Roaming Price Hikes

[alcheyne]

I am lucky enough to travel frequently from UK to Australia to visit family, roughly once every two years.

Last trip in early 2023, I took out, as normal the ROAM ABROAD pass at £10 per month.

Based on the new changes, it now costs £25 PER WEEK for the same thing. I cannot believe that there is little to no noise on these forums about this outrageous hike in prices.

Anyone from EE willing to comment and justify this?

Just to rub salt into the wound, my children, who have £10 pay monthly accounts get to use their phones for FREE. That includes calls and data.

[Christopher_G]

Hi @alcheyne 

Welcome to the community.

Are you on a contract plan or pay as you go? 

Chris

[XRaySpeX]

Are your children on a contract plan or pay as you go? 

[alcheyne]

Contract. Have been for years.

[alcheyne]

£10 contract with Volt add on.

[Northerner]

Hi @alcheyne 

Most people have plans with roaming included, what tariff are you on. 

Thanks 

[alcheyne]

EE Essentials 100GB with Roam in EU - Free

[alcheyne]

Adding fuel to the fire...after a long chat with customer services, they have advised that, for my trip, I should take a pay as you go sim, from a local provider. If that does not tell you how bad this pricing model is, I don't know what will.

I do not think I have ever heard a service provider of any type recommending a customer use a competitor because of their insane pricing.

[bristolian]

A local provider in Australia will come with an Australian number. Make sure anyone who calls you from the UK is aware of international call charges, and remember that outbound calls to UK numbers will be the same. App-based calling will only mitigate between users of that app, and won't support calls to or from landlines or non-app users.

The point being, both roaming & local-SIM solutions have pros & cons.

[alcheyne]

Looking at local providers, I can get a 28 day sim only contract for 30-60 ozzie dollars (15-30gbp) with anywhere between 30 and 60GB data and free unlimited local calls and messages. As most of my family will be in Australia, this is ample.

My phone supports dual sim, so I will put my uk sim on answer phone and voip calls only with data turned off. This will allow Whats app etc via wifi and normal phone functionality for other activities. Should cover 99% of what I will need and at a fraction of the cost.

Admittedly, this is a very poor solution, but after the conversations I had with EE today, I would rather fill the pockets of some Ozzie telco than EE, who I will be migrating from at the earlies opportunity.

Incidentaly, Ofcom state that price changes should be clear and concise to be legal. Try and find something clear and concise on EE regarding these price hikes. Good luck.