Turned off 'roaming' to avoid extra charges

Bobwen · ‎12-10-2026

Can anyone advise me. I'm in the USA and have turned 'roaming' off on my Android as I didn't want any extra charges and was going to use WhatsApp instead to keep in touch with home. Although I've turned my mobile off, if I turn it on again and just read any text messages, would I get extra charges from EE for doing this?

XRaySpeX · ‎12-10-2026

@Bobwen : I bet you haven't turned Roaming off! All you have done is turn Data Roaming off. You can still call & text roam whereby you may be charged for any call, in or out, or sending texts. Fortunately receiving texts is free worldwide.

If you wanna WhatsApp you'll need Data Roaming on.

If you think I helped please feel free to hit the "Thumbs Up" button below.

To phone EE CS: Dial Freephone +44 800 079 8586 - Option 1 for Home Broadband & Home Phone or Option 2 for Mobile Phone & Mobile Broadband

ISPs: 1999: Freeserve 48K Dial-Up > 2005: Wanadoo 1 Meg BB > 2007: Orange 2 Meg BB > 2008: Orange 8 Meg LLU > 2010: Orange 16 Meg LLU > 2011: Orange 20 Meg WBC > 2014: EE 20 Meg WBC > 2020: EE 40 Meg FTTC > 2022:EE 80 Meg FTTC SoGEA > 2025 EE 150 Meg FTTP

View solution in original post

XRaySpeX · ‎12-10-2026

@Bobwen : I bet you haven't turned Roaming off! All you have done is turn Data Roaming off. You can still call & text roam whereby you may be charged for any call, in or out, or sending texts. Fortunately receiving texts is free worldwide.

If you wanna WhatsApp you'll need Data Roaming on.

If you think I helped please feel free to hit the "Thumbs Up" button below.

To phone EE CS: Dial Freephone +44 800 079 8586 - Option 1 for Home Broadband & Home Phone or Option 2 for Mobile Phone & Mobile Broadband

ISPs: 1999: Freeserve 48K Dial-Up > 2005: Wanadoo 1 Meg BB > 2007: Orange 2 Meg BB > 2008: Orange 8 Meg LLU > 2010: Orange 16 Meg LLU > 2011: Orange 20 Meg WBC > 2014: EE 20 Meg WBC > 2020: EE 40 Meg FTTC > 2022:EE 80 Meg FTTC SoGEA > 2025 EE 150 Meg FTTP

Alex_H · ‎13-10-2026

Hi @Bobwen,

Welcome to the EE Community

As has been mentioned if you have just disabled the data roaming setting on your phone, this will only block your ability to use data whilst outside the UK. Your phone would still be able to call and text.

But if you only plan to receive texts and not send texts or make and receive calls, receiving texts will be free. If you have access to free WiFi you can use that for Whatsapp also instead of your data.

Alex