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Everything you need to know about roaming in the EU

How to roam in the EU with giffgaff, including using your plan, costs, data limits, and tips for staying connected while abroad.

M
Written by Mark Murray
Updated over a week ago

You can use an allowance of your plan as your EU roaming data, this also includes your calls and texts along with any credit, in the EU and selected destinations just like you do at home.

Data cap and duration

Data cap

When you’re roaming around the EU/EEA, you get 5GB of data included from your plan - that’s 5GB per plan, not per month or per visit. So, whether you pop over for a quick trip or a longer stay, that 5GB is yours to use however you like while you’re there.

Calls and texts are unlimited while you’re in the EU/EEA. You can ring up any standard rate number in the country you’re visiting, or back home to the UK, without worrying about extra charges. But heads up - there’s a fair usage policy to keep things fair for everyone. This means if you’re sending lots of texts or making lots of calls to lots of different numbers, you might hit that limit and lose access to roaming temporarily.

You can only use a maximum of 5GB of a new plan when roaming even if your plan has more data available.

Note: If you go over your 5GB data limit, don’t panic - data beyond that will cost 10p per MB. And if you’re running low on your EU data allowance (less than 500 MB left), you can start a new plan early so you’re never caught out.

You can also switch on your credit spend cap to stay in control of your spending when roaming.

So, roaming in the EU is easy and hassle-free, just keep an eye on your usage.

Duration

Members who live in the UK and have frequent UK usage will get EU roaming for up to 63 days. Provided that they've used giffgaff in the UK in the 63 days before arriving in an EU or EEA country.

If you stay abroad for longer, we’ll send you an SMS to let you know that roaming will be switched off. Then we’ll send a reminder SMS a few days later confirming Roam Like At Home (RLAH) has been switched off. From then on you’ll be charged from your credit balance.

What's Roam Like at Home? This service allows members to go abroad to the EU and selected destinations and use their plan’s or credit as they would here in the UK at no extra cost. Members can use this service as long as their Roaming eligibility is on.

If your travelling means you’re not spending much time in the UK, your eligibility for EU roaming will expire and RLAH will no longer be included in your plan. Submitting documents is for new members only. The only way to become eligible again is by returning to the UK and using your phone.

Countries included in 'EU and selected destinations'

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Croatia

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

French Guiana

Germany

Gibraltar

Greece

Guadeloupe

Hungary

Iceland

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Liechtenstein

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Malta

Martinique

Mayotte

Netherlands

Norway

Poland

Portugal

Reunion

Romania

San Marino

Slovakia

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

Ukraine

Note: Not all countries in Europe are included. For more info on this and the 'EU and selected destinations', check out our roaming page.

Important: New members may not qualify for inclusive EU roaming right away if there is no UK usage before travelling abroad, and your roaming status might be off:

If this happens, to get up to 63 days inclusive roaming, contact our agents with proof of UK residence to confirm eligibility. See our Fair Usage Policy for details.

Travel data add-ons

Travel data add-ons keep you connected so you don’t have to worry about internet access while you’re away. This means that you’ll now be able to purchase travel data in a number of destinations.

You can buy travel data add-ons for all EU countries and selected destinations (we call this the EU zone) including Switzerland and Türkiye (Turkey).

Read more about 'travel data add-ons' here.


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