Mobile contract

[kilty]

I have a mobile contract with O2 that expires next month. I have found them to be expensive, particularly on roaming in the UK and Europe. I want to renew with a new provider, hopefully to get a package that includes mobile broadband with reasonable roaming charges on phone and broadband.
I find the whole area to be riddled with confusion, and although I'm not stupid by any means, I think that the deals on offer are deliberately fudged to confuse customers.
Has anyone done the math on the kind of package I am looking for? I would appreciate feedback please.

 

[Jorser]

I have a mobile contract with O2 that expires next month. I have found them to be expensive, particularly on roaming in the UK and Europe. I want to renew with a new provider, hopefully to get a package that includes mobile broadband with reasonable roaming charges on phone and broadband.
I find the whole area to be riddled with confusion, and although I'm not stupid by any means, I think that the deals on offer are deliberately fudged to confuse customers.
Has anyone done the math on the kind of package I am looking for? I would appreciate feedback please.

Just so your aware, mobile broadband roaming can be very expensive with almost every network. This is mainly because mobile companies are paying for the data charges with the voice revenues (your calls). This does not apply in other countries as the network provider you roam onto is not usually willing to give you the data below cost.

 

[Bar101]

Comreg have a call cost calculator which compares various packages.

[broken link removed]

However I don't think they take data or roaming into account.

On roaming ... 3 were the only ones offering less than the european minimum rate.

On data ... basically be prepared to pay through the nose until the new european directive comes in (next year?).