ANCOM draws the attention of those traveling outside Romania to the importance of checking the conditions of use for the roaming services, especially if their destination is not part of the European Economic Area (EEA).
Within the EEA, roaming communications are performed under conditions similar to those in the country, thanks to the application of the “roam like at home” principle, which means that no additional costs are charged for calls, SMS and mobile internet within the limits of the national resources included in the subscription or option.
On the other hand, outside the EEA, roaming charges are not regulated and can be significantly higher. It is important for users to carefully check the tariffs applicable for the international roaming service before travelling to countries such as the United Kingdom, the Republic of Moldova, Serbia, Montenegro, Turkey, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Morocco.
Charging for roaming calls outside the EEA
Generally, calls are charged by indivisible minute, whereas the minimum charging unit for data traffic differs depending on the operator and destination (for example, at 1KB, 10KB or 1MB). Furthermore, for destinations outside the EEA, some operators also use standard tariffs charged as packages.
Example: In the case of using roaming services in the Republic of Turkey, the standard package rates vary from 7 euros/30 minutes for incoming/outgoing calls or 2 euros/20 minutes for incoming/outgoing calls or SMS sent/24 hours, to 18 euros/4000 MB used or 3 euros/2 GB data traffic/24 hours.
Attention! In the case of this type of tariff, if a user makes or receives even a single minute of call or uses a single MB of data in a package, he/she will be charged the full price of the package, but can later use the rest of the resources, until exhaustion, before being charged a new tariff.
In addition to these standard tariffs, operators can also offer tariff (extra)options that require separate activation, under which different resources and/or tariffs are made available based on several criteria, such as: the country of destination, the type of service used (subscription or prepaid card) or the type of offer held by the user. We recommend that you carefully consult the information available on the providers’ websites.
Remember!
- Users should check whether their tariff plan includes roaming – and, if so, for which areas it is activated, – since not all subscriptions or options contain roaming resources.
- If a person travels only to a country in the EEA, it is advisable to request the activation of the roaming service dedicated to this area (if the provider offers this service), in order to avoid accidentally connecting to a network outside the EEA, in border areas.
- If a user does not want to use the roaming service, but it is active in their account, it is recommended to deactivate the service directly from the phone’s settings, in order to prevent automatic connection to foreign networks and generate additional costs.
- When users connect to the network of an electronic communications provider in another country, providers in Romania are obliged to send information about roaming charges (including VAT), usually by SMS. Exceptions are situations in which the user has informed the provider that he/she does not want to receive these notifications.
Complaint-related info
Users who are discontented with the roaming service should first contact the provider from which they purchased the tariff plan. If the provider has not solved the reported problem, users can contact ANCOM, following the steps described here.
