Roaming charges slashed in Europe

Just called customer service for the biggest telco here in Sweden and they've set roaming charges in EU to a bit more than 3 € per megabyte.

Those prices are new and lowered but still nowhere near the ones you quoted.

I'm with Vodafone on contract have been for 4yrs and my tarrif does not exsist anymore and I've stuck with it because I practically get unlimited called to any network unlike the current crap plans which say they are also but it's a lie.

I have Vodafone Passport which is there international feature for cheaper calls/txts and they have so called slashed there prices this summer but only for this summer only. It's a farce everything will be back to normal by the end of summer or once we start to climb out of the recession.

It's now 11p to send a text instead of 23p last year but even thou I have free texts and the passport it dosn't use 1 I get charged.

Text messages cost the telcos only a tiny fraction of a cent, no matter from where you send them. A minute of a cell phone call costs the operators less than 1.5 cents, again no matter from where you call in Europe. The SMS charges and roaming charges are only part of a phony scheme made up by the telcos. The charges for data, per megabyte, truly top the list.

Don't get me started on the 5 GB quota per month for that junk Internet connection via UMTS and the advertised transfer rates which are not close to reality. Quite frankly, I trust all used-car dealers more than the best (cough) telco.

The costs are crazy in the US, too, though not quite as bad. Our country pretty much invented the idea, so the fact that we're so far down the list compared to other countries is beyond pitiful.

I read recently, that they're working on ways to improve the way traffic is routed, so maybe in a few years they can truly afford to throw in some bigger pipelines for data, and maybe do away with the laws that allow the US telcos to have a monopoly on a lot of the stuff.

Personally, I think there may come a day where you don't need a cell phone contract(not saying they'll completely go away) and net access is way more transparent.

I don't care how much they charge It won't cost me anything. I refuse to let them in my pocket. If everone stopped using the telco, it would be trying to GIVE the service away for pennies just to stay in business. As long as rubber lip people that can't their keep mouth shut use the services it remains high. It pays to keep your mouth shut.

I don't get sales calls , No phone to ever bother me or wake me up. Enjoying the peace.

[WARNING: The following includes a plug to my own site].

Viviane Reding and the EU have made good strides into reducing mobile phone roaming charges, but the cost of using the mobile internet is still very confusing for most mobile phone users in the UK.

Users don't understand the charging structures and there is still a significant variance in the costs applicable on the different tariffs.

For example, the cost for transferring 1MB of data per day for a month from a mobile phone ranges from £6/month to £210/month.

MobileMeg (http://www.mobilemeg.com) has been created to help reduce this confusion and provide clarity on the cost of the mobile internet.

The site includes a guide on mobile data services; a comparison of over 200 of the mobile phone price plans used in the UK, and a personal usage calculator to help estimate data charges.