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No longer does the pain of paying fall mainly in Spain: Three has banished roaming charges en España in time for your easter holidays.
Three’s Feel at Home scheme allows you to use your phone abroad without paying any extra on top of your regular bill. That means you can browse the internet, call and text home, tweet and chat without paying roaming charges. Feel At Home currently gives you free calls when you travel to other countries including the USA and Australia, and now Spain and New Zealand will join the list on 1 April 2015.
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The service is currently available in France, Switzerland, Israel, Finland, Norway, the USA, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Macau, Australia, Italy, Austria, Hong Kong, Sweden, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland. You don’t need to set anything up: as soon as you touch down, step off the boat or fold up your parachute, your phone picks up a local network. Your calls, texts and data are then charged as if you were still in dear old Blighty. It works whether you’re on a monthly, Pay-As-You-Go, or SIM-only contract, as well as mobile broadband if you have a dongle.
You do have to pay extra to call and text non-UK numbers — such as local numbers for the country you’re in, like a restaurant, or a friend with a native number — but you can get round those roaming charges by using instant messaging or VoIP apps.
Roaming charges are set to board a plane and never come back as the EU strives to abolish them completely in Europe. The networks have all cut roaming charges recently, even at the same time as they bring in the option to use 4G overseas. EE and Vodafone customers can enjoy 4G in several countries including the US and across Europe.
Speaking of holidays, if you haven’t booked yourself an overseas break yet, Three customers can also get 12 per cent off a hotel booking made through the UK Expedia app between now and 6 April.
