topic EU Roaming in Account and services

EU Roaming

MZone — Fri, 19 May 2023 08:35:35 GMT

Hi all,

Just want to clarify something. I am going to Lanzarote in a few weeks and am aware I could be subject to the £2 a day roaming charge to use my phone like home.

I currently have a dual SIM in my iPhone with the other network been O2 which has free EU roaming. My primary number is my Three number. The plan is to use only my O2 number for data, outbound calls and texts if needed but still have the option to get inbound calls/SMS on my 3 number.

If I switch data roaming off on my 3 SIM before I land and don’t make a call or text whilst roaming am I correct in thinking I will not get charged the £2 a day roaming charge.

Thanks in advance.

Adam

Re: EU Roaming

JonathanB — Fri, 19 May 2023 15:12:53 GMT

Hey Adam,

Yeah if your Three connection doesn't use data, and doesn't make any chargeable calls or texts, you shouldn't have any daily charges. Incoming calls and messages are free when you're in a Go Roam Europe destination. The daily charge triggers the first time you use something from your contract allowance, so make a call covered by your minutes, send a text, or use data.

Thanks,
JonathanB

Re: EU Roaming

MZone — Fri, 14 Jul 2023 11:22:53 GMT

I had an SMS to say The daily roaming charge will expire in less than an hour. Should you wish to continue to use your UK allowance for data, calls or texts, a further daily charge of GBP 2 will be applied to your account for use in Go Roam in Europe destinations and GBP 5 for use in Go Roam Around the World destinations. For more information:http://www.three.co.uk/go-roam or call +447782333333. I haven’t used my allowance whilst roaming and I can’t access My3 due to an upgrade. Are the messages just sent automatically to everyone.

Re: EU Roaming

JonathanB — Mon, 17 Jul 2023 16:26:11 GMT

Hey Adam,

You should definitely only have a charge if you made a call, sent a text, or used some data abroad.

I sent you a link to some colleagues on my last PM to you, they'll be happy to check it out and make sure you don't have any incorrect charges.

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: EU Roaming

MZone — Mon, 17 Jul 2023 21:36:20 GMT

I looked at my account after been migrated over and re-registering and not been charged so all good.

Re: EU Roaming

onthejazz — Fri, 25 Aug 2023 08:46:10 GMT

I have roaming turned off and data turned off for my SIM in my phone settings yet I am being charged daily for 1kbps of data in the night when I am sleeping.
There has been zero use of the sim by me - no calls or texts in or out so how can it use 1kbps of data and charge me for it?

How is this possible?

Re: EU Roaming

atommyk — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 06:37:07 GMT

I have the exact same issue with the same notifications received at 2:40-2:50 am with data roaming and switchover turned off. What's going on?

Re: EU Roaming

atommyk — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 06:46:14 GMT

Done some digging and found this 'data' usage in the three app. How on earth is this charged, and why GPRS? Is that not something the three system should recognise as not a data charge'

Re: EU Roaming

apadley1337 — Sun, 22 Oct 2023 08:33:58 GMT

This seems to happen when your caarrier sends an SMS message home, presumably to share carrier data. This is being mistaken as a user message and will then trigger the daily charge. As its an SMS message, data roaming settings are ignored. Seems to be prevalent on iPhones and happens on ios 16 and 17.

Re: EU Roaming

ycantyoufix — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 20:58:09 GMT

This has been happening to me - currently going around in circles with support as they seem to struggle to understand what a chargeable event is (the current line is that if roaming is off, and you are connected to a network (not for data)!that it counts as a chargeable event - you don’t have to do anything - I’ve pointed out this is not mentioned on their website)

I got charged for using 0.0009 mb of internet despite having roaming turned off every day I was abroad - it’s only started happening since middle of this year on my iPhone 14 - very frustrating.

Re: EU Roaming

JonathanB — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 13:50:59 GMT

Hey @ycantyoufix,

Yeah for it to be a chargeable event this would have to be you making a call, sending a text, or using roaming data. This sounds a lot like a situation I'm trying to get investigated. I've sent you a PM to get you in touch with some colleagues that are gathering info about this.

To view your private messages on the community, click on your avatar image in the top right of any community page, then "Messages".

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: EU Roaming

onthejazz — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 13:54:29 GMT

In the end the only way I could get this to stop was by changing my spend limit to zero.
However that only changes at the start of the next billing cycle so I was unable to avoid charges and had an unexpected bill which I am not happy about but no way so far to get it refunded.

Something changed on 3's side to cause this as it was not an issue when roaming before.

Also why has the "roaming" on / off button been removed from the 3 account settings online and in the app? I started to get these charges after the updates rolled out and it cannot be coincidence.

Re: EU Roaming

JonathanB — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 13:56:05 GMT

Hi @onthejazz,

I'm really sorry for the delay getting back to you on this. There's been a few similar reports in the meantime, and we'd like to make sure this is fixed, and also that if there are any incorrect charges this is addressed.

I've sent you a PM to get you in touch with some colleagues that are gathering info about this.

To view your private messages on the community, click on your avatar image in the top right of any community page, then "Messages".

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: EU Roaming

JonathanB — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 16:37:25 GMT

Hey @onthejazz,

I've referred everyone that's mentioned the issue so far over for investigation. Hopefully a few of you are able to chat with the team I've mentioned on my PMs, and our service desks can use that data to figure out what's happening here.

I will say that the system updates began way back in January, and this only seems to have been an issue for a month or two though, so I'm not 100% sure we can make the call that the two are actually linked yet.

The issue is only reported on iOS too so that may be relevant.

Regarding the roaming option for My3, I'll also get that looked into, thanks for the feedback.

JonathanB

Re: EU Roaming

ycantyoufix — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 14:50:31 GMT

Yep I had to kill my sim when I was abroad most recently as Ive had to bring in the cap

the team on the phone are not helpful at all.

three seem pretty clueless on this - and it’s very frustrating.

I will try your web chat option

Re: EU Roaming

AlanD — Wed, 22 May 2024 09:00:09 GMT

Hi Jonathan,

I dont think this is correct. I had data roaming disabled, was using a virtual sim from another network to access my data instead, and was still charged for roaming when visiting Romania. I did not make any calls or send any texts. A call to 3 customer service informed me that I should expect to be charged when my sim connects with the network - in other words, we get charged to receive texts or calls when in the EU. I informed the call center that this was certainly not my understanding of the communications I had received, but they were adamant that this was so. Can you provide insight into this please? Apparently, the only way to avoid this in future is to set the spend limit to "£0" or entirely deactivate the 3 sim which I find quite bizzar.

Re: EU Roaming

onthejazz — Wed, 22 May 2024 09:31:43 GMT

Exactly the issue.
My roaming was off on the 3 sim card and I was using esim for both data and calls yet still my 3 was getting charges for doing nothing.

I had to do set the limit to £0 in order to stop this but of course it will only let you change at the end of the billing cycle so I had to turn the sim off until then.

This never used to happen, something changed on 3 side to make this happen.
In the past I was abroad for several longer spells with the sim active but roaming off and had zero charges.