Question

Advice required: Unexpected EU roaming charges - France

  • 17 September 2018
  • 8 replies
  • 1104 views
B
On July bill, whilst travelling on holiday in the EU, noticed a "rest of world" roaming charge. As was travelling in France at the time, this was a little unexpected. As we were close to the Swiss border, wondered if this may be due to phone picking up Swiss network rather than .FR network, as charges would seem to make match.

8 replies

Ryan
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Userlevel 6
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Hi @bigalistair,

You are spot on. As Switzerland is not within the EU roaming area, any usage would be chargeable and your phone, unfortunately, will have picked up one of their networks if you was close to the border.

Ryan
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J
Rank

My experience is I was travelling to and from Spain by ferry from UK Portsmouth. The ferry travels from Santander across the Bay of Biscay past France and into Portsmouth UK. The sea counts as territorial waters for both Spain, France and U.K. so therefore I did not leave the UK.  I would like my money refunded please.

andewhite
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Userlevel 8
Badge +9

Okay @Joyce Gn07, the “How much will I be charged for roaming?” community FAQ has an explanation for this charge.

This topic is also covered in the International Calling & Roaming Charges section of the iD web site under “Ships, Ferries, Cruise Liners”:

 

D
Rank

Hi @bigalistair,

You are spot on. As Switzerland is not within the EU roaming area, any usage would be chargeable and your phone, unfortunately, will have picked up one of their networks if you was close to the border.

Ryan

I know that this is an old topic, but recently, whilst in Annecy, France, a quick trip to Geneva (Switzerland) for a couple of hours to drop a passenger at the main railway station, has resulted in a Rest of World roaming charge of £5. However, the phone was not used in any way (texts, calls etc) whilst across the border - is the charge valid if the Swiss service wasn’t used ?

Dave

andewhite
Rank
Userlevel 8
Badge +9

Hi @bigalistair,

You are spot on. As Switzerland is not within the EU roaming area, any usage would be chargeable and your phone, unfortunately, will have picked up one of their networks if you was close to the border.

Ryan

I know that this is an old topic, but recently, whilst in Annecy, France, a quick trip to Geneva (Switzerland) for a couple of hours to drop a passenger at the main railway station, has resulted in a Rest of World roaming charge of £5. However, the phone was not used in any way (texts, calls etc) whilst across the border - is the charge valid if the Swiss service wasn’t used ?

Dave

What has the £5 be allocated against in your bill covering this time period say @DaveN? 

Was the charge for calls, texts, or mobile internet data?

If the phone was ON in Switzerland, and your background apps and services used the mobile network there could be charges.

 

Tom
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Hi @DaveN 

 

@andewhite is on the right page with this one, the charges come from usage and connecting to a cell tower in a “rest of world” country, so although you may not have physically used your device yourself while in Switzerland background processes such as data usage for apps may have been used (this could be something as simple as Whatsapp checking for a new message).

 

Tom

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D
Rank

Thanks to you and the previous answer. The invoice merely states “Rest of World Roaming” at £4.17 + vat. Seems strange to me as the iPhone (actually, my wife’s iPhone) wasn’t used in any capacity whilst over the border, and was used only to receive / send texts whilst in France. I can see an exposure here in that anyone being even close to the border yet still in France could just pick up a RoW roaming charge without knowing. I think my iPhone service (EE) includes Switzerland with the EU rates, so I haven’t seen this charge before and my phone was not affected. Next time, I’ll have to ensure that my wife’s phone is turned off before we get close to the Swiss border !

Thanks again, DaveN

Tom
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Hi @DaveN 

 

Correct, if you’re close to the border of a country and have automatic network selection set up on the device it’ll pick the strongest connection, if that’s in another country it’d connect regardless, something you can do to help here is switch to manual network selection in your device settings so that it won’t automatically switch networks based on the best signal and therefore wouldn’t connect to another country’s signal by accident.

 

Another thing I’d recommend is setting a bill cap on the iD Mobile account so that you’ll only ever be overcharged (if necessary) at an amount you’re comfortable with.

 

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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