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Mobile broadband bill shocks

Our Broadband Expert says...

Using your mobile broadband dongle abroad can be hugely expensive. Even if you buy a data bundle to cut the cost of your downloads, using data abroad will cost you dearly.

Your location

There are two things that will affect the size of your mobile broadband bill; how much you download and which country you're in.

Because Ismail was in Turkey, which is not in the EU, he has been charged Orange mobile broadband's (www.Orange.co.uk) highest rate of £8 per 1MB. This means that simply checking his email and downloading a digital photo could cost more than £8.

So if you go abroad using your dongle every day to check your email, surf the internet a little and maybe watch the odd YouTube video, you could run up a bill of hundreds - if not thousands - of pounds.

At the extreme end of the scale, downloading or streaming a 30 minute video could be anything between 100MB and 300MB - which would add between £800 to £2,400 to you bill, depending on your provider.

Data charges also vary widely depending on your provider and whether or not you've bought a data bundle beforehand.

New EU rules

New EU rules cutting the cost of roaming came into force on 1 July 2010, forcing mobile broadband providers to cap customers’ usage once they reach a new €50 (approximately £41) limit and thus avoiding bill shocks.

But rather than dispelling confusion surrounding mobile broadband roaming rates, the new rules have in some ways made things even more complicated. This is because different providers are implementing the rules in different ways, which means that the price you end up paying could vary massively depending on which provider you're with.

Orange

Ismail’s provider, Orange, is applying the cap across all European countries - including those that are not in the EU such as Norway and Iceland. This means that as Ismail was holidaying in Turkey, the new rules did not apply to his account, allowing him to run up a big bill.

Orange is looking to send customers a text message once they have reached certain data levels “to avoid unexpectedly high bills” - but Orange says this will not be in place for around six months.

Virgin Media and T-Mobile

Both Virgin Media mobile broadband (www.Virginmedia.com) and T-Mobile broadband (www.T-Mobile.co.uk) are also applying the new rules only as required. To use your Virgin Media or T-Mobile dongle within the EU, you have to buy one of the providers’ roaming bundles.

This will allow you to go online in European Union countries as well as cutting the cost of your downloads. It will also mean that once your data bundle runs out you’ll have to buy more to continue using the internet - so you'll never come home to an unexpected bill.

But if you want to use your dongle outside of the EU you'll have to pay the standard roaming rates and could run up a big bill if you're not careful.

Vodafone

Rather than just applying the new cap to EU countries, Vodafone mobile broadband (www.Vodafone.co.uk) is implementing the cap across all European countries. It will send a free text to customers when they reach 50%, 80% and 100% of their limit.

But again, you'll have to be extra careful if you're travelling outside of Europe to make sure that you don’t run up a big bill. Contact Vodafone before you leave to double check how much you're going to be charged per 1MB.

O2 and Three

Of the UK’s providers, O2 mobile broadband (www.O2.co.uk) and Three mobile broadband (www.Three.co.uk) do the most to protect their customers from bill shocks.

Three is implementing the €50 cap across the EU - where it will text customers when they reach 80% and then 100% of their limit, followed by restricted access until they contact Three. But it also has a cap of its own. No matter where you are in the world, your Three dongle will be set at a limit of £50. Again you will receive a text when you reach 90% of this - and have your connection cut when you get to £50 unless you contact Three to have your allowance extended.

Get in touch with your provider

Although the new EU rules have cut the cost of roaming in Europe as well as eliminating the risk of coming home to a big bill shock, that doesn’t mean that using mobile broadband abroad is cheap.

Golden roaming rules:

• You must check how much you're going to be charged for using your dongle abroad before you go. Speak to your provider and leave your dongle at home if you’ve got any doubts
• If you decide to use your dongle, when you arrive at your holiday destination you should receive a text message letting you know how much it will cost to use it
• Make sure you read any texts, emails or other alerts from your provider so that you know exactly how much you're paying to go online. Just because you’re in a European country, doesn’t mean you’re in an EU member state. Always double check.

Orange mobile broadband bill shock

An Orange spokesperson said of Ismail’s predicament: “Orange is committed to giving customers transparency when it comes to our roaming rates to ensure they are aware of the different charges when they go abroad. We have a number of initiatives in place to help customers control their costs and we hope that these, as well as the customer's own individual responsibility will ensure customers can manage their roaming costs appropriately.

"All our roaming charges are available on our website and literature which advises that these are separate to the inclusive UK data allowance, accompanies the dongle at the point of purchase. Our customer service and retail staff are also trained to advise on the associated costs when travelling abroad. In addition, our dongles feature a usage tracker alert option which allows users to manage how much data they are using, and they are notified of the price per 1MB of roaming usage when they reach the chosen destination.

“We review all complaints on a case by case basis, and can confirm that after looking into the circumstances surrounding Ismail’s case, we have now reviewed it again and as a gesture of goodwill have offered the customer a resolution which we believe is a fair solution and he is happy with.”

In Ismail’s case, Orange cut his bill by 50% and is allowing him to pay it off in instalments over 12 months.

For anyone else thinking of using a dongle abroad, this case should highlight the need to act with great caution. Ismail has, depending on your point of view, been able to persuade Orange to cut his bill. However, no two cases are alike and it will be up to providers how they choose to settle or enforce cases like these.

There are no guarantees - so speak to your provider before taking your dongle abroad and make sure you know exactly what you’re using at any given time.

Ask us a question

If you have a general switching or provider query please email us at OurExpert@broadbandchoices.co.uk

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