Internet all over the Europe

[wolfbln]

Now, there's more hope: Vodafone Germany has now announced to slash (almost) all roaming surcharges in the EU from April 30th for prepaid plans.

This seems to be the first Vodafone network to do so and probably the first provider. Up to now we only had some providers like Three UK that included some, but not all EU countries in their "roam like home" plans.

Vodafone gave some ambiguous announcements in the last days and there was some confusion over the week end, but now final details have been released. They as follows:

You can use the included domestic (German) allowances of their CallYa Smartphone prepaid plans without any surcharges in all EU (plus EEA) countries from April 30th. Their base plan called "Smartphone Special" includes 750 MB and 200 mins/SMS valid for 28 days sold at 9.99€. These allowances can now be used abroad too without additional fees. Starter SIMs are available for as low as 3€ on ebay.de with 10€ credit preloaded, enough to book a first base plan. German SIM cards are still freely available. They need to be activated online on any given German address. According to Teltarif info the add-on packs of 2 GB for 19.99€, 750 MB for 9.99€ or 250 MB for 4.99€ can be used likewise abroad, but this is not yet confirmed.

Some known restrictions:
- Switzerland is not included - it' not part of the EU, but some provider include them
- Voice calls and SMS only within the roaming country and to Germany. This is a drawback for non-Germans, but all data is inlcluded and VoIP calls and tethering possible
- network selectin is mostly restricted to Vodafone networks and partners, but partly in 4G/LTE depending on country in up to 50 Mbit/s

Most of these price cuts I would have only expected after the next roaming rule change due in June 2017. So there is hope, that other providers will follow before. This is the first major operator to go to 0 for surcharges for prepaid in all of the EU/EEA, most will charge 6ct/MB, some even 23ct/MB from May 2016.

So I'll need to revise my disappointed post from some days ago. If we are lucky, roaming surcharges will fall sooner in Europe. As the situation is still very confusing, I'd like to collect more offers like these, to be added in the update of the prepaid data WIKI as valid "roaming SIM" options.

[peterdoo]

Not everything is getting better. The well known Vodafone Italy SIM is changing the Vodafone Smart Passport conditions from June 12th on:

Instead of 50 minutes + 50 SMS + 500 MB it will have
60 minutes + 60 SMS + 200 MB per day at the unmodified price of 3 EUR/day.
From there on each started 100 MB block costs 2 EUR up to max. 1 GB per day.

http://www.vodafone.it/portal/Privat...SMART-Passport

http://www.vodafone.it/portal/Privat...fazioni-europa

Also all the old SIMs got automatically booked an option Vodafone Exclusive which deducts 1,90 EUR from the balance each month if not cancelled.

[wolfbln]

Yes, I agree. But the "special offers" for roaming are very scrarce up to now. Nobody found a bargain or an improved roaming package of any provider (outside of the new regulated rate) so far on the other thread.

May be I can come forward with some good news. I found it very surprising that Vodafone in Germany is the only Vodafone company in Europe to scrap roaming surcharges on prepaid while other national Vodafone providers are still charging a lot for roaming on prepaid.

In the Netherlands I found hidden on a page: https://www.vodafone.nl/shop/mobiel/...d-wijzigingen/

YOU bundels:
Heb je een YOU S, YOU M, of YOU L bundel? Of een Talk or Text of Online Only BloX? Dan betaal je geen toeslag. Je belt, sms't en internet straks dus net zo voordelig in Europese landen als in Nederland. Tijd voor een tripje!

That's in English: You bundles: Do you have a YOU S, M or L bundle? Or a Talk & Text or Online Only Blox. Then you'll pay no surcharge. You call, text and use internet in Europe just as cheap as in the Netherlands. Time for a trip!

You bundles are Vodafone's prepaid combo plans in the NL, the online only Blox is a 1 GB pack at €10 on 4G/LTE. Unfortunately, Vodafones PR policy is a mess. What does this mean? Can you use the included allowances of the combo plans and data add-ons without surcharges on roaming as suggested? Or is "voordelig" a reference to the new Euro rate? It's a huge difference, if you sell 1 GB at 24ct/MB (=€240) which will be still possible, 6 ct/MB (=€60) which will be on some regulated rates or for €10.

Their forum seems to suggest the same: http://forum.vodafone.nl/t5/Mobiel-P...16/td-p/262207:
Je hebt Vodafone YOU met een S/M/L bundel, een Online Only, een Talk or Text BloX of het Internet Dagtarief
Je kunt gewoon roamen uit je Vodafone YOU bundel zonder extra kosten
in English: You can just roam on your Vodafone You bundle without additional costs.
Astonishing is the country list further down the page: Switzerland, Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man, San Marino and Monaco belong to the EU zone with Vodafone NL, with Vodafone DE, they don't for prepaid.

I understand that Vodafone has to do something in Germany and the Netherlands, the two markets where they are loosing customers rapidly now. But their roaming rates are a guessing game. Germany and the Netherlands are countries where you can still buy and ship SIM cards from/to abroad without (prior) registration. So many customers (and eBay merchants) will be interested to sell it Europe-wide. And in these two countries many users are still on expensive roaming plans. In Germany and the Netherlands Vodafone sends out free SIM cards by mail (within the country only).

[wolfbln]

UPDATE: Vodafone NL just confirmed me that roaming charges will be scrapped:
Q: Does this mean, that you can use the package allowance without surcharges for roaming in the future?
A: that is exactly what it means. This only goes for YOU customers who have an active YOU S, M or L bundle, or a Talk or Text or Online Only BloX. Roaming will be charged from those bundles then. When the bundle is used up, the roaming surcharge will be charged. Kind regards, Jackie

So we have 2 Vodafone networks at least in Europe scrapping roaming charges from the end of the month. NL is a bit cheaper than DE, but very few SIM cards on the internet so far. For DE sellers give high discounts on CallYa SIM cards, but they need to be registered online (on a German address).

[peterdoo]

That is very good news!

For data both should be OK. One has to keep in mind that the phone number for receiving calls is either from Germany or from the Netherlands. The calls included in the bundles are probably in both cases only to the SIM home country and to the current roaming country.

[wolfbln]

And more good news is coming from the Netherlands. The first MVNO has gone down to domestic rates for EU-roaming. Tele2-attached *blieb has just published very good rates: http://blog.bliep.nl/roaming/voordel...ming-tarieven/ 500 MB for €6 and 1 GB for €10 in all over the EU/EEA with Switzerland included for a change. Tele2 needed to react to Vodafone that scrapped all EU roaming surcharges on YOU combo packs and Blox add-ons on prepaid.

Unfortunately, in Germany the "discount" providers don't seem to react to Vodafone that will do the same here. I really can't imagine Vodafone scrapping all roaming surcharges and AldiTalk or Lidl Connect are still charging 23ct/MB.

The other side of the story is, that only single operators will offer EU roaming for domestic rates. Luckily, Dutch, Polish or German SIM cards are still freely available for users in other countries. This may change until the year (and transition period) is over.

I'm just rewriting the EU chapter for the 30th of April game changers. I think we will have some offers for everyone to be bought online and others in most countries that can be bought on location giving EU roaming at domestic rates, that's roughly 1-2ct/MB for data in packages. Halleluja!

As soon as the chapter is finished, I'll link it here for discussion what more to add. And of course, I'm still hungry for more offers. Even TravelSIM has gone down to 7ct/MB in packages (19ct/MB PAYG rate) for the EU, still overpriced .... but hey! Finally, we are moving in the right direction.