EU roaming rules: what "roam like at home" covers, and what it does not

Calling abroad · Published 2026-10-24

Since June 2017, a mobile customer from an EU country can call, text and use data in the rest of the EU at domestic prices. The rules have been renewed until 2032. They are generous, but they have edges worth knowing before you travel.

The basic rule

Under "roam like at home", your operator may not add a surcharge when you use your phone while travelling periodically in another country of the European Economic Area. Calls, SMS and data are taken from your domestic allowance or charged at your domestic rates. The current framework is Regulation (EU) 2022/612, which applies from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2032 and replaced the original 2012 roaming regulation. The European Commission's roaming page and the EU's Your Europe guide summarise it for consumers.

Where it applies

• Included: the 27 EU member states, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, which apply the rules through the EEA Agreement.
• Not included by law: Switzerland, the United Kingdom (since the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December 2020), Andorra, Monaco, the Balkan countries outside the EU and Turkey, among others. Some operators include some of these countries in their plans as a commercial choice, so check your tariff.
• Watch the borders: near a frontier with a non-EEA country, or on a ferry, your phone can connect to a network outside the zone. Selecting a network manually avoids surprises.

"Periodic travel" and fair use

Roam like at home is meant for trips, not for living abroad on a cheaper foreign SIM. Operators may therefore apply a fair-use policy, whose limits are set by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/2286. In short:

• An operator may ask for proof of normal residence or stable links (work, study) in the country where you bought the plan.
• It may monitor usage over a period of at least four months. If you spend more time abroad than at home and use your phone more abroad than at home over that period, it can warn you.
• If the pattern continues for 14 days after the warning, the operator may start applying a surcharge, which is capped.

For a holiday, a business trip or regular visits to family, none of this applies in practice.

Data limits on cheap or unlimited plans

Inside the zone, data is "at home" prices, but not necessarily unlimited. If your plan offers very cheap or unlimited domestic data, the operator may set a roaming data allowance calculated from a formula in the regulation (based on the price of your plan and a wholesale price cap that falls each year). Beyond it, a small capped surcharge can apply. Your operator must tell you that allowance; it is usually printed in the plan details.

What the 2022 renewal added

• Same quality: where the same network technology is available abroad, you should get it. An operator should not throttle you to 3G if you have 5G at home and a 5G network is available.
• Information on emergency services: when you arrive in another country, your operator must send you information about how to reach emergency services there, including 112 and alternative means of access for people with disabilities.
• Special numbers: calls to customer service lines, premium numbers and some free-phone numbers in another country can cost more, and operators must warn you about this.
• Ships and planes: on-board networks on ferries, cruise ships and aircraft are not terrestrial mobile networks and are not covered by roam like at home. Operators must take steps to protect customers against inadvertent connection and bill shock. Switch to aeroplane mode at sea or in the air unless you have checked the price.

Roaming is not the same as calling another EU country

A common confusion: roam like at home covers calls made while you are abroad. If you are at home in Belgium and call a number in France, that is an international call, governed by different rules. Since 15 May 2019, EU law has capped the retail price of such intra-EU calls and texts at €0.19 per minute and €0.06 per SMS, excluding VAT (Regulation (EU) 2018/1971). The arrangement has since been extended; the Commission's page gives the levels in force. Many plans include some international minutes, and app calls avoid the question entirely when both sides have data.

Practical checklist before an EU trip

1. Check your plan's roaming data allowance and whether your destination is in the zone.
2. Keep data roaming on (it is needed for roam like at home) but set the network manually near non-EEA borders and at sea.
3. Save the local emergency information your operator sends; 112 works everywhere in the EU.
4. Avoid calling premium and service numbers abroad unless you know the price.

Travelling outside the EU? See ways to call and stay online abroad and our guide to eSIMs for travellers.