ENGLAND FOOTBALL FANS FACE £5K MOBILE PENALTY FROM UKRAINE
England fans heading to the Euro 2012 Championships in Ukraine at the start of next month could be stung with eye-watering mobile phone bills of more than £5,500[4], according to new research from independent price comparison and switching service, uSwitch.com.
This shockingly high bill could be run up simply because Ukraine is outside of the EU.
Mobile phone networks have been forced to cap roaming charges within Eurozone countries at 35p per minute to make calls, 11p per minute to receive calls and 11p to send a standard text message, as well as a €50 cap on data, with these caps set to fall further from 1st July.
A smartphone user who doesn’t make use of free local Wi-Fi or switch off their phone’s data roaming, could easily amass a daily data bill of £228 just based on a modest amount of video streaming, emailing, browsing websites and using VoIP services like Skype to keep in touch. Altogether, that means fans face a total daily phone bill of £262 for calls, texts and data usage.
This means those fans visiting Ukraine for the nine days between 11th and 19th June when England play their pool matches could have to fork out an extra £2,362 on top of their usual monthly phone bills when they get home.
Ernest Doku, technology expert at uSwitch.com, says, “The first thing England fans going to Ukraine – or indeed anyone taking a holiday outside the EU – should do is talk their network. They may be able to advise a bundle, or at least let you know the costs involved with using your phone abroad.
“When it comes to calls and text messages, the best way to keep costs down to an absolute minimum is to buy a local SIM card, put it in your phone and top it up. Those mobile users wanting to go online should be on the ball and use free Wi-Fi to help keep a lid on costs. The important thing is for fans to ‘know before they go’ so they can blow the whistle on sky-high costs.”
