How to avoid mobile roaming charges as holidaymakers slapped with £50 fee just to send a picture
HOLIDAYMAKERS are being warned to avoid data roaming charges while abroad as new research reveals that sending just a single photo could land you a £50 bill.
Since 2017, British holidaymakers have benefited from the EU’s “roam like at home” rules, which means you can use your phone data without incurring any extra charges in all EU countries.
But it is currently not clear whether this agreement will remain in place after Brexit, and the same agreement isn't in place outside of the EU, which means you could be stung.
Vodafone charged one reader a whopping £5,000 when her daughter, 10, made a 15-second TikTok video on holiday.
To highlight the costs of using the internet while abroad, Which? analysed how quickly common tasks can rack up charges with 13 mobile phone networks in 10 non-EU destinations.
The consumer group's research found a Virgin Mobile customer in Dubai could be hit with a bill for £52.70 for taking and sending a single photo by a text using their data.
How to avoid roaming charges
TO avoid getting a bill in the hundreds, here's how to keep roaming charges to a minimum:
- Turn on airplane mode - airplane mode turns off all wireless connections, including your mobile data.
- Ensure that data roaming is turned off - some iPhone and Android devices have a specific setting where you can turn off data roaming
- Turn off "auto sync" - search the settings menu for a "sync" page, and ensure auto sync is turned off, to prevent apps from updating in the background. Some devices also allow you to turn off background data.
- Ask your mobile network to block data roaming - most networks will allow you to put a block on data roaming.
- Only use your data when you know you're using free wi-fi
- For those who want to use data roaming, many networks offer some kind of package designed to reduce costs. This is often the best way to avoid hidden charges, especially for people expecting to use their phone a lot. Make sure you keep an eye out for exceptions in the terms and conditions.
Plusnet customers, meanwhile, uploading a single 5MB photo to the cloud could instantly hit their monthly data cap of £40 in all 10 of the popular destinations featured in the survey - including the US, Turkey, Mexico, Thailand and Australia.
BT Mobile customers would also be at risk of hitting their monthly cap of £35 by taking and sending a single photo in most of these countries, although this was the lowest cap of the networks Which? looked at.
It's not just taking photos that could run up your bills either.
Depending on what country you are in and which network you use, simply downloading a PDF plane ticket could cost you over £30.
While streaming a single song by artist Stormzy in Dubai could set Virgin Mobile customers back by more than £30 - enough to buy three albums worth of music from the Google Play Music store.
The same song would cost more than £20 to stream with Plusnet in Turkey, and almost £19 with Asda Mobile in the US.
How much data are you using?
IF you do need to use your phone while abroad, it's helpful to know approximately how much data a task is likely to use:
- Web browsing (one page) - 1MB to 4MB
- Streaming music/ radio (one hour) - 35MB to 135MB
- Skype/ video call (one hour) - 350MB
- Downloading emails (100) - 10MB
- Downloading PDFs (one) - 2MB to 5mb
Even getting your bearings with Google Maps could put a dent in your wallet.
Five minutes making sure you're heading in the right direction would cost Asda Mobile customers £3.75 in the US and Plusnet users £4 in Turkey.
Which? is also warning about some of the less obvious ways customers can rack up charges.
These include setting up your photos so they automatically upload into the cloud and avoiding hidden background data use.
The latter can lead to costly bills as apps use mobile data to update, deliver notifications, synchronise emails and refresh social media, even when not in direct use.
The consumer group also uncovered huge variations in the data roaming costs between different providers.
For example, downloading 50 emails with Plusnet in Australia could instantly take a user to their £40 cap, whereas doing the same with Three would be free for customers eligible for its Go Roam offering or cost 10p otherwise.
MORE ON MONEY NEWS
Your mobile provider could charge you for a call on a cruise even if you don’t answer your phone.
See the box above for more information on how to protect yourself from bill shock while abroad.
And check our piece on will a "No-Deal" Brexit bring back roaming and data charges in Europe?
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