Brexit is over – new rules apply from now on. But what does this mean in concrete terms and in relation to the individual? Confusion quickly arises, especially when it comes to entering the UK. When it comes to roaming charges and the portability of online services, many EU citizens are rightly wondering what will happen to them now.
With the end of the transition phase on December 31. Last year, there were also new regulations for trips to Great Britain. In addition to new visa requirements, the UK’s exit from the EU may also affect your telecommunications services, among other things. From now on, European network providers are no longer bound to make roaming free of charge.
In concrete terms, this means that calls no longer have to be limited to 0.19 euros per minute and SMS no longer have to be limited to 0.06 euros per message. You may also incur higher costs for incoming and outgoing calls and data connections.
Currently, EU mobile operators are required to set a financial limit for the use of data roaming up to 50 euros – in the UK this is 45 GBP. This will apply to the UK from January 1, 2021, so nothing will change there. Operators also need to send an alert when you’ve reached 80 percent and 100 percent of your own data roaming limit – anywhere in the world.
Your provider is free to continue to offer you the benefits of “Roam like at home” on a voluntary basis. Some providers had already announced that they would not charge any additional fees when traveling to the UK. This also includes O2 and Vodafone. The EU regulations should therefore continue to apply here. In this respect, a special right of termination would not be necessary.
Information on your roaming rights within the European Union can be found here:
You can find information on online services within the EU here:
However, should the contractual conditions change, the customer does not have to accept this. On the contrary, the customer would have to agree to the unilateral deterioration.
However, if you as a customer continue to use the services despite knowledge of the higher prices or changed terms and conditions, the mobile phone provider may assume so-called implied consent. In order to prevent this misunderstanding from the outset and to avoid nasty surprises, I recommend that you obtain detailed information from your provider about possible changes to the contract.
Online service providers such as music or streaming platforms are also under no obligation to offer you any content other than that available in the EU in Great Britain. It is to be expected that you could have at least limited access to the libraries of “Spotify”, “Netflix”, “Kindle” or similar. Here too, however, it is ultimately the platform operators who decide which content or services they make available.
For detailed information on changes in the area of audiovisual media services, read here:
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