Find answers to your questions about using your mobile phone to call, message and use mobile data when you travel to any European Union country. Attention: Roaming does not cover calls you make to numbers abroad. When contacting the Secretariat, you will be able to request us to 'call me back'. Is it really true that I will not pay anything extra when I travel and use my smartphone in the EU?
Yes. Your communications (phone calls, SMS, data) made from another EU country will be covered in your national bundle: the minutes, SMS and gigabytes of data that you consume abroad in the EU will be charged or deducted from the volumes of your national tariff plan exactly as if you were at home (in the country where you live, work or study). Contrary to the past, you will not have to pay anything extra. No bill shock anymore. Whether you use your mobile phone while periodically abroad in the EU or in the country where you live will not make any difference. You will roam like at home.
In all 27 countries of the EU: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and in the countries of the European Economic Area: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway.
How long can I roam like at home when I am abroad?
The general rule is that as long as you spend more time at home than abroad, or you use your mobile phone more at home than abroad, you can roam at domestic prices when travelling wherever in the EU. This is considered a fair use of roaming services.
Is it really true that I will not pay anything extra when I travel and use my smartphone in the EU?
If at home you have unlimited calls and SMS, you will get unlimited calls and SMS when roaming in the EU.
If at home you have unlimited mobile data or very cheap mobile data, your operator may apply a safeguard (fair use) limit on data use while roaming. If this is the case, the operator will have to inform you in advance about such a limit and have to alert you in case you reach it. That safeguard limit will be high enough to cover most, if not all, of your roaming needs. Beyond this threshold, you can continue data roaming, subject to a small charge, which is capped at €3/GB + VAT and it will ultimately fall to €2.50/GB as of 01 January 2022.
Does this also cover the calls I make from home to numbers abroad?
Not the same way. Calling from home is not roaming. The roam like at home rights cover communications (calls, SMS, data) made when roaming in the EU, which means when travelling abroad in the EU. The prices of calls from home to another EEA country (EU Member States and including Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) are regulated as from 15 May 2019. This Intra-EU communications price shall not exceed €0.19 per minute for calls and €0.06 per SMS, + VAT.