Roaming in USA and Mexico

[hawkerpaul]

Hi

I have 3 contracted phones on my EE account, one each for myself, wife and son. We are going on holiday for 10 days in the summer to the USA and Mexico. I was wondering what is my best (ie. cheapest) option to be able to roam while we are out there. I'm not too bothered about being able to make/receive phone calls, but we will certainly need our data while we are there. My plan has about 200Gb, which I gift data each month to my wife+son's phones (who both have 1Gb per month)

Thank you.

Paul

[bristolian · Accepted solution]

Roaming costs for both countries are at https://ee.co.uk/help/mobile/roaming/roaming-costs , you fundamentally have two choices.

1: Pay per-minute or per-text for anything you use your phone for, although you will need to purchase a data add-on else mobile data will not function. I strongly suspect this will force option 2 as your only viable choie

2; The Roam Abroad pass - https://ee.co.uk/help/mobile/roaming/roam-further-pass - allows full use of your UK allowances in both countries for £25/month. The pass is pro-rata'd during the billing month you add it, but fully charged for all subsequent months regardless of whether you cancel it during the month or not. The charge is per phone, not per account.

[XRaySpeX]

Outside the EU, if you are on contract, you may use your usual UK allowances there with up to 50 GB data per billing month if you have more, when you buy for £25 / month or have already as a Smart Benefit the Roam Abroad Pass or you have an EE Max Plan. Otherwise you will need to pay the charges or buy roaming add-ons as set out in https://ee.co.uk/help/mobile/roaming/roaming-costs/countries/usa.

If you are on contract, remember to text ROAMING to 150 before you leave UK to ensure the roaming ability is enabled on your account.

If you are on PAYG, make sure you have used your PAYG SIM to make a call or text in the UK.

[hawkerpaul]

Thank you both very much for your replies.

So basically, it looks like I will have to purchase Roam Further Pass for each phone then by texting  ROAMING PASS to 150?

I get billed on the 29th of each month, so it would better do do this on the 29th of the month before we leave, and then text STOP ROAMING PASS to 150 as soon as we arrive back in the UK.

For 3 phones, that will come to £75. Ouch! For 10 days roaming. Just have to suck it up. 

Thanks again both. I'll make a note to do this before we leave. 

[XRaySpeX]

Yes.

Thanks! You're welcome 🙂 ! Glad I could be of assistance & trust it is now sorted.

[hawkerpaul]

Yes thank you Mr. Spex & Bristolian! 👍