Roaming in Europe is no longer free, and it is no longer regulated in the way most people remember. Every network now sets its own charges, its own fair use caps and its own list of countries, and they differ enough that the same trip can cost nothing on one network and a few hundred pounds on another. Here is what it costs on the networks we supply, as at September 2026, and where the bills actually come from.
The 30-second version
- O2 is the one most likely to include Europe at no daily charge, but that is plan and tariff dependent, not a guarantee.
- EE and Vodafone charge daily, commonly £3.00 to £3.20 excluding VAT, unless roaming is already included in the plan.
- The daily charge is rarely what hurts. Roaming fair use is 25GB a month, and the charges past it are where the big bills come from.
- Ireland is treated differently by every network, and is often free when the rest of Europe is not.
- The old £45 cap is no longer a legal requirement, and Ofcom’s roaming protections only cover businesses with 10 people or fewer.
- Prices move. These are correct in September 2026, but roaming is commercial rather than regulated now, so rates, zones and caps all change.
- The charge starts the moment the phone uses a foreign network, including background data, which is why a cheap travel eSIM on its own does not save you anything.
On this page
- The rules changed, and businesses got less protection
- What each network charges in Europe
- When the daily charge actually kicks in
- Fair use is where the real bill comes from
- Ireland, and the places that are not in the Europe zone
- What actually stops the bill
- How to not get caught out
- Frequently asked questions
The rules changed, and businesses got less protection
The EU roaming rules that made Europe free fell away in July 2022. Since then UK networks have had complete commercial freedom over what they charge, which is why the networks now look so different from one another.
What replaced it is much thinner. Ofcom’s current rules, in force since October 2024, require providers to tell customers when they are roaming and to give them a way to limit what they spend. They do not set any price, and they do not impose a monetary cap.
The £45 cap is not the law any more
Plenty of guidance still says there is a £45 monthly roaming data cap. That came from the old regime and lapsed with it. Ofcom now treats it only as good practice. Several networks do still apply a cap of their own, but it is a term in your contract, not a legal protection, and it can differ on a business tariff.
There is one more catch that specifically affects business customers. Ofcom’s roaming protections apply to consumers and to businesses with no more than 10 people working in them. Larger business customers are not covered at all, and even for small businesses some of the alert requirements can be contracted out of. If you are a 30 person company, the safety net you are imagining is not there.
What each network charges in Europe
These are the daily rates on our current business agreements, correct in September 2026 and quoted excluding VAT. What you pay still depends on the tariff, so treat them as the normal case rather than a quote, and as a figure that can move. If you want the number for a specific plan, ask us and we will tell you what is actually on it today.
| Network | Europe charge, ex VAT | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| O2 | Often nothing | Can be included in your UK allowance at no daily charge, but it is plan and tariff dependent. The most likely of the three to cost you nothing, and the one most worth asking about |
| EE | Commonly £3.00 per day | Charged per day of use rather than per day away, so a day with the phone switched off costs nothing |
| Vodafone | Commonly £3.20 per day in the EU zones | Applies across the Vodafone EU zones. Destinations outside those zones are charged at different rates |
One practical point. The only figure that really counts is the one on your own agreement, which is why we would rather look at your bill than hand you a table.
A snapshot, not a price list
Roaming is commercial rather than regulated now, so the networks are free to change daily rates, zone lists and fair use terms whenever wholesale costs or competition shift, and they do. Everything on this page was correct in September 2026 and we will keep it current, but before you budget for a trip or sign anything, ask us for the figure on your own tariff rather than working from an article, including this one.
When the daily charge actually kicks in
This is the part that catches people out, and it is worth understanding before anybody travels, because it is also the reason a cheap travel eSIM on its own does not save you the money you think it does.
The charge is not triggered by landing in the country, and usually not by the phone simply finding a network. It is triggered the moment the phone does something chargeable on that foreign network: making or answering a call, sending a text, or using any data at all. Any one of those starts the day, and the day is charged in full whether it turns out to be one email or eight hours of solid use.
- Data is the one that gets people. Nobody has to pick the phone up. Email sync, cloud photo backup, app updates, messaging apps checking in and location services all reach out on their own, often within a minute or two of the phone finding a network. That is enough to start a full day.
- Calls count both ways. Answering an incoming call abroad normally counts as use, not just making one, and so does a call that rings through to voicemail.
- Texts count when you send them. Receiving a text is normally free, but one sent text is enough on its own to start the day.
- It restarts. Every day the phone does something chargeable is a separate day’s charge, so a fortnight of background email sync is a fortnight of daily charges.
Why a cheap travel eSIM does not stop the charge
People buy a local or travel eSIM for cheap data abroad and assume that is the end of it. It usually is not, because the UK SIM is still in the phone, still registered to a foreign network and still allowed to use data in the background. The traveller browses happily on the eSIM while the UK line quietly syncs email behind it and triggers the full daily charge anyway, on most days of the trip.
If you are going to use a travel eSIM, the UK line has to be properly switched off rather than just ignored. Turn off data roaming for that line at the absolute minimum, and preferably turn the line off altogether in the phone settings. The catch is that doing so means calls and texts to the UK number stop arriving, which is usually the reason it was left on in the first place.
That trade-off is the whole reason we would rather know about a trip in advance. If somebody needs to stay reachable on their UK number, a day pass or a bundle on the UK line is almost always cheaper, and a great deal less fiddly, than running two lines and hoping the wrong one stays quiet. If two numbers on one handset is the thing you actually want, our guide to eSIM for business explains how that works properly.
Fair use is where the real bill comes from
The daily charge is predictable and modest. The fair use cap is where the money actually goes, because it is the point at which a plan that says unlimited stops behaving that way.
The good news is that the answer is simpler than the marketing pages make it look. Business mobile tariffs carry a roaming fair usage policy of 25GB a month. That is the figure to plan around on all three networks. What differs is what happens once you pass it, and that is worth knowing before somebody does.
| Network | Roaming fair use | What happens past it |
|---|---|---|
| EE | 25GB a month | Around 0.39p per MB, or you add a data bundle to carry on |
| O2 | 25GB a month | Between 0.2p per MB and £3.50 per GB depending on the tariff, or you add a data bolt on |
| Vodafone | 25GB a month | Around £2.05 per GB excluding VAT, or you add a data bundle to continue |
What to actually do about this
Plan around 25GB a month and you will not be caught out. If somebody is travelling heavily enough to get near it, tell us before they go and we will add a bundle, which is always cheaper than running past the cap and paying by the megabyte. Caps and excess rates get revised like everything else here, so if roaming is a real part of what your team does, check it at renewal rather than assuming last year’s answer still holds.
Ireland, and the places that are not in the Europe zone
Ireland is the single most common source of confusion, because every network treats it differently and it is the destination UK businesses travel to most.
- EE includes calls, texts and data in the Republic of Ireland in every business plan allowance, outside the daily charge.
- O2 includes Ireland inside its Europe zone, along with the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey.
- Vodafone is inconsistent between its own pages, listing Ireland as roam free in one place and inside Europe Zone 1 in another.
The other trap is assuming the Europe zone means Europe. Switzerland, Turkey and the Channel Islands sit in different zones on different networks, and Turkey is outside the Europe zone on several. Somebody driving through Switzerland or taking a call in Istanbul can trigger a completely different rate. Check the actual destination list for your network before a trip, not a mental map of Europe. Zone lists get redrawn from time to time as well, so a country that was included last year is not guaranteed to be included this year.
What actually stops the bill
Since there is no longer a statutory cap, the only thing standing between a lost phone abroad and a large bill is whatever limit you have set. The tools differ by network, and they change, so confirm yours is still in place rather than assuming:
- O2 offers a spend cap from £0 to £200, with texts at 50% and 100%. It is not available where data is shared across users, which rules it out for a lot of pooled business accounts.
- EE caps some tariffs at £45 of roaming data a month, but it is not applied to every plan, so check rather than assume it is there.
- Vodafone has a rest of world monthly data spend cap, but some roaming add-ons opt you out of it, so do not rely on it without checking.
The one thing worth doing before any trip
Set the cap before someone travels, not after. On most networks a change takes effect within about a day, which is too slow to be useful once the bill is already running.
How to not get caught out
- Check what your own tariff actually says. Roaming terms differ between plans on the same network, and they get revised, so the rate somebody quoted you two years ago is not necessarily the rate today. Ask us and we will read it off your account.
- Get your fair use figure in writing for your actual tariff, not the one on the marketing page.
- Set a spend cap on every SIM that travels, and check it is actually available on your account type.
- Tell us before the trip. A day pass or a bundle bought in advance is almost always cheaper than the same usage bought by accident.
- Watch the phones that never leave the country. Inadvertent roaming on a foreign network near a coast or a border still triggers charges.
Going abroad for work?
Tell us where and for how long and we will work out what it costs on your actual tariff, set a cap that protects you, and add a pass if one saves money. It takes a few minutes and it is a lot cheaper than finding out afterwards.