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Comment by mstade | Hacker News Reader

This is great, now I can ditch my UK Three SIM that I've had for years simply because they implemented a "feel at home" kind of policy long ago, where roaming within the EU is free. There was always a data limit, and you can't tether your phone to your laptop which was annoying, but it's been great for me who's been travelling in the EU frequently. Now I can drop that extra £30/month cost and don't have to carry extra SIMs. I love it.

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I users UK 3 for 8 weeks through Europe last year and it was a godsend. Even better, about 3 weeks prior to my trip they plugged the black holes I had worried about by covering a whole heap of extra countries. They made it possible for me to simply use my phone anywhere I went there and that was honestly game-changing for my travel and fundamental for how I'd planned my trip. It was slow but it was fast enough for turn by turn maps and that's exactly what I needed since I spent a month driving wherever I felt.

No other plan offered such comprehensive roaming at the time, so I had a mate fly a SIM over from the UK for me when I arrived in Germany.

This change will be a huge boon for travellers especially. I can see how for some cheap telcos it could cause harm though.

EU roaming was not free with UK Three. There were some countries missing, such as Germany. I had a Three spare card just for the feel at home feature and will continue to use it whenever I go to the US but it had to be extended significantly to fit new EU regulation.

As far as I know, the data limit is whatever your tariff normally gives you - no more, no less. I wouldn't be surprised if the other carriers have a no-tethering-while-roaming rule too.

EE are good with tethering and roaming speeds.

Do you think it's likely it'll stay that way after Brexit?

Regarding Three, one of the telco available in the UK, as the parent said they were already aligned with this proposition with their "Feel at home" option.

Since it covers the EU and many other non EU countries (USA included for instance) I think it'll stay this way.

The 3 Feel at Home offer was (and is, for non-EU destinations) an extra, paid add-on to the basic "essentials" service. You also get tethering on that higher price plan, so maybe the average HN user wouldn't consider the lower tier and just counts it as 'free' from their perspective.

Vodafone allows 4G roaming and tether. Biggest reason I switched from three.

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