Mobile roaming
When travelling abroad with a mobile phone, you use roaming. This means that your mobile provider partners with a provider abroad in order to provide you with the ability to receive phone calls abroad as well as send text messages, use the internet, and download contents from the internet. Phone services are usually provided by a local (foreign) mobile operator who charges your operator for the costs of use. You ultimately pay for the costs of the use of mobile phones abroad to your mobile operator.
Since 2007, all EU countries have been using European Roaming Regulations. Since then, the prices for calls, sent SMS messages, and data transfer have fallen by 70%. Currently, roaming charges within the EU are limited to €0.19 (excl. VAT) for outgoing calls, €0.05 for incoming calls, €0.06 for sent SMS messages and €0.20 per megabyte of transferred data. A received SMS message is free of charge. However, as of 30 April 2016, these prices will decrease. Operators will only be able to add minimal additional payments to local prices, so the maximum will amount to €0.05 per minute for calls, €0.02 for SMS messages, and €0.05 EUR per megabyte of data. These amounts match the current highest wholesale tariffs. The price for incoming calls shall be 1.14 EUR. As of July 2017, additional payments will also be eliminated, as the European Parliament, European Council, and the European Commission adopted a compromise agreement on the abolishment of roaming charges in mobile networks in countries within the EU and on the introduction of the net neutrality rule.
Roaming providers will still be able to apply "fair use policies" in order to prevent abuses (e.g. permanent roaming). A small fee may be charged for roaming that exceeds fair use; however, this fee shall not be higher than the highest wholesale tariff paid by operators for the use of networks of other EU countries.
Advice for using mobile phones abroad:
When using mobile roaming, always be careful to receive an SMS message from your operator when you cross a border in the European Union, by means of which it notifies you concerning the prices of incoming and outgoing calls, short messages, and internet use (data transfer) in the country in which you have just arrived.
When transferring data while roaming, there is also a special safeguard, as the amount of data transferred on a mobile device is limited to €50 globally (or to an equal amount in a foreign currency), unless another agreement has been made with your operator. Once you reach 80% of your agreed upon amount, you will receive a notification.
Before going on a trip, you may select a special roaming offer or a mobile data service provider that is available in the network that you are using as a visitor. This means that you may enter into a mobile roaming agreement which is separate from the agreement for national mobile services. Your operator shall inform you of this option and enable you to enter into a more affordable mobile roaming agreement with a different operator, whereby you will keep the same phone number. If you do not wish to enter into a separate mobile roaming agreement, you may continue to use the services of your mobile operator. However, this option enables you to compare mobile roaming prices between different operators more easily.
If you feel that the operator has violated the agreement concerning the prices and the terms and conditions for roaming services while you were using mobile roaming, turn to your local mobile operator/seller and warn him of your rights and their obligations. Demand that the issue be resolved before you decide to take further measures. If you are unhappy with the answer of the operator, you may turn to a national control authority. In Slovenia, this is the Agency for Communication Networks and Services of the Republic of Slovenia.
If you wish to use the internet abroad in a supervised manner, we recommend that you always fully familiarise yourself with the prices and the terms of use in the country, to which you are travelling. Carefully check which operator offers the most affordable prices for services that you will be using while abroad. The information on the price of roaming abroad shall be provided by your operator.
We advise that, upon arriving abroad, you manually select the network on your mobile phone of the operator offering the most affordable prices in the country where you are located; otherwise the phone will automatically select the operator with the best signal.
We recommend that you also find information on the interval of charging services in foreign networks. Usually, this interval is 60 seconds, which means that each commenced minute of conversation during outgoing/incoming calls is charged in full. When transferring data, this interval is usually 100 kB. If you are sending or receiving a multimedia message (MMS), the amount of data transferred or a minimum of 100 kB shall be charged; an MMS message shall also be charged as a service rendered. While abroad, call forwarding to voicemail is not free of charge as some mistakenly believe. Incoming calls abroad as well as calls from abroad to Slovenia shall be charged. In order to listen to a message, a call from abroad to Slovenia shall also be charged.
Most importantly, you should regulate yourselves when you wish to use data transfer while abroad and when not. If you do not need the internet and data transfer while abroad, we advise that you switch off data transfer in the settings of your mobile phone:
1. iPhone: You may switch of data transfer abroad in the menu "Settings/General/Network or Cellular (depending on the OS)." Also switch off the possibility of transferring data abroad (set "Data Roaming" to "off"). From iOS 7 onwards, you may also set up the use of data connections during roaming for individual applications.
2. Android: data transfer may be switched off in the menu "Settings/Mobile networks/Mobile data (depending on the OS). Also switch off the possibility of data transfer abroad (set data roaming to "off").
3. Windows Phone: data transfer may be switched off in the menu "Settings/Cellular/Data roaming options. Select the option "don't roam."
We would also like to advise everyone to always check and turn off automatic functioning and software updates on your phone prior to going abroad. The very moment that your phone connects to mobile internet, the software begins to automatically perform updates or data transfer (updating software, e-mail, various news and social network applications, and sending messages) and this may cause uncontrolled use abroad due to a greater amount of transferred data.
There are many locations in Slovenia and abroad where wireless internet is offered through Wi-Fi access points. We recommend that you use free Wi-Fi access points to use various applications, if possible.