Go Roam in Europe Fair Use

[DuncanB]

In Three's FAQ it says "In our Go Roam in Europe destinations, you can use up to 12BG of your data allowance. Any usage over this fair use limit but within your allowance is subject to a surcharge."

I can't find anywhere any more information about this surcharge. I'm going on holiday soon and last time I was abroad the fair use limit was 16GB which I managed, just, to keep within. If I go 3 or 4GB over the 12GB how much is that going to cost me? I have an unlimited data contract.

Also, is there a way to keep track of how much Go Roam data I've used while abroad? The three app won't tell me how much of my allowance I've used because it is unlimited and my phone will give an indication of data I've used in the past month but not whether it was roaming data. 

[sc1999]

Your are correct it is tough to find the surcharge. https://www.three.co.uk/support/roaming/france show 1p/Mb outside your allowance so keeping up on iPlayer could get pricey. 

I don't know if the link will be edited out so I searched for three mobile roaming surcharge France, change country as required.

[DuncanB]

Yes, but the surcharge mentioned isn't for use outside your allowance it specifically says use over 12GB but  "within your allowance is subject to a surcharge". I found the charge for use outside the allowance and the charge for people who opened their accounts recently but nothing more about this mysterious surcharge for use wthin the allowance.

[StephR · Accepted solution]

Hey Duncan, sorry you've found this a tricky one to answer. If you have a look at your price guide, you'll find the relevant information on page 21/22.

"If you have a data allowance greater than 12GB, you can use up to 12GB of data each month. If you use 12GB and still have remaining data allowance available, you can continue to use your data, but this is subject to a surcharge - currently 0.3p/MB."

You should receive a text when you've used 80% of your 12GB Go Roam allowance, and another before that surcharge starts to apply. 

Hope that helps, and that you have a brilliant holiday 😎

[Musico75]

I'm in a similar situation but I paid £15 for an unlimited data add-on whilst I'm working abroad in France. I've had to pay twice for this, as the add-on only lasts until your next billing cycle and I came out to France a few days before my billing cycle ended. I've received a text saying I've used my 'fair use' amount and I've since been charged £1.11. That makes sense if based on my price plan, which is 4GB of data per month, but, if I've bought an unlimited data add on, how can it be limited? I've now paid £30 for just two weeks abroad. The text doesn't explain if the fair use cap is for 24 hours, one week or one month. I've used just under 10GB of data in 24 hours. Surely that counter resets and I can carry on using my unlimited data add on without charge for the rest of the billing cycle, as long as I don't exceed a certain amount in 24 hours? Can someone please explain?

[JonathanB]

Hi @Musico75,

Sorry for any confusion on how the roaming services, and our add ons work. I'll do my best to straighten this out.

The add on you're referring to apply to your UK data allowance, so this won't override the fair use policies for roaming. Currently a surcharge applies if you use more than 12GB in a bill cycle, regardless of if you're on Unlimited data in the UK.

If you're going to be back in the UK before the end of your current bill cycle, you will be able to carry on making use of the unlimited data here too.

Checking the current roaming rates for France, you would have been paying another additional 1p per MB as soon as you exceeded the 4GB with no add on applied, so if you plan to use data at the same rate, then it's still a saving to have the add on.

We do have an add on intended for use abroad, Data Passport. Just for comparison, this costs £5 per day for unlimited data.

Finally if you're abroad for work purposes, and these charges aren't sustainable for you. Then you may wish to look into a local service provider's PAYG or equivalent.

Hope this helps clear things up, 
JonathanB

[MikeP1]

This just happened to me. BUT the 80% SMS arrives seconds before the 100% SMS. This gives customer ZERO opportunity to modify behaviour and immediately incurs additional costs as streaming etc continues before you have time to stop roaming. Yes you can set additional charges to zero, but with a proper warning system we can act like adults and regulate that last 20%.

This is a bad process and considering leaving 3 after 10 years because it’s so broken.

[cgkhive]

I have the same problem. Currently in Greece.  Got a text saying I’ve used my 12GB roaming allowance. But in 15 years, I’ve never used 12GB total, so how can I have used it in 1 week?  And on Three app, it says Ibhave 115/120GB left in the current month, so I’ve used only 5GB. 
iOS, the data roaming Go Roam pass I bought sounds like it is worthless as the £2/day would now allow me only to send SMS and calls (being aware that I would likely be charged for any data use that the phone uses naturally, at 5p/MB. 
please tell me this is not the case as I regretting moving away from Vodafone right now. 

[cgkhive]

On the price guide, no idea which applies to me. I pay monthly and moved to Three in March 2023. There is “Essentials” and “Advanced” packages.  My package is “Standard SIMO 120GB”, so which applies to me?

and it seems my Go Roam pass is invalid now as I’ve received an SMS to say I have used 12GB. All pretty rubbish end user experience for me, very sadly. 

[JohnD]

Hey @cgkhive

Totally appreciate the confusion here. In case this still isn't resolved I'll send you a PM to get you in touch with some colleagues that can help.

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

Thanks,
John