Roaming Abroad with Three
Millions of subscribers rely upon Three’s service due to its balance of coverage and cost. Not only are the deals on standard phone service great, but there are plenty of reasons to select this provider due to mobile data as well.
Three offers a service known as “Feel at Home”, which ensures its customers are covered seamlessly in nearly 20 other countries. When travelling throughout most of Europe, the United States, Australia and other select countries, Three users will be able to roam using 4G mobile data at no additional cost. In addition to this, calls are also covered under the Feel at Home plan, ensuring that no additional charges are accrued when calling, texting or surfing the web in these places.
The leadership at Three has made it clear that their goal of providing exceptional service to users – both home and abroad – is at the forefront of their mission. This stance will certainly put pressure on other providers in the coming months and years to adopt similar policies with regards to 4G mobile data usage.
Roaming Abroad with Vodafone
How does Vodafone stack up against the competition when it comes to mobile 4G data roaming? While no other provider beats Three with its roaming offerings, Vodafone does provide more flexible options for its customers.
Customers of Vodafone will need to purchase a data add-on package for their plans when travelling abroad, allowing their devices to automatically connect to 4G service when/if available. The cost of the data add-on packages vary depending on where you travel, so you will need to verify with Vodafone which countries you’ll be visiting.
For example, a EuroTraveller data add-on package can be purchased for £3 per day if you plan to be travelling throughout Europe. This package allows Vodafone users to carry all of their talk, text and data allowances with them throughout most European countries.
For those heading overseas and beyond, the WorldTraveller package can be purchased for £5 per day and opens 4G mobile data service (plus talk and text) in dozens different countries. If you plan on needing just data when travelling abroad, the DataTraveller package covers the same countries, is the same price and includes 25MB of data per day.
Roaming Abroad with O2
O2’s 4G mobile data offerings when travelling abroad vary in value largely depending on where you’re headed.
Anyone who plans to travel within Europe solely can add the O2 Travel service feature to their account, allowing them to access unlimited data for just £2 per day. For many people, this plan will be sufficient to ensure they are connected to the rest of the world while on vacation or on business. Many people already have O2 Travel enabled on their accounts.
If you’d prefer to pay as you go for 4G mobile data when travelling through Europe, then the cost per MB will be roughly 20p. If you travel outside of Europe, however, then the costs can add up quickly: expect to be billed £6 per MB of data used when in America, Africa, Australia or Asia.
Roaming Abroad with EE
EE has mobile 4G data roaming packages that will vary largely depending on where you visit.
Currently covered under EE’s 4G network are more than 40 countries, meaning that most leisure and business travellers alike will be covered when travelling abroad. Once the data add-on has been added to your account, you’ll be able to automatically connect to 4G when in these counties; if 4G is not available, then you’ll be connected to 3G networks instead.
Throughout Europe, a data add-on package for 4G mobile roaming will cost £3 for 50MB (to be used within 24 hours) and £25 for 500MB (to be used within one week). As mentioned prior and outside of Europe, 4G mobile data packages will vary in cost depending on the country visited, the amount of data needed and the amount of time you have in which to use the data.
Conclusion
Every carrier provides options for 4G mobile data when travelling abroad. Most carriers provide reasonable pricing options, but those who will be travelling for longer periods of time may wish to carefully consider how much data they’ll be using, how long they’ll be there and what costs are associated with the visit (especially in the case of O2) – it may be cheaper to purchase a temporary talk/data solution in the country being visited. Nevertheless, proper research will yield a final verdict as to which 4G mobile data solution is best for your next trip.
