EU Roaming

[MZone]

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

[apadley1337]

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. 

[MZone]

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

[JonathanB · Accepted solution]

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

[AlanD]

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. 

[onthejazz]

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.

[onthejazz]

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?

[JonathanB]

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