Thursday 7 July 2022 04:54 PM British holidaymakers risk £787 roaming bill for a WEEK in Egypt or Morocco trends now
When you're exploring the Pyramids of Giza or wandering through the Valley of the Kings, the cost of your mobile phone bill may not be at the top of your mind.
But a new report has revealed that holidaymakers could face sky-high fees of up to £787 a week for using their mobile phones abroad this summer.
British mobile networks have made headlines this year for bringing back roaming charges in Europe, following the UK's departure from the EU.
Mercifully, roaming fees for EU countries typically come to less than £14 for a week's holiday, and are free for O2 and Virgin Media customers.
But charges can quickly add up for further afield destinations, according to comparison site Uswitch.
Visitors to popular tourist destinations including Egypt and Morocco, as well as South America, Saudi Arabia and UAE, are at risk of racking up the biggest bills, depending on which mobile network they use.
However, a survey of 2,000 UK adults revealed that a quarter of mobile users (24 per cent) have no idea what using their phone abroad will cost, despite one in seven (16 per cent) worrying about big bills on their return.
Anew report has revealed that holidaymakers could face sky-high fees of up to £787 a week for using their mobile phones abroad in places like Egypt this summer
'Millions of Brits will soon be enjoying a hard-earned holiday abroad, and thoughts about the cost of using their mobile will be far from their mind,' said Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at Uswitch.
'For many, it will be their first foreign holiday since EU roaming fees returned, so it's important to remember that you're now likely to face extra charges for using your phone.'
Some providers like Vodafone let customers use their domestic monthly allowance of calls, texts and data while on holiday outside the EU for £6 a day.
This means a week's break will cost no more than £42 in the 156 destinations Vodafone covers.
However, some popular destinations are excluded from overseas data, call or text bundles.
For example, consumers travelling to Egypt face charges of up to £7.20 a MB for data, calls costing £5 a minute, and texts billed at 60p each.
Roaming Red List: Most costly holiday hotspots to use your phone abroad based on a seven-day holiday with a person using 1GB mobile data, making 20 minutes of calls and sending 10 texts each day
Map shows popular worldwide holiday destinations where you could face unexpected roaming charges, based on using 20 minutes, 10 texts and 1GB of data per day, for seven days (including the Government's data cap) Chart
This means that a holidaymaker using 1GB of data, making 20 minutes of calls and sending ten texts a day could end up with a £787 bill.
After leaving the EU, the UK government introduced a worldwide roaming data cap of £45 a month
