Take care of this on vacation if you don’t want an expensive phone bill

2023-06-12 13:25:55

We take it for granted that we can be reached almost anywhere and at any time by mobile phone, and we don’t like to give that up even when on vacation abroad. Fortunately, roaming has become much simpler in recent years, especially within the European Union. However, the fees and conditions may differ significantly in other fee zones, and we may also experience differences in the quality of foreign networks.

Find out before you travel

According to Yettel, first of all, it is worth drawing attention to the fact that roaming is considered to be when we use our domestic subscription in another country, i.e. we use mobile internet, make or receive calls or SMS there, on the network of the foreign service provider. And when we make a call abroad (to an international number) from the domestic network, it is considered an international call – even if it is directed to the EU – the charges for which are not the same as those for roaming.

Since 2017, roaming costs have been more favorable in the EU. This means that in countries belonging to rate zone 1, mobile users do not have to pay roaming fees, or only in certain cases, during periodic trips. Domestic subscribers in these countries can basically use their subscription under conditions corresponding to the Hungarian tariff, be it data, voice or SMS traffic.

However, traveling within Europe does not necessarily mean that we can use the services under the same conditions. Montenegro, Switzerland, Serbia or Turkey, for example, belong to fee zone 2, where the roaming fee is also higher.

The so-called high traffic limit and NetRoaming monitoring services protect you from expensive roaming bills. With the former, our subscription is a so-called can be used up to the high turnover amount limit. If we reach 80 percent of this, we will be warned by SMS, and at 100 percent, the service provider will limit the traffic. The service is automatic, so if you know in advance that you want to use more than your limit abroad, it is worth asking for a limit increase. The NetRoaming monitor specifically sets an upper spending limit for data roaming traffic for the given month. This is also an automatic service, but it can be canceled and it is also possible to set a higher limit.

Against roaming accidents

Automatic updating of mobile applications can generate high data traffic, which can result in higher costs in a roaming environment. It is worth turning this off in the device settings before traveling. If you do not want to use mobile internet abroad at all, then turn off data roaming or all mobile data traffic.

It is also good to know that you can be connected to a foreign network even if you are only near the border of the foreign country, which can be a problem especially if it is a country that does not belong to the EU 1 roaming fee zone.

For example, we travel by car in EU member Bulgaria, and near the border our mobile phone connects to the mobile network of non-EU member Serbia or Macedonia, where the conditions of the 2nd and 3rd rate zones apply. If you want to avoid the mobile phone accidentally switching to another network, switch the device from Automatic network search to Manual network selection.