Our relationship with Europe may be about to take a turn for the worse, but there's one small piece of good news afoot for those travelling to the continent this summer: no more roaming charges.
Two years ago the European parliament voted through rules which ban operators from adding charges for using minutes, texts or data while roaming in the EU. Those rules come into effect on June 15, which means that for the vast majority of people, there will be no extra charge for using their smartphones in the affected countries.
In anticipation of the enforced "no fun zone" for networks looking to charge more, EE has announced a new set of contracts, titled 4GEE Max, which afford customers the benefits early.
4GEE Max contracts also allow customers to use their data, texts and calls in the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand at no extra cost.
But from June 15, all existing pay-as-you-go or pay-monthly customers will have roaming within 47 European destinations included in their contract plan. Expect updates from your operator in the coming weeks.
The included destinations for EE customers are as follows: Austria, Azores, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, French Guiana, Germany, Gibraltar (UK), Greece, Guadeloupe, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madeira, Malta, Martinique, Poland, Portugal, Reunion Islands, Romania, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin (French), San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, Vatican City, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Monaco, Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey.
Even better, customers wanting these benefits before June 15 can sign up to any of EE's new plans without affecting their length of contract or upgrade date.
It's times like these that we're glad of our rock-solid membership of the European Union. We shall enjoy a collective sigh of relief in the knowledge that, thanks to a successful remain campaign last year, we're not about to collapse out of the union, with the potential of no replacement agreement between us and our European neighbours.
Phew.
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