Roaming no longer exists. Really?

In EU countries, you can make calls with your cell phone under the same conditions as at home. But even in Europe, you’re not completely safe from roaming traps.

At home anywhere in the EU

With your flat rate contract, you can use your cell phone on vacation just as you do at home. Provided you’re on vacation in an EU country (or in Iceland, Norway or Liechtenstein).

Sure, your data credit will melt away when you’re streaming like crazy in the Italian sun. But that would also be the case at home. You won’t incur any additional costs at first. Only when your credit is gone, your provider can charge roaming surcharges.

Attention: Border area!

You can also fall into the roaming trap within the EU – in border areas. For example, if you are on a Greek island near Turkey, a Turkish cell phone mast may take over. Your provider will then charge you for roaming. It’s best to switch off the automatic network search in border areas.

This also applies to Austria: In Vorarlberg, your cell phone could jump to a Swiss network. Roaming costs would be the consequence.

Vacations outside the EU

Outside the EU, surfing or making a call can be really expensive. Amounts up to € 5 per minute are common, especially in South America and Southeast Asia.

Normally you will be informed about the costs via SMS. If you don’t get a text message with the costs, find out exactly how much you’ll be charged for using your cell phone.

Popular non-EU destinations

Turkey
Egypt
Tunisia
Thailand, India, Indonesia and the whole Southeast Asian region
USA
South America

If you have accumulated 60 euros in roaming costs, your provider will normally cut off your data roaming. You will receive a warning SMS when you have used 80% of this amount.

But beware: With some providers, the maximum limit for roaming can be set individually. Check this to be on the safe side!

Vacation outside the EU: What to do?

1. buy a roaming package

Ask your provider about roaming packages and see if you can get out of the country more cheaply.

2. turn off data roaming and use WiFi

Switch off data roaming and look for a WiFi hotspot. Almost all restaurants and public facilities offer these free of charge.

3. VOIP with WiFi

Do without phone calls and SMS and rather use internet services when you are in a WiFi hotspot. Internet telephony (VOIP) via Skype will then cost you nothing.

4. Value card in the vacation country

Buy a prepaid card with internet data volume in a specialized store in your vacation country. You will have a different phone number, but it doesn’t matter for messenger services and social media. Note: Only works with unlocked cell phones.

5. Turn off voicemail

When you listen to a message on your voicemail abroad, you are charged for two active and one passive call. The passive one is caused by the recording of the call. Your voicemail box then has to send the message back to Austria so that it can be saved – this is how the first active call is created. If you then also listen to it, you will be charged for another active call. This can be very expensive!

6. Who is afraid of ghost(roaming)?

Do you have LTE? Then you could fall victim to ghost roaming in non-EU countries and in border areas, even if you have deactivated data roaming.

This is because the LTE standard needs a data connection to operate: small data packets are constantly going back and forth. Over time, this causes considerable costs. Antidote: Temporarily turn down your cell phone to 3G.

7. Expensive flights and ships

None of the EU rules on roaming apply to planes and ships. There are often WiFis there, for whose use sometimes horrendous prices are charged. It’s best to go into flight mode when you get on a ship! This applies to cruise ships as well as ferries.

More information about roaming can be found on the website of RTR, the Austrian Regulatory Authority for Broadcasting and Telecommunications. Link to
https://www.rtr.at/de/tk/TKKS_Roaming
https://www.rtr.at/de/tk/TKKS_Roaming