Sky customers to be hit with controversial charges from TODAY – how to avoid

SKY Mobile customers will be hit with a controversial fee for using their phone abroad in Europe from today.

Holidaymakers will have to pay £2 a day charge when using their mobile abroad in popular destinations like Spain, Greece and France.

Alamy

Sky Mobile customers will pay more to use their phone abroad in Europe[/caption]

Before today (May 3) customers were not charged roaming costs in European countries and could use their mobile at not extra cost.

Now holidaymakers with Sky Mobile will be charged a £2 a day flat fee for using their phones in nearly 50 destinations for the first time.

The £2 a day charge gives access to your usual calls, texts and data that you get in the UK for a 24-hour period.

Customers flying further afield will find that the cost of using their mobile abroad has DROPPED in price.

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The £6 a day charge for Sky’s Roaming Passport Plus has dropped to £2 a day for countries including the US, Australia and Turkey.

The single £2 a day charge now applies to 55 destinations, including 46 in the EU and EEA.

Calls, texts and data used when travelling to other countries not covered by the roaming passport are charged at a per minute rates

Three countries which were previously covered by the daily roaming pass have now been removed and will be charged at per minute rates: Hong Kong, Qatar and Thailand.

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The UAE is now included in the roaming passport list of destinations.

Sky is the latest mobile network to start charging for using a mobile in European holiday destinations.

EU roaming charges were banned under EU rules but several phone companies have brought back the charges since the UK left the European Union.

EE customers now pay £2 a day in the EU, and Vodafone announced that thousands of its Voxi customers will be charged from May 27.

Customers who have signed up to Three since October last year have until May 23 before they’re also facing a £2-a-day charge.

Here’s the full list of destinations where you’ll now pay £2 a day to use your mobile phone:

• Aruba (Netherlands Antilles)
• Austria
• Azores
• Belgium
• Bonaire (Netherlands Antilles)
• Bulgaria
• Canary Islands
• Croatia
• Curacao (Netherlands Antilles)
• Cyprus (excl. Northern Cyprus)
• Czech Republic
• Denmark,
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• French Guiana (French West Indies)
• Germany
• Gibraltar
• Greece
• Guadeloupe (French West Indies)
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Liechtenstein
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Madeira
• Malta
• Martinique (French West Indies)
• Mayotte (French Territories in the Indian Ocean)
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Reunion (French Territories in the Indian Ocean)
• Romania
• Saba (Netherland Antilles)
• Sint Eustatius (Netherlands Antilles)
• Sint Maarten (Netherlands Antilles)
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• St Barthelemy (French West Indies)
• St Martin (French West Indies)
• Sweden

Hoe to save on your mobile costs

To avoid the extra charges you could immediately disable mobile data as soon as you land and try to find free Wi-Fi networks to get online.

Setting a spending cap on your mobile can stop you from building up unexpected costs from calls, texts or data.

It’s also possible to avoid EE’s EU roaming costs by switching to other networks that offer customers a free allowance when travelling.

For example, O2 allows its customers to use their data, minutes and text allowances as usual abroad – with limits on internet usage in place.

You can only use up to 25GB of your data at no extra cost when you’re travelling in Europe but you’ll be charged £3.50 per gigabyte after you hit the limit.

However, don’t just switch contracts because the roaming price is cheaper – this obviously should depend on how much you travel to Europe.

You should take a look at how many minutes and texts, as well as how much data you’re using, to find out which deal is best for you.

And if you’re still in your contract period, you might be charged an exit fee.

It’s worth using comparison websites, such as MoneySupermarket and uSwitch.com, to compare tarrifs and phone prices.

Martin Lewis has urged everyone to do a broadband and mobile bill check – and you could save £200 a year.

Money Saving Expert has a comparison tool for for cheap mobile deals too.

When comparing what’s on offer check it’s the right speeds or data for your needs.

You don’t want to end up going over data allowances and paying more than expected, for example, but equally you don’t want to spend money on data you don’t use.

You might also want to check you get signal where you are and you can do that using Ofcom’s coverage checker.

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Companies often do introductory offers for new customers too and that could lower the price even further.

You can also try haggling with your current provider to match the cheaper deal you have found elsewhere.

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