Martin Lewis has warned UK holidaymakers that they could be charged £6 a day to use their mobile phone. The Money Saving Expert has issued the warning after a change in rules.
Now the UK has left the EU, there will no longer be free roaming charges on some networks. Before Brexit, mobile companies were banned from charging extra fees to use UK allowance abroad in Europe.
Manchester Evening News reports mobile providers can now charge holidaymakers for using their phones abroad. This means that if travellers are not careful, they could have a costly fee.
Read more: Martin Lewis issues bleak warning to all bill payers in the UK
EE describes a day use in the EU as anything up to 11.59pm UK time, the same day. So if you sign up at 11.58pm, you would only get a minute's worth of data for your money.
Vodafone charges £2 which lasts 24 hours from first use in the EU - but in the rest of the world, it charges £6 for roaming and this ends at 11.59pm in the capital of the country being visited.
Three mobile customers are charged £2 a “day” which is also 24 hours from first use. The network provider also offers £5 a “day” data passport for unlimited data in the UK and 89 destinations - but only up to 11.59pm UK time.
Some smaller piggyback networks have introduced charges too, says the Mirror. Virgin Media O2 is the only network giant still offering roaming at no extra cost - although it has changed its “fair use” policy, which is separate to roaming fees. “Fair use” caps the amount of your UK data allowance you can use for free while roaming in Europe.
Mobile firms were allowed to set “fair use” caps before Brexit. Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert, said: "I've no faith in mobile firms to self-regulate. When we left the EU, they promised not to reintroduce European roaming charges… yet most of the big networks have broken that promise. So our report calls on Ofcom to not trust voluntary promises – we need to reintroduce the formal, compulsory consumer protections.
"And it's time too, to define time. We need to ban a daily roaming fee charged for use 'up to 11.59pm' without even mentioning in which time zone. Instead, we recommend all providers must define a roaming 'day' as a 24-hour period from first use, clearly explain that in the arrival text, and alert customers at least an hour before the daily charges end."
An Ofcom spokesperson said: "Ofcom is currently considering the options for future roaming protections for customers, looking at the risk of consumer harm and how to best protect customers in this area. We will take these findings into account as part of this process."
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