O2 UK Recommits to Inclusive EU Mobile Roaming as Standard
Mobile operator O2 (VMO2) has recommitted to continue their existing policy of retaining inclusive EU roaming as a standard feature on their plans, which they claim could be helping to save an average family of four around £100 during a two-week trip away. Across the UK, this could be saving as much as £3m per week throughout 2022.
At present, O2 remains the only primary Mobile Network Operator (MNO) not to have reintroduced fees for EU roaming. By comparison, their rivals typically charge £2 per day for customers to continue to consume their UK allowances (calls, texts and data / mobile broadband) across EU countries, although some operators may also offer special bundles at a discount.
According to a new survey by the operator, a quarter of Brits STILL aren’t aware they may need to pay additional fees for using their mobile while on holiday in Europe. This comes despite 70% saying that connectivity is “important” whilst abroad, with Brits most commonly using their mobile while away to stay connected to friends and family (52%), find their way around (37%), book restaurants (26%) and update social media (21%).
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Some 50% also think it’s unfair to pay additional charges for using their mobile whilst abroad in Europe. But beware that VMO2 didn’t include much detail or methodology to support this survey, except to indicate that it was extracted from “O2 Motion” data between the beginning of January to the end of November 2022 inclusive.
Gareth Turpin, Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin Media O2, said:
“We know that many people will be cost conscious when going on holiday this year, so we’re proud to stand out as the only major mobile provider to continue offering inclusive EU roaming, already saving our customers money and providing more value to those travelling post-pandemic. Whilst we’re not able to remove fees on sunbeds and airplane seats, hopefully not having to worry about roaming fees will upgrade the holiday experience for our customers – whether it is treating themselves to a nice meal or splashing out and ordering that extra cocktail by the pool.”
In practice, it’s worth noting that savvy consumers on other operators can often reduce the impact from roaming charges by simply purchasing a special EU or global travel SIM (or eSIM) from other companies at extra cost, or even buying a local SIM with plenty of preloaded data when they arrive.
Nevertheless, O2’s approach often still works out cheaper, and happily it looks like that will continue, at least for another year.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Free of charge EU roaming and recent 5G rollout in my area convinced me to stay with O2.
Roaming isn’t free – the cost is included in the tariff which all customers pay, including those who don’t want it. I’d prefer a cheaper deal for this country only.
Why would they offer you a cheaper deal when you’re happy to pay current prices? No, you will pay the same and then pay more if you want to do roaming. That’s what most will do, even if you go to a place where you’ll use a network from the same group (eg: Vodafone).
Then the problem isn’t inclusive roaming but the absence of an offer for this country only. Oh wait… that’s what the other networks have by default, because on Vodafone, 3 and EE you will pay per day for roaming. Check out the prices of all the main networks and you might be surprised to find that O2 has the cheaper deals!
I smell Brexit voter.
And yet, O2 are generally cheaper than all the others….interesting….
Sure roaming isn’t completely free to provide but networks have always been free to surcharge their EU roaming. Or just not include roaming at all if they wish. Vodafone has “Basic” plans with no roaming.
ID, Virgin and (previously, but no longer) Lebara have limited your roaming use according to your plan cost, as is allowed for under the EU rules. Lots of networks across the EU do similar, particularly in countries with very cheap data rates like Poland and Slovenia. And the other networks have always had varying levels of “fair use”.
But the fact that more expensive networks have added charges is just pure profiteering. Generally these networks haven’t reduced their rates either. On top of this, mobile network operators also make money when visitors come to the UK if those customers use those networks. Commercially they should be able to provide a good deal and balance these levels, instead of profiteering. The virtual networks continuing to offer EU roaming just shows they are still able to get good prices from their EU roaming partners and can factor it in to their rates whilst prices remain low.
AndyK… don’t think I’ve ever laughed at a comment as hard.
No they’re not really ever the cheapest, especially with Three and Vodafone in the market.
They’re just as competitive as other providers if you use uswitch.com or similar????
O2 is useless, isn’t that how things go in the comments?
140Mbps download here, more than enough for me on band 40
Depends where you live really. I used to have Three which was really bad in 2015-2016 in Cambs as well as in any crowded area like airports but some people are now reporting it great. We’ve moved all of our mobile services to Vodafone which was great for number of years and then degraded below Three levels. We’ve moved to O2 then and while data transfers started decreasing month to month other operators imposed roaming charges etc. However recently O2 started investing in their network and we now have 5G in our area, it works in crowded places and we have EU roaming free of charge.
the vast majority of comments I have read is that o2 are the new three.
Thats not anyone being cynical, thats just fact. With a mex speed of 1mbps at peak times makes this network for all intents and purposes useless.
@bert Anonymous comments = facts? That’s a good one. You may be right, but try providing a primary source instead.
@Bob
He might be right actually. Until O2 enabled 5G in my area, included roaming was the only thing keeping me with them as the maximum internet speed was up to 6Mbps, sometimes not enough to stream Spotify or Amazon Music while dog walking. All depends where you live.
@Bob, go to ISPReview’s mobile broadband forum, find the O2 thread, and look at some of the speed tests and user feedback. Then compare it to the other networks.
I can’t use them because all I get inside my flat is B20 coverage and I struggle to even talk with people via WhatsApp. Three’s 4G is equally bad, but I get 5G from them. Vodafone is a bit better, but there’s no 5G yet here. EE… always above 100Mbps.
O2 was never amazing here, but was usable until they moved the Virgin Mobile users to their network. It’s not the case everywhere, but I can see where the “O2 is the new Three” comments come from.
@Polish @NoOne He may will be right, but anecdotal evidence is not factual evidence. Barry said his car was fast. Just because Barry, and even his mate Gary, said something doesn’t make it a fact. What was it independently measured at?
@Bob
Most independent test is always user experience test in particular place.
O2 for all their faults of which there are many should be commended for their stance on roaming, why the other mnos can’t do the same is beyond me, I’ll correct that are unwilling to do anything. Roaming charges were an absolute cash cow for the networks and they were besides themselves when EU membership meant that the golden goose was no more. As soon as they had a chance boom roaming charges are back, then the mnos mutter utter nonsense about investing in our network the same drivel which will be spouted about the inflation plus cpi rises which are upon us
Well done o2, shame on you three, Vodafone and ee. The UK mobile market a sown up cartel
Three still offer free of charge EU roaming in their PAYG Smarty. Same as O2 in GiffGaff.
Absolutely. A big player needs to keep competitive roaming or I can’t see why the other smaller players would keep it.
I’m not sure how much of a cash cow it is.
I don’t have EU roaming included on my EE plan, but I can use one of those swappable benefits to put on the roaming package for a month which now includes the EU alongside various other countries
£0 in new revenue.
Since I am in the UK 99% of the time I pick a network based on what works here. O2 would not work for me, it’d be like going back to the 1990s
That’s good. For those who don’t want to use O2, a reminder that you can still get free roaming (14-25GB depending on the network) via virtual networks. Lebara (Vodafone), PlusNet or 1pmobile (EE), Smarty (Three), all have free EU roaming.
ID mobile also offer free roaming with a fair use policy (something like 1GB roaming per £1 monthly spend) and an actual open, documented overage costs (roughly £2 per GB, 3p per minute).
When in the UK I often see 200Mbps+ on 5G ♂️
This is brilliant to see. For the cost, I just checked and 25GB is 10 pound per month which is not that much. You can even get 8 pound per month for 15GB. For those who have bad o2 network in your area; this differs from area to area, EE is extremely bad in my area but it’s just the luck of the draw.