LOW-COST mobile carrier Giffgaff is upping its prices and the changes will affect all customers.
The budget carrier is hiking the costs associated with using your mobile abroad.
Giffgaff specialises in low-cost sims and is a wholly owed subsidiary of Virgin Media O2
The changes will come into force in a matter of days.
From August 9, Giffgaff members will be able to use up to 5GB of their “goodybag” allowance in the EU and selected destinations at no extra cost.
Once customers use all this allowance, they’ll be charged 10p per mb to continue roaming abroad.
Previously there was no limit on the amount of data you could use abroad.
Customers will still be able to use their unlimited minutes and call allowance across the EU.
Giffgaff justified the move and said that on average, in 2019, most of their customers used less than 5GB when abroad in Europe.
A spokesperson for Giffgaff said: “From August 9, we are making some changes to our EU roaming policy to ensure we can continue to offer great value to our members at home.”
The move follows other firms who’ve recently reintroduced charging customers roaming fees since Britain left the EU.
Before Brexit all Britons, irrespective of what mobile network they were on, could use their UK monthly data allowance across 28 EU destinations for no extra charge.
Which firms don’t charge for using your data in Europe?
The vast majority of firms have now reintroduced charges for travellers in the EU.
Giffgaff is the latest to have joined Tesco Mobile, Vodafone, EE, Three and Sky with their roaming changes.
Right now, five mobile networks still allow customers to use their UK data allowance while abroad in the EU free of charge.
BT Mobile and Plusnet
Both owed by the BT Group, these two carriers allow all customers to continue enjoying inclusive roaming when they travel to the EU and beyond.
Under their “Roam Like Home” policies, both BT Mobile and Plusnet customers can use all of their data allows while abroad without facing any international fees.
However, if you use all your data allowance, you’ll be charged. BT Mobile customers will pay 11p per mb and Plusnet customers 10p per mb.
iD Mobile
All iD Mobile plans come with inclusive EU roaming.
This feature lets you roam like at home in 50 destinations throughout the EU, European Economic Area and beyond.
The minutes, texts and data you use simply come out of your remaining monthly allowances.
If you use all your data allowance, you’ll be charged 10p per mb from then on.
O2
If you’re travelling within the EU on O2, your allowances will work as they do in the UK. However, data usage within EU is subject to a roaming limit.
If your UK monthly data allowance is over 25GB, you’ll have a roaming limit of 25GB. This means you can use up to 25GB of your allowance at no extra cost.
You can still use data if you reach the roaming limit but you’ll be charged £3.50 per GB for your ongoing usage.
If your UK monthly data allowance is less than 25GB you won’t be subject to the 25GB roaming limit. But if you use all your UK data abroad, you’ll need to buy a data “Bolt On” if you want to keep roaming.
Data “Bolt On’s” costs start at £3.
Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile offers a “Roam Like Home” policy which enables customers to use their UK allowance of minutes, texts and data in the EU just as you would in the UK.
If you use all your data allowance you’ll be subject to extra charges at £4.79 per GB.
You’ll usually be sent a text once you hit 80% of your usage to keep you aware of how close you are to running out.
Smarty
Subject to the firms fair usage limit, you can use up to 12GB of data each month out of your monthly allowance when travelling in the EU.
If you need more data, you can buy a data add-on. You can spend between £1 and £14 to get up to 15GB of extra data to use while you’re abroad.
If you know you’ll go over the 12GB limit, customers can also buy Smarty “EU Roaming Passes” which give you access to your whole plan data allowance for the period of time you choose.
These cost £3 for a single day pass and £7 for a three day pass.