Roaming: Using a mobile phone in the EU

When you travel outside your home country to another EU country, you don't have to pay any additional charges to use your mobile phone. This is known as "roaming" or "roam like at home". Your calls (to mobile and fixed phones), text messages (SMS) and data use (web browsing, music and video streaming etc.) are charged at domestic rates, i.e. the same price as calls, texts and data within your home country.

The same rule also applies to any calls or text messages you receive while you're abroad. You won't be charged extra to receive calls or texts while roaming, even if the person calling you is using a different service provider.

What is roaming?

Roaming is when you use your mobile phone while occasionally travelling outside the country where you have a mobile subscription i.e. the country where you live, work, study or otherwise have stable links.

As long as you spend more time at home than abroad, or you use your mobile phone more at home than abroad, you are considered to be roaming. You will therefore be charged domestic prices for your calls, text and data use in the EU. This is considered a "fair use of roaming services".

Whenever you cross a border within the EU, you should get a text message from your mobile operator informing you that you are roaming, and reminding you of its fair use policy. The text message should inform you about personalised pricing based on your subscription, any services that can generate additional charges, and the emergency contacts for that country.

Fair use policy (limits on data use)

Mobile operators may have a "fair use policy", meaning they may apply limits on how much data you can use at your domestic price. In some specific cases (see below), you may have to pay a data roaming surcharge. This surcharge cannot be higher than the EU-wide wholesale data cap.

The data cap is set at €1.30 / GB of data in 2025 + VAT, but it will decrease over time. From 2027 onwards it will be capped at €1 / GB + VAT.

I have a pre-paid card

If you have a pre-paid card (meaning that you pay in advance for using your mobile phone) you can use your phone in other EU countries without paying extra. However, if you pay per unit and your domestic unit price for data is less than €1.30 per GB, your mobile operator may apply a data limit while you're roaming.

If your mobile operator applies a data volume limit, it should be at least the volume obtained by dividing the remaining credit on your pre-paid card by €1.30 as soon you start using data roaming services. You will get the same volume of roaming data that you've paid for in advance. You can top up your credit while you're travelling.

My contract includes limited data

If you have a mobile phone contract with a limited data allowance, you can use this allowance when you travel in the EU at no extra cost. The data allowance in your contract is your limit when roaming.

However, if you have a very cheap mobile data unit price in your contract (less than €1.30 / GB in 2025 and decreasing over time), your operator may apply a "fair use" data limit when you're roaming. This limit can be lower than your domestic data allowance.

The limit is based on the price of your domestic mobile contract. Your operator must tell you in advance about this limit, and alert you when you have reached it. You can continue data roaming once you've reached your limit, but your operator can charge you extra. However, this surcharge cannot be higher than the wholesale data cap (€1.30 / GB + VAT in 2025).

My contract includes unlimited data

If you have a mobile phone contract where you pay a fixed monthly fee and it includes bundled services with unlimited data, your mobile operator may limit the amount of data you can use while roaming. The exact amount will depend on how much you pay for your mobile contract. The volume of data must be at least twice the amount obtained by dividing the price of your mobile contract (excluding VAT) by the wholesale data roaming cap (€1.30 + VAT in 2025).

Your operator must tell you how much data is in your roaming allowance. If you go over your allowance while roaming, you will be charged extra. However, this surcharge cannot be higher than the wholesale data cap (€1.30 / GB + VAT in 2025).

Other contracts

Operators may also offer contracts without roaming services or specifically designed alternative roaming contracts with tariffs which fall outside the scope of EU rules, for example if you choose a different tarrif or you roam outside the EU. You must specifically choose these types of options yourself.

Monitoring roaming use

As part of their fair use policy, your operator can monitor and check your roaming use over a 4 month period. If, during this period, you have spent more time abroad than at home AND your roaming use exceeds your domestic use, your operator may contact you and ask you to clarify your situation. You will have 14 days to do so.

If you continue to spend more time abroad than you do at home and your roaming consumption continues to exceed your domestic usage your operator may start charging you extra for your roaming use. The surcharges (excluding VAT) cannot be higher than

• €0.019 per minute of voice calls made

• €0.003 per text message

• €1.30 per GB of data (the limit in 2025, which will decrease over time until it reaches a maximum surcharge of €1 / GB from 2027 onwards).

Your mobile provider must automatically apply a cut-off limit when you roam. This means that when you reach a total consumption of an additional €50, or any other limit you choose, your mobile provider will inform you that you can no longer use roaming services. You have the option of informing your provider that you wish to continue using roaming, even if you will be charged additionally.

Roaming for cross border workers

If you work in one EU country and live in a different one, you can choose a mobile operator in either country and roam using a SIM card either from the country where you live or from the country where you work. The fair use policy still applies: as long as you connect at least once a day to your domestic operator's network, it will count as a day of presence in the country where you have your contract (even if you go abroad again the same day).

Can I roam while travelling by ship or plane?

Yes, but be careful. You should not be charged extra to use your mobile phone when you travel by ship or plane, as long as you are connected to a terrestrial (land-based) mobile network, e.g. in a harbour, on a river, in the airport. But if mobile services are provided via satellite systems, EU rules no longer apply and you will be charged for non-regulated roaming services (no price caps). To avoid extra costs, deactivate roaming on your device or activate flight mode while on board.

Roaming outside the EU

The “roam like at home” regime is also available in the countries of the European Economic Area: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway. Countries outside the EU/EEA are not covered by this regime, but many operators choose to extend these offers to such countries as well.

The cost of roaming (particularly data roaming) outside the EU/EEA can be expensive. To avoid running up high bills, check the cost for roaming outside the EU with your provider before travelling.

If things go wrong - your consumer rights

If you think your service provider has not respected your rights, you should contact your operator and use the complaint procedure in place.

If you are not satisfied with their response you can contact the relevant national regulatory authorities in your country, usually your national telecoms regulator, who will handle your case.