In every country there are several mobile service providers. And with current EU regulations no mobile provider can charge extra for traveling within EU. Mobile providers in my country are definitely more expensive that average European mobile plan. I was wondering, can I downgrade my current plan to only keep my current phone number and purchase a plan from a cheaper mobile provider in another EU country with unlimited data and just use roaming all the time since I’m in EU? What are your thoughts? Do you know about a cheap mobile data plan?
No, because the EU regulation limits that roaming to 90 days or so. If you use it the majority of the time abroad the company can cut you off.
There are however some eSIM providers that specialise on global or Europe etc. wide roaming data packages, which allow you to do that you want.
It allows phone companies to limit roaming to 90 days, though whether they follow through is another matter.
Source: a friend who used a UK SIM card in Germany for a year or two, until post-Brexit roaming changes cut that avenue off.
This is true. I spent 4 months abroad recently and on the 4 month mark I started getting text messages from my operator saying “In the last 4 months you spent more time abroad than in your home country. If your usage doesn’t change, we will begin billing you X.Y/GB”
I like to add that roaming means calling a phone number from your SIM’s home country while being abroad (e.g. in France with a German SIM calling a German number), not calling a domestic phone number from your home country with your foreign SIM while being in your home country (e.g. in Germany with a French SIM calling a German number).
But for using mobile data only, this doesn’t matter.
There may be roaming time limits applied, see bullet point 3. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/api/files/attachment/493762/Roam Like at Home 25 FAQs for consumers.pdf
The general rule is that as long as you spend more time at home than abroad, or you use your mobile phone more at home than abroad, you can roam at domestic prices when travelling wherever in the EU. This is considered a fair use of roaming services. If this is not the case, your mobile operator may contact you. Operators can detect possible abuses based on the balance of roaming and domestic activity over a four- month period: if you spend a majority of your time abroad and consume more abroad than at home over the four months, the operator can ask you to clarify the situation within 14 days. If you continue roaming more than you are at home, your operator may start applying a small charge to your roaming consumption.
