What should be mentioned is the single market where using a SIM card from another EU country could turn out cheaper than using a domestic one.
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-15-5275_en.htm
Personally, I don't think this should exist. Imagine it saying in the US that the "fair use safeguard prevents people from using a cheaper cellphone service from another state".
That would be absurd right? I see it the same way in the EU. It's like they are trying to prevent competition within EU and maintain local monopolies. God forbid a carrier from one country could actually pose a threat to one in another country!
And I believe both the EU Commission and the majority of the EU Parliament is supposed to be "right-wing" this time around. They keep mentioning "Open Internet" as well, but there are a ton of exceptions in this new directive.
Günther Oettinger from the EU Commission has been the worst in this whole thing. He has been pushing for local ISP monopolies, extended customer lock-in and so on from the moment he became the Commissioner for Digital Economy. I think he's also supposed to be a free market, right-wing guy, but he's probably just corrupt.
https://gigaom.com/2014/11/07/let-isps-lock-their-customers-...
This will probably lead to a TON of consolidation in the EU, and over the next 5 years you will end up with 4 to 5 big players.
The markets are mostly dominated by companies with coverage of most of the EU already, really. Vodafone, T-Mobile, Telenor, Telefónica, Orange…
That said, it still establishes some ground rules, which are good for the most part. I just wish there weren't so many exceptions to them, and I fear at least some of them will be abused. We'll have to see how it goes.
However, if Netflix, Spotify or Youtube manage to get that "specialized service" privilege, then we'll know the rules don't work and will have to be changed. Because right now that is NOT what the EU proposal is saying the new rules will allow to happen.
The clearly worst part from all of this seems to be the zero-rating, which I don't think should exist at all as it's too easy to abuse and too hard to contain with regulations if it exists at all. Plus, whatever regulations are put around it will probably help the big guys anyway.
That's exactly the purpose of EU; regulate commerce by creating a system of quotas, preventing free competition but reducing the need for tariffs. Milk, cheese, produce, fishing, etc. This is perfectly in line with that idea.
And I believe both the EU Commission and the majority of the EU Parliament is supposed to be "right-wing" this time around.
Right-wing in a good part of Europe means they don't actively oppose regulated markets, not that they're free-market supporters. That's center-right, of course; actual right-wing usually means "fascist" (and opposes the EU itself).
Actual free-market supporters can't even get the required signatures to form a party in most European countries, let alone get elected.
[1] http://www.three.co.uk/ http://www.three.ie/ [2] http://www.three.ie/eshop/sim-only-plans/prepay-sim-only/
O₂ would far rather 'lose' customers to Giffgaff than any other budget MVNO.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutchison_Whampoa#History
I found the speeds were horrendous in NY also. But still better than roaming with my actual network provider.
I've never felt the need to go for a contract in the UK, as PAYG is so cheap on Three.
There is no mobile options in Ireland with decent caps. Living here and in a place that has ADSL1 and 4G available I tried finding a plan that would me actually consume media using 3/4G - there is no plan that doesnt throttle after at best 20Gb that I could find.
"Should your data usage exceed 15GB in a 30 day period and your usage affect other network users, we reserve the right to limit your Service."
The good news is that it can be even cheaper than what you mention, as it is available on pay-as-you-go tariffs as well.
The bad news is that there are some limitations on tethering abroad, and you do need to use your SIM in your home country at least once every 3 months. So it's not quite yet a situation where you can pick any cheap European provider and use them anywhere else in Europe without restrictions.
- 'All-you-can-eat' data (with limits enforced over 100GB [0])
- 300 minutes
- 3000 texts
It includes 4G where available in the UK.
In my experience the 'Feel at home' deal works great when roaming on a Three network abroad (i.e. Ireland, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Hong Kong), but on their partner networks it is horribly slow (i.e. USA).
[0] - http://support.three.co.uk/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBISAPI.DLL?Command...