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Thursday, February 25, 2010

Mobile net neutrality and roaming charges in the EU

The Commissioner might be interested in the case of a British student with mobile broadband who spent a month or so on exchange in Paris - an Orange customer in the UK so in France they were on a much cheaper network (given the absolute ubiquity of Orange's 3G network in Paris).

Its a vivid illustration of the need to tackle roaming charges - the student did as they would at home, used about 2.5GB in the month and then a little more until their bill arrived. Ironically they were mainly using Skype to avoid high international call charges.

The bill was - yes, you were ready - £8000 or about €10,000. That's for a usage which is £15/month in the UK. Yes, the student might have known better - but Single Market?
I realize this is exactly what the Commissioner was grilled in the EParliament over, but this is really a wonderful example of the problem.

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