Since Brexit many UK network providers have introduced expensive roaming charges for using phones abroad. It means sharing holiday snaps with friends and family now comes at an added cost, which is something I was very cautious of as I set off on a recent trip to Turkey.
I've had a contract with Vodafone for five years and before now roaming charges never crossed my mind, as majority of the time they were included. When I landed in Turkey this time I was expecting a text of charges to come through, but the message I got took me by surprise.
It read: "Welcome to Turkey. Good news: it's one of our Zone C worldwide destinations. So you can use the calls, texts and up to 25GB of data from your plan here at no extra cost. If you run out, it's 0.31p per MB, £3.13 per GB."
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This was music to my ears as I expected to be relying on glitchy public Wi-Fi for the whole week, and was happy to know I could use up to 25GB of data...or could I?
Don't be fooled by the large amount of 25GB free roaming as this is not for an individual trip, it's split up over any country you visit within the year, you can check your usage pretty quickly in the 'My Vodafone' App.
Even so, I could use my phone as I normally would, and as long as I didn't exceed my normal UK contract allowance, which is the Unlimited data Xtra Airtime Plan, then I wouldn't have to pay extra.
This plan costs me £13.50 each month and includes Xtra benefits, which is the key to being able to use your UK allowance abroad, if you pick a plan without Xtra benefits then you will only be able to roam free in Vodafone's Zone A (Ireland and the Isle of Man).
Vodafone splits global data into different zones and since we have left the EU a lot of popular short haul destinations now cost to turn your phone on. Namely Zone A for Ireland and the Isle of Man, Zone B for European countries including Croatia, the Canary Islands and Italy, Zone C includes Turkey, Australia and South Africa and Zone D which includes Egypt, China and Pakistan. Zone A is included in all pay monthly plans at no extra cost.
If you have a similar plan with Xtra benefits with Vodafone, which does cost extra month to month, then roaming in the EU is included, as long as you don't go over your agreed UK limit.
But if you have a standard plan, or pay as you go, you will have to buy 'Pay as you go Roaming Extras'. This will give you an allowance to use minutes and make calls in zone B from £3, in 49 European destinations.
You can also buy an eight-day or a 15-day 'Around the World Extra', which gives you a bundle of texts, minutes and data to use in our 73 Around the World destinations.
If your plan doesn't have inclusive roaming in their Europe Zone (zone B), then it will cost you £2 a day to roam in the European destinations.
You can reduce this cost with one of Vodafone's European Roaming passes, available for £8 for eight days or £15 for 15 days. Before you travel abroad it's definitely worth checking the finer details of your plan, no matter which network you're with, as providers introduce stringent caps on minutes abroad.
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