On the way to a family holiday in Thailand, 48-year-old Nicolaas Van den Broek, as reported by the Belgian publication “HLN”, experienced a shock: as soon as the plane landed, mobile operator “Telenet” already reported 1000 euros in roaming costs on his daughter’s phone for just one minute of data usage.
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Experienced an expensive roaming shock
The family father was particularly outraged that there were no warnings before the sudden jump in costs, although he was used to receiving them during previous trips abroad.
“Telenet”, as “HLN” writes, explains that about 100 megabytes of data were used in less than 60 seconds – too quickly for automatic notification and blocking to take effect.
Nicolaas trusts his daughter and raises the question: why is there no automatic stop mechanism that would prevent such sums in advance? Even if an error had occurred, 1000 euros for one minute, in his opinion, is not a proportional amount.
These are not isolated cases. According to “HLN”, complaints about roaming charges outside the European Union increased by a fifth last year.
The main problem is that outside the EU, foreign mobile operators charge high prices per megabyte, and data accounting occurs with a delay. Therefore, warning SMS messages and blocks often arrive only after the damage has already been done.
Expert calls for clear spending limits
The responsible telecommunications ombudsman, an independent mediation body between customers and service providers, criticizes this system quite harshly, as stated in the report.
He says he does not understand why mobile companies allow customers abroad to enter open financial risk without effective restrictions.
“I understand the frustration,” he emphasized, speaking about this family’s case.
In his assessment, private households, even with a standard mobile phone contract, can accumulate four-figure debts in a matter of seconds.
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To avoid this, he calls for mandatory spending limits that would be linked to the usual monthly plan price. Only such limits, he says, could reliably protect traveling families from disastrous roaming bills.
Typical roaming trap locations – even in European resorts
According to the comparison portal “Verivox”, the risk of expensive roaming arises not only on long-distance trips to Asia or America. Even popular nearby destinations can become cost traps.
One example is the Dodecanese islands near the Turkish coast. There, a smartphone sometimes imperceptibly connects to a mobile network tower of a non-EU country.
The Consumer Rights Centre also points out that countries like Andorra or Monaco do not belong to the EU roaming zone. Although they are in Europe itself, EU price restrictions do not apply there.
The situation on ships is particularly risky. Mobile phones there often automatically connect to satellite networks operating on ships, where charges can also quickly escalate to large sums in a very short time.
How to protect yourself from expensive data roaming
To avoid being surprised by a four-figure roaming bill during your holiday, “Chip.de” recommends several precautions.
The safest way is to completely turn off data roaming and mobile data before your trip and only use secure Wi-Fi networks at your accommodation during the trip.
If you still want to use mobile internet outside the EU, it is worth ordering a special roaming package from your operator before your trip or purchasing a local prepaid SIM card or eSIM.
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