UK mobiles in FV

[McAdam]

I would go with three as well.

None of the large telcos in the UK currently have plans to implement charges, as they are uncertain what kind of agreements can and will be made.
But this does not mean that they will not make plans if things go sour.
Just an important distinction to realise.

I will create a dedicated thread when things are more concrete. Luckily this will be big news in the EMEA telco industry if anything happens - and we should have at least 6 months time for a plan of action.

[Felipe Geraldo]

It was my understanding that the EU law around roaming charges only goes as far as to prevent networks from charging higher standard rates for usage when roaming than on the home network. These are the rates that you would pay if you went over any allowances that the networks give you as part of your tariff, and are sometimes also called run-on rates. Most tariffs (but not all, for example Vodafone basics) allow you to use the same allowances when roaming within the EU and some go further with this to include other countries. This "inclusive roaming" is an offer from the network, and not part of the EU law.

I could be wrong here so please correct me if I am, maybe someone has more knowledge on this than me, I am just a well informed consumer who researches well before I commit to any deals and this was my understanding after some research.

I would also expect that (if I am correct) that networks will continue to offer similar deals in order to retain customers. I recall that Three where one of the first to offer inclusive roaming, way before the EU regulations were in force, and when they updated the list of countries to include Spain it was a bit of a game changer.

Lastly, in Fuerte I have used EE (and Orange), Vodafone, O2, and Three sim cards in a variety of devices all with excellent results. I find the 4G infrastructure excellent. Before inclusive roaming was commonplace I used to by Orange Spain / Voda Spain or Movistar SIM cards off eBay to use temporarily and this always worked well too. A dual sim handset comes in handy for this purpose.

[McAdam]

A dual sim phone is great here. Been using one for years and don't think I could ever go back.

RE EU Regulations; the bill is messy with lots of amendments and additional clauses. It can be read here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...32015R2120
Whilst I have to be honest and say I never read through everything, my TL;DR understanding is that it forces Telcos to treat roaming customers as if they are on their home network - both ways. So if you have mega speed on Voda UK, Movistar ES can not impose a 20kb/s speed limit on you.
But also, that if a customer makes some usage (call text or MB) that it is taken from their account as if they are at home.
I don't know for certain if it is mentioned that it comes out of an inclusive plan, but this is what the EU industry implemented - except in certain cases where it breaks the fair use clause.
For E.G. My Spanish Voda sim includes unlimited everything... well... data up to about 400gb/m before I get my speed throttled.
BUT, roaming in the EU, USA or Canada - I am only allowed 18GB - otherwise, Vodafone would incur costs far higher that what is considered the norm of fair use.

But again, things are uncertain, some providers are more about Money scrounging and others are more flexible (like three).

Time will tell, but the fact remains that they will no longer be bound by this regulation, and as such could enforce their own restrictions and conditions to the services. One common industry practice is to offer limited free roaming, but the sim must return to home country after 30/90 days otherwise full roaming charges are applied.

I will obviously keep my ear to the ground on this, and hopefully things will still be viable for holidaymakers and some options will appear for residents.

[Felipe Geraldo]

interesting info that, thanks, I will have a quick scan through that link to the EU law sometime. 
I also wonder in the years to come what these "net neutrality" laws that are mentioned from time to time come to pass, and their effect on mobile services, roaming etc. I think this was the reason that networks cannot now say you cant use a phone SIM in a tablet for example, remember Three had to change policies one that (again, could be wrong, I've worked in IT for 20 years but telecoms isn'tt my speciality and the law certainly isnt!)


thankfully at least for now, that gone are the days you would go abroad for a week, use you Nokia a few times and come home to an 80 quid phone bill!

[Zapparocks]

Do bear in mind if your phone is locked to a specific network and you're trying a different sim, you may lose coverage as mine is.

I have an LG 505 locked on Orange but my provider changed to Vodaphone and can no longer use the phone and would swap mine for any who has either a vodaphone phone or an unlocked one

[McAdam]

Do bear in mind if your phone is locked to a specific network and you're trying a different sim, you may lose coverage as mine is.

I have an LG 505 locked on Orange but my provider changed to Vodaphone and can no longer use the phone and would swap mine for any who has either a vodaphone phone or an unlocked one

There are many services which could provide the unlock code for about a tenner.
https://sim-unlock.net/simlock/LG/GT505/

It would be important to find your exact model number to ensure the unlock goes smoothly.

Please note: I have not tried that particular service, but have used several in the past with much success. Read your own reviews, accept your own risks (only one here is losing the 10€)

[Zapparocks]

Not about to send Money to a scam site, bear in mind any good reviews are likely from them or their agents

https://www.reviewcentre.com/mobile_phon...ws_1504491

[McAdam]

Not about to send money to a scam site, bear in mind any good reviews are likely from them or their agents

https://www.reviewcentre.com/mobile_phon...ws_1504491

 I Did say:


Please note: I have not tried that particular service, but have used several in the past with much success. Read your own reviews, accept your own risks (only one here is losing the 10€)


Look around, there are reliable services - if you are open to finding them.

[geordiediver]

Just to continue the debate about using UK SIM cards in Fuerteventura.    

 I use Smarty  (a basic version of  Three) .   They have a number of packages but the best one to use,  in my opinion, is the £10 package for 30GB of data, with unlimited texts and calls back to the UK.   It is a one month rolling contract

 BE WARNED  Smarty cap the roaming data in Europe to 20GB  of data irrespective of the package you are using.   This means  their 'unlimited data '   for £20   is still capped at 20GB.   

Hence buy the £10 package for 30GB and get 20GB of roaming data.    Buy the £20 "unlimited" package and still get the same £20GB of roaming data.    No brainer, really.

 You can buy more data for  £1 per GB and  unused data does not  expire.   No problem with a signal - it normally connects to Movistar.

I got my daughter to order them (she had to put a £10 deposit on each ) and post them.    They work well in phones and a WiFi dongle.  

The only disadvantage I see with Smarty is they don't have a call centre  Customer Support - it is all done via webchat,  but I have found they solve the problem quite quickly when contacted, and you get a written record of your chat.

I have also tried Voxi,  but again you are data capped, to   25GB  , and also time capped at 3 months use in Europe.    The card needs to be used in a UK mast at least every 90 days. 

Hope this might give another option to anyone struggling with data cards.