UK based mobile phone provider THREE has been agreed to scrap its international roaming charges.
Customers in Greece, Portugal and more will be able to call, text or Facebook home without rinsing up an eye-watering bill from next month.
From September, Three mobile customers will be able to use their phones abroad in up to 42 European and international countries, without spending a penny extra.
The mobile phones operator has expanded its Feel at Home service, which currently allows people to use their phone abroad at no extra cost, in Spain, France, New Zealand and America.
From September 2016, 24 more countries will be added to this service, including Germany, Portugal and Greece - and frequent travellers are likely to see the most benefits - with the ability to tweet, snap and browse the web using their UK allowance.
The new plan comes just months after the European parliament voted through new rules to abolish mobile roaming charges in Europe completely, after insight revealed Brits spend an average of £350million a year on calls to the UK from abroad.
Three's current Feel at Home plan also includes a collection of international destinations, including Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and the USA.
Dave Dyson, CEO at Three, commented: "We have led the way in tackling the issues that frustrate UK consumers and rip-off roaming charges are one of the biggest causes of bill shock."
"We were the first to introduce roaming at no extra cost and now we cover 42 destinations – more than any other network.”
"These have been prioritised based on customer feedback and now 80% of our customers’ trips abroad are to Feel At Home destinations, covering the most popular travel spots both within and outside of Europe.”
Is my holiday destination covered?
Feel at Home is currently available in 18 destinations worldwide Spain, France, Switzerland, Israel, Finland, Norway, USA, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Macau, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Austria, Hong Kong, Sweden, Denmark and Republic of Ireland.
From 1 September, the service will also cover Germany, Greece, Portugal. Croatia, Poland, Belgium, Netherlands, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Malta, Lithuania, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Iceland, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar, Isle of Man and Channel Islands (Guernsey and Jersey).
What's included in Feel at Home?
- All calls and texts to UK numbers (within your standard allowance).
- All your data usage (within your allowance).
- It's always free to receive calls and texts in a Feel At Home destination. Don't forget that when you're calling or texting back to the UK, you'll need to replace the first 0 in the number you're calling or texting with +44.
- You'll be able to stream and connect to Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) while in a Feel At Home destination but both of these will be slower than they are in the UK.
What's NOT covered?
- If you have all-you-can-eat data you can use up to 12GB. If you have all-you-can-eat texts you can send up to 5,000 texts. If you have 3,000 or more minutes included in your allowance you can use up to 3,000 minutes.
- Numbers that start with 070, 084, 087, 09 and 118 directory services.
- Feel At Home is designed for UK residents who are on holiday or business trips abroad, not for extended periods abroad.
- You can't use your phone as a personal hotspot (tethering) while you're abroad.
- You can’t use your minutes allowance to make calls to local or other international numbers, as you can only use your inclusive minutes to call UK numbers, whether you’re in the UK or a Feel At Home destination.
If you're worried about roaming charges on any other UK network, USwitch has a handy guide on How to avoid roaming charges here.
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