Sunday 11 April 2010

Mobile phone bills without shocking factor

As from 1st of March 2010 consumers are supposed to be more protected from receiving a surprise mobile phone bill for months when they were traveling abroad and used the internet on their mobiles.

According to new rules adopted by EU in June 2009 the mobile phone operators are obliged to offer their customers a cut-off limit service to protect them from roaming charges. Included in this service is first a warning that would be sent to a customer when he reaches 80% of the limit and then cutting consumers' mobile connection to the internet while abroad when the limit is reached. The default limit is set at €50. Consumers have until 1 July 2010 to choose a different limit, then it will be set at the default amount.

Together with the limit set on the price that operators pay each other per megabyte downloaded (€1 per MB), these new EU roaming rules are going in the right direction to protect consumers from paying shocking amounts for use of their mobile phones. More on roaming may be found at the EU website.