Picture: Phone Guide Germany

Since 1 July 2010, new rules within the European Union are putting a cap on mobile roaming charges. Travelers roaming in other EU member states no longer need to worry about accidentally running up huge bills when accessing the web over mobile networks via mobile phone, notebook or netbook. Travelers’ data-roaming limit is automatically set at € 59.90 (long price) unless they have chosen another limit or a special traveler’s tariff option. Charges for receiving or making mobile phone calls in another country within the EU fall below € 0.18 and € 47 per minute. The former “cost trap” voice mail has been minimized since receiving a voice mail message while roaming is now free of charge.

According to the EU, the new roaming regulation imposes the following:

• Operators have to impose a monthly default cut-off for data roaming of € 59.90. Mobile phone users can also select a different cut-off limit if offered by the operator or opt out of this bill shock safeguard entirely.
• Operators are obliged to send users a warning whey they reach 80 percent of their data-roaming bill limit. The operator have to cut off the mobile Internet connection once the limit has been reached, unless the customer has indicated they want to continue data roaming.
• Prices for mobile roaming calls are reduced further with a maximum tariff of € 0.46 per minute for calls made and € 0.18 per minute for calls received.
• Receiving a voice mail message while roaming are free of charge. But operators still charge roaming fees for checking voice mail when being in another country within the EU.

And this remains in force:

• The price for sending a text message while roaming in the EU is still limited to a maximum of € 0.13. Receiving an SMS in another EU country is free of charge.
• For roamed calls, operators are obliged to use per second billing after the first 30 seconds for calls made and immediately for calls received.
• Citizens should be kept adequately informed of the charges that apply for roaming services.

Four short comments and explanatory notes

1. It is kind of funny: With many existing mobile phone plans of German providers, sending text messages from another EU country to Germany is much cheaper than sending SMS messages within Germany. Many German subscribers still pay € 0.19 per message for sending SMS within Germany.

2. There is an exception regarding mobile data roaming: Operator O2 Germany charges up to € 59.90 per month for mobile data roaming but reduces the transmission speed to 64 kbps (download) after the subscriber has transferred 30 MB of data volume. O2 Germany reduces the transmission speed to 2 kbps after the subscriber has transferred 200 MB of data volume.

3. The new roaming regulation of the EU is only valid as long as the mobile phone user does not choose another roaming tariff option or pricing limit. Please make sure at home what kind of roaming tariff your operator or provider has activated for you.

4. When traveling to another country, buying a prepaid SIM card of a provider of that country might save you money and worries about possible huge mobile phone bills.

For people visiting Germany, here are overviews of prepaid price plans of German providers:

• Prepaid Price Plans for Mobile Phone Calls
• Prepaid Price Plans for International Mobile Phone Calls
• Overview of Prepaid Mobile Data Price Plans for Smartphone Users
• Overview of Prepaid Mobile Data Price Plans for Notebook Users