes it and Bouygues does not.
Switzerland is in EFTA, not EEA. EEA is included (eg.: Liechtenstein).
 
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