Question

Data roaming allowance in the EU??

M
Rank
Userlevel 1

Can someone please clarify exactly what my data roaming allowance is whilst I’m on holiday in the EU??

I’ve read the fair usage policy and I’ve visited the page:

https://www.idmobile.co.uk/help-and-advice/eu-roaming/fair-usage-policy

…. and I’ve entered my monthly plan cost.  Now I’m wondering if this page is out of date, as the example it gives is for a £10 plan with 10 GB of monthly data …. but my plan is £8 for 25 GB of data and according to this page, my “fair use amount” is only 6.17 GB.

 

It’s all very confusing …. can someone please clarify what my roaming allowance is whilst I’m in the EU??

I’m not really interested in what I’ll be charged if I go over my limit, but feel free to list them anyway, even though I don’t intend to exceed it ….. but I’d like to know for sure exactly what my limit is before the charges kick in.

 

Also, will any rolled-over data be included in the allowance??

 

Thanks  :)

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22 replies

M
Rank
Userlevel 1

Anyone any idea please, or am I going to have to attempt to chat online with someone from ID Mobile??

 

Thanks  :)

Kash
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +7

Hi @Moonbeam,

Welcome to the Community!

How long are you abroad for?

Our fair usage policy has been designed to prevent misuse of our inclusive EU roaming feature, such as someone permanently roaming and not living in the UK.

We understand that sometimes you'll want to roam for a few weeks at a time. That's absolutely fine. But if you roam more than you use your phone at home (we mean in the UK) over a 4-month period, we might think you’re permanently roaming. 

If you aren’t abroad longer than the timeframe above you should be able to use your full allowances.

To avoid any sort of extra charges you can set your cap to £0.

 

Kash

I hope I was able to help you with your question. If my answer resolved your issue, then please mark my answer as ‘Most Helpful’ using the button below the message with the answer.
M
Rank
Userlevel 1

Hi @Moonbeam,

Welcome to the Community!

How long are you abroad for?

Our fair usage policy has been designed to prevent misuse of our inclusive EU roaming feature, such as someone permanently roaming and not living in the UK.

We understand that sometimes you'll want to roam for a few weeks at a time. That's absolutely fine. But if you roam more than you use your phone at home (we mean in the UK) over a 4-month period, we might think you’re permanently roaming. 

If you aren’t abroad longer than the timeframe above you should be able to use your full allowances.

To avoid any sort of extra charges you can set your cap to £0.

 

Kash

I usually go away three times a year.

May or June for a week; Sept for a week and Dec or Jan for two weeks ….. so the way I understand it then, I can use my full allowance when I’m away in the EU??

andewhite
Rank
Userlevel 8
Badge +9

I think once you exceed your plan’s fair usage monthly roaming data limit of 6.17Gb/month, you pay the surcharge amount for any EU roaming data used between 6.17Gb and 25Gb. 

To avoid paying a roaming data surcharge, you’ll need to use less than 6.17Gb of mobile data while roaming in the EU.

Good luck @Moonbeam.

M
Rank
Userlevel 1

Okay …. now I’m definitely confused …. 

 

In the red corner, we have @Kash  who wrote:

If you aren’t abroad longer than the timeframe above you should be able to use your full allowances.

 

…. and in the blue corner, we have @andewhite  who wrote:

To avoid paying a roaming data surcharge, you’ll need to use less than 6.17Gb of mobile data while roaming in the EU.

 

If I’m only away for an odd week here and there, can I use my full allowance or not??

 

Many thanks to anyone who can clarify exactly what I’m allowed to use whilst roaming in the EU  :)

andewhite
Rank
Userlevel 8
Badge +9

I don’t work for iD @Moonbeam.

My interpretation of their fair usage page, in the case of your £8/month 25GB data allowance plan, is that while roaming you can use up to 6.17Gb of your plan’s monthly data allowance without incurring an additional cost.

If you continue roaming and use more than 6.17Gb (while roaming), but less than your plan’s 25Gb data allowance, you will pay £2.56 per Gb for this data.

Anyway, I hope @Kash, or someone else from iD, can clarify this for you @Moonbeam - good luck.

N
Rank

Hi, I'm currently in the canaries and ID Mobile have informed me I'm outside the EU roaming zone and charges me for data up to my cap.

Surely the Canaries are within the roaming zone??

Anyone else had this issue?

 

Thanks

andewhite
Rank
Userlevel 8
Badge +9

Hi, I'm currently in the canaries and ID Mobile have informed me I'm outside the EU roaming zone and charges me for data up to my cap.

Surely the Canaries are within the roaming zone??

Anyone else had this issue?

 

Thanks

Nope.

N
Rank

Is it possible, as they are so close to Africa, I may have connected automatically to an African service provider I wonder. 

Thanks 

andewhite
Rank
Userlevel 8
Badge +9

Maybe, have you been on a Island cruise while you’re there? 
Though, if your iD account bill cap is £0, you won’t get any unexpected roaming charges.

 

N
Rank

Yea i did Gran Canaria, then Tenerife..now in Madeira which seems ok

 

Thank you

 

M
Rank
Userlevel 1

Hi, I'm currently in the canaries and ID Mobile have informed me I'm outside the EU roaming zone and charges me for data up to my cap.

Surely the Canaries are within the roaming zone??

Anyone else had this issue?

 

Thanks

@nthomp1957 

I’m off to Lanzarote in 2 weeks for a week …. so watch this space  :)

Mohammed
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +10

Okay …. now I’m definitely confused …. 

 

In the red corner, we have @Kash  who wrote:

If you aren’t abroad longer than the timeframe above you should be able to use your full allowances.

 

…. and in the blue corner, we have @andewhite  who wrote:

To avoid paying a roaming data surcharge, you’ll need to use less than 6.17Gb of mobile data while roaming in the EU.

 

If I’m only away for an odd week here and there, can I use my full allowance or not??

 

Many thanks to anyone who can clarify exactly what I’m allowed to use whilst roaming in the EU  :)

Hey @Moonbeam

 

I can clarify further.

There is a Fair Usage Policy and an Open Data Policy

The Fair Usage Policy refers to roaming abroad and the 4 months time-frames is the one applicable here.

The Open Data Policy refers specifically to the data usage used when in an inclusive destination. This is limited based on your plan.

Both are applicable when roaming, I hope that clears up the confusion.

 

Mohammed

 

I hope I was able to help you with your question. If my answer resolved your issue, then please mark my answer as ‘Most Helpful’ using the button below the message with the answer.
M
Rank
Userlevel 1

Okay …. now I’m definitely confused …. 

 

In the red corner, we have @Kash  who wrote:

If you aren’t abroad longer than the timeframe above you should be able to use your full allowances.

 

…. and in the blue corner, we have @andewhite  who wrote:

To avoid paying a roaming data surcharge, you’ll need to use less than 6.17Gb of mobile data while roaming in the EU.

 

If I’m only away for an odd week here and there, can I use my full allowance or not??

 

Many thanks to anyone who can clarify exactly what I’m allowed to use whilst roaming in the EU  :)

Hey @Moonbeam

 

I can clarify further.

There is a Fair Usage Policy and an Open Data Policy

The Fair Usage Policy refers to roaming abroad and the 4 months time-frames is the one applicable here.

The Open Data Policy refers specifically to the data usage used when in an inclusive destination. This is limited based on your plan.

Both are applicable when roaming, I hope that clears up the confusion.

 

Mohammed

 

@Mohammed Thanks for the reply but I’m still confused as it doesn’t actually specify when the open data policy kicks in.  Do I get my full 25GB of data whilst roaming for short periods of time??

My understanding is that my fair use amount is 6.17 GB …. which is pretty dismal seeing how my monthly allowance is 25 GB.  That page appears to be out of date, as it states if you have a £10 plan with 10 GB of monthly data, you can use up to 7.72GB.  In this example you get to use 77.2% of your monthly allowance …. yet according to that page, I get 6.17 GB …. which is only 24.68% of my monthly allowance.

 

Why can’t people/companies learn how to word things clearly and concisely  so as not to confuse matters ??

Mohammed
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +10

Hello @Moonbeam, 

I’ll try to break it down for you.

The Open Data Policy applies a fair usage amount to your inclusive data allowance when roaming.

This limits how much of it you can use when roaming in an inclusive destination.

The surcharge is only applied if you exceed the fair usage policy based on your plan. 

So for a £10.00 plan it is 7.72GB of data you can use as part of the fair usage policy for that plan and exceeding the 7.72GB when roaming in an inclusive band 1 destination would apply the surcharge.

For your plan, it’s £8.00 so putting £8.00 into the calculator gets you 6.17GB which is your fair usage amount. Therefore exceeding 6.17GB incurs a surcharge for additional usage (0.25p per MB of data).

The information is correct and the £10.00 is only used as an example. I don’t have access to the exact forumlae used to calculate how this is worked out.

 

The Fair Usage Policy applies to Roaming services overall when used in an inclusive destination.

This surcharge is only applied for if you use your roaming services outside of the fair usage period as stated in the policy. i.e. unable to provide proof of strong ties and usage exceeds UK usage over a 4 month period.

This applies a surcharge on minutes, texts & data at the rates shown.  This would be in addition to the open data policy.

 

Mohammed

 

I hope I was able to help you with your question. If my answer resolved your issue, then please mark my answer as ‘Most Helpful’ using the button below the message with the answer.
Mohammed
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +10

To summarise:

Fair Usage Policy:  IF usage over 4 month period is greater than usage in the UK and you can’t provide evidence of strong ties to the UK then surcharge of 3.2p per Minute, 1p per text and 0.25p per MB of data is applied. 

Open Data Policy: IF data usage exceeds Fair usage policy amount calculated on the calculator (6.17GB in your case) then surcharge of 0.25p per MB of data used is applied

I hope I was able to help you with your question. If my answer resolved your issue, then please mark my answer as ‘Most Helpful’ using the button below the message with the answer.
P
Rank

Are the examples out of date on the calculator page? (shown below) If so this is very misleading. £10 per month gets you 60-80GB depending on whether you’re on a 1, 12 or 24 month plan, not 10GB as used in the example.

 

In the example 7.72GB of 10GB is obviously 77.2% of the allowance. However, in reality, if the allowance before surcharge remains at 7.72GB then this equates to between 12.8% and 9.65% of your allowance. In fact, if you take a longer contract you’re being penalised in comparison to someone with a 1 month contract.

 

I cannot find a £25 plan - the max I can see on the site is £16 for unlimited over 1 or 12 months, and £15 for unlimited over 24 months.  If I use the calculator and enter £16 then the fair use amount is only 12.35GB which falls far short of unlimited.

 

 

Surcharge examples:

  • If you have a £10 plan with 10 GB of monthly data, you can use up to 7.72GB in our band 1 inclusive roaming destinations, just like you would at home. A surcharge is then applied to any additional data up until your 10 GB limit. After this, you’ll either need to use out-of-plan usage or purchase a data add-on, both of which do not incur a surcharge.
  • If you have a £25 plan with 15 GB of monthly data, you could use your entire allowance without getting a surcharge as your fair use amount is 19.30GB.
Mohammed
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +10

Hello @peetz the calculations on the website are correct.

The plan is unlimited data when used in the UK.

Roaming is an additional feature that iD Mobile is providing and have imposed a fair usage policy on (for data).

Mohammed

I hope I was able to help you with your question. If my answer resolved your issue, then please mark my answer as ‘Most Helpful’ using the button below the message with the answer.
P
Rank

Thank you for the reply.

 

So the calculator is correct but the examples are out of date.

Tom
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Hi @peetz 

 

I believe the examples are still correct, could you let us know what error you find with them?

 

Tom

I hope I was able to help you with your question. If my answer resolved your issue, then please mark my answer as ‘Most Helpful’ using the button below the message with the answer.
P
Rank

As per my original post above, £10 does not provide 10GB of data, and there is no £25 plan.

Tom
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Hi @peetz 

 

The £10 for £10 plan will have existed, same with the £25 plan, it may not be an available plan at the moment but this is purely an example.

 

The calculator is on the same page so you can find out how much you’d get with your plan.

 

Tom

I hope I was able to help you with your question. If my answer resolved your issue, then please mark my answer as ‘Most Helpful’ using the button below the message with the answer.
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