Roaming charges are technically the costs you must pay when you use your phone on a network other than your own; roaming doesn't cover network sharing agreements such as that between Orange and T-Mobile. In practice, for UK users roaming costs apply when you use your phone abroad.
What are the reasons for and objections to roaming charges?
A roaming charge will usually be higher than your ordinary charge, reflecting the fact that your network must pay a fee to the network you are using abroad. There have been many complaints about high roaming charges with claims that networks make unfairly high profits from them, and even that there may have been some collusion.
What limits apply?
Although UK rules don't cover roaming charges directly, the European Commission introduced regulations in 2007. These rules have gradually reduced the maximum costs since that time and the EC has set a goal of having roaming charges be the same level as ordinary domestic charges by 2015.
As of December 2011 the maximum costs that can be charged to consumers visiting EU countries are 35 euro cents per minute for making calls and 11 euro cents per minute for receiving calls. There can only be a minimum charge for the first 30 seconds of making a call, after which charges must be calculated by the second; receiving a call must be charged by the second from the start.
Text charges are capped at 11 euro cents per minute to send a text, with no charges allowed for receiving a text.
At the time of writing the exchange rate meant this works out at around 30p a minute for making calls, 9p a minute for receiving calls, and 9p for sending a text.
What about data?
The EU has taken a different approach to data costs. It hasn't applied a maximum cost for consumers, but has limited the amount one network can charge another to 50 euro cents (43p) per megabyte. It's also introduced rules that mean that by default customers must have a $50 (£43) a month data spending limit, with a warning when they've used 80% of their limit, and an automatic data cut-off when they hit the limit. Customers can set a different limit or have no limit at all, but they must explicitly request this.
What about other countries?
Outside of the EU there is no regulation on roaming charges for Brits going abroad and it's merely a matter of market competition. Some of these charges can be extremely high, even as much as several pounds a minute to receive calls.
How can I avoid or reduce roaming charges?
If you do take your phone on holiday, avoid making calls unless absolutely necessary, and ask friends and contacts to text rather than phone you. Within the EU there's no charge for receiving voicemails, though listening to them will usually cost the same as a call to the UK.
Your network may have special packages for use overseas, so if you do expect to use your phone, ask them about these deals. Another option if you are planning to make calls overseas is to buy a pre-paid SIM card in the foreign country: the rates will be higher than contract customers pay in the country, but almost certainly far lower than your roaming charges. Remember that this will mean using a new phone number during the trip, and that your own handset may need to be unlocked.
As for data use overseas, the only real answer is to avoid using your phone altogether. If you really need data access, think instead about a mobile broadband dongle with reasonable overseas rates.
