Ask Our Expert

Mobile broadband abroad

Dear Michael, I’m going on holiday to Greece next month and would like to be able to do some work while I'm abroad.

Can you recommend a mobile broadband package for me?

George, via email on 18 May 2009

Our Broadband Expert says...

Hi George, generally, mobile broadband roaming rates are very high and I wouldn’t recommend that you use mobile broadband abroad.

Although the EU recently decided to set a cap on how much wholesale mobile providers can charge for data downloaded abroad, starting at a maximum of €1 per MB from 1 July 2009.

However, no providers have yet announced changes to their prices and using mobile broadband outside of the UK remains expensive on all but a few packages.

Click here to read more on The EU’s decision to cap roaming costs.

Three - 1 month contract

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Broadband and TV Deals

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Business mobile broadband

There are some business mobile broadband packages that offer an inclusive roaming allowance.

These are mostly offered by Vodafone Broadband (www.Vodafone.co.uk). The ISP’s two Travel tariffs offer inclusive data allowances when abroad, but both have high monthly rates.

The Euro Traveller tariff costs £40 a month for the first three months and £60 thereafter (excluding VAT) and is available on 12, 18 and 24 month contracts. It comes with an “unlimited” download allowance in the UK, subject to a fair usage policy, a 200MB European data allowance and all other downloads after this or outside Europe are charged at £4.25 per MB.

The Business Travel tariff costs £63.33 a month for the first three months, £95 thereafter and is also available on 12, 18 and 24 month contracts. It also comes with “unlimited” downloads in the UK, but its 200MB roaming allowance can be used anywhere in the world. Once your roaming allowance has been used up, you’ll be charged £4.25 per MB of data outside of the UK.

Orange Broadband (www.Orange.co.uk) also offers a roaming allowance on its Business Everywhere Traveller tariff, which costs £45 a month on a 12 month contract, £40 a month on an 18 month contract and £35 a month on a 24 month contract.

However, the allowance only offers 25MB of data outside of the UK.

Out of bundle costs

Some suppliers won’t let you use your mobile dongle abroad, to avoid the kind of “bill shocks” that prompted the EU to take action on roaming costs.

However, when you think that roaming costs can be more than £4 per MB, and a half hour programme on the BBC iPlayer is more than 300MB, you can see how the costs soon add up.

It is simply not a good idea to use your mobile USB modem abroad - an internet café would be a lot cheaper.

Monitor your downloads

If you do decide to sign up to a tariff with an inclusive roaming data allowance - or even if you decide to risk using a standard mobile broadband plan abroad to check the odd email - make sure that you monitor your downloads to ensure that you don’t exceed your limit and know what kind of costs to expect.

Even when you use your mobile broadband connection at home it’s a good idea to keep an eye on your downloads. Costs can soon escalate if you exceed your monthly download allowance and very few packages offer a fair usage policy.

Install our free Broadband Download Monitor to track your downloads and make sure you never exceed your limit.

Supplier	Usage limit	Contract length	Monthly charge	Dongle/Laptop costs
Lite 1GB (24 months)	1GB	24 months	£7.50	Free
1GB (18 months)	1GB	18 months	£10.00 Free for 3 months	Free
1GB (18 months)	1GB	18 months	£10.00	£3.99	Call Orange on 0800 072 4137