Best network for roaming

 

Table of Contents Roaming in Europe Roaming outside Europe Major network roaming policies EE Vodafone Three O2 MVNO roaming policies 1pMobile Asda Mobile Giffgaff Honest Mobile iD Mobile Lebara Lyca Mobile ParentShield Sky Mobile Smarty Spusu Talk Home Talkmobile Tesco Mobile VOXI Cost comparison Conclusion

Using your phone abroad, also called roaming, used to be a sure-fire way to incur a massive bill at the end of the month. That’s no longer necessarily the case, but it’s still important to examine where each of the major UK networks stands on the matter.

Using a foreign network typically incurs additional charges, but a mixture of legislation and cooperation between the world’s networks has reduced the penalty for roaming in certain key territories. Prior to Brexit that most notably meant free roaming across the EU, but while that’s no longer the case on every network and plan, the costs are still usually affordable.

Here’s a breakdown of the roaming policies adopted by every significant UK network, including EE, O2, Vodafone and Three, plus most major MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators), both in the EU and outside of it.

Roaming in Europe

The EU dropped all roaming charges from June 15, 2017. This meant that making calls, sending texts and using the internet on your phone used to cost the same as at home when in any country that’s a member of the EU, whatever network or plan you're on – though when it came to data there were often fair use limits.

Of course, with the UK no longer in the EU, that's all changed. The specifics of EU roaming terms vary from network to network and will be detailed below under each network’s heading, but in short many either don't offer free EU roaming anymore or only do on select plans.

However, a lot of networks also still do allow EU roaming, as you can see in the table above.

Note that we’re including all EU and EEA regions as being part of Europe – even ‘outermost regions’ like Guadeloupe, which are closer to other continents.

Roaming outside Europe

If you want to roam outside Europe then your affordable options are a lot more limited, with only the networks in the chart above offering plans that include global roaming – or in the case of Sky Mobile, low cost global roaming prices.

Even then, the selection of locations that are included is quite low on all networks other than Three, Vodafone, EE, O2, and Sky Mobile.

You’ll find more details of the specific locations in the network sections below.

Major network roaming policies

Below, you’ll find an in-depth look at the roaming policies and locations offered by the UK’s four major networks – namely EE, Three, O2, and Vodafone.

EE

EE Roaming

Plan Type	Roaming Destinations	Roaming cost
Essential / No Frills	None included	From £2.72 a day
Essentials Plus / All Rounder	47 across Europe	Included
Full Works	85, including 47 across Europe	Included
Pay As You Go	None included	From £2.50 a day

Essentials / No Frills plans

Essentials, Essentials Max, and No Frills plan customers can roam for £2.72 per day in 47 destinations across Europe (see below for a full list). However, this charge will only apply to Pay Monthly handset and SIM Only customers who’ve joined EE or upgraded from 7th July, 2021, onwards. Older customers who haven’t recently upgraded can roam in these places at no extra cost. For tablet, laptop, and mobile broadband customers, these charges came into play for plans started on or after 18th August 2021.

There’s also a 7-day EU Pass, which costs £16.50, saving you a little bit of money if you need that many days.

Or if you want to roam further afield, costs start at £6 per day.

Essentials Plus / All Rounder plans

If you have an Essentials Plus plan then EU roaming in 47 destinations (listed in the chart below) will be included in your plan. The same is true of All Rounder plans taken out on or after August 29th, 2024. Previous All Rounder plans can access global roaming (in 52 destinations) but only if you choose a Roam Abroad pass as your Inclusive Extra. Otherwise no roaming is included.

Full Works plans

If you’re on one of EE’s high-end Full Works plans taken out on or after August 29th, 2024, or on a Full Works for iPhone plan taken out at any point, then global roaming in 47 EU destinations will be included, as will worldwide roaming in Albania, Algeria, Australia, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, China, Dominican Republic, Faroe Islands, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, Oman, Palestine, Peru, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States, and Vietnam (up to a 50GB ‘fair usage cap’). 

If you're on an older Full Works for Android plan from before August 29th 2024, then you can instead access free roaming in Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and the USA, on top of Europe, for 52 locations in total, but only if you select roaming as an Inclusive Extra.

Pay As You Go

If you’re on a Pay As You Go plan with EE then the situation is similar to Essentials and No Frills plans in that roaming isn’t included, though the cost to roam can vary slightly, with this starting at £2.50 for 24 hours.

Vodafone

Vodafone Roaming

Plan Type	Roaming Destinations	Roaming cost
Any that mention ‘52 European’ destinations	52 across Europe	Included
Any that mention ‘84 worldwide’ destinations	84 worldwide	Included
Any other Pay Monthly plans	None included	From £2.75 per day
Pay As You Go	None included	From £9.60 for 8 days

Vodafone has introduced a £2.75 daily charge to use allowances in 52 European destinations – or you can reduce this if you buy an eight or 15-day pass.

However, customers on plans taken out before August 11th 2021 won’t have to pay this charge until they upgrade, and there are plans which avoid the charge, detailed below.

Inclusive roaming

Vodafone has rolled out a range of plans that come with inclusive roaming in the 52 destinations above.

On top of that, some plans go even further and allow for free roaming in 84 destinations – many of which are outside Europe. Note that in all cases though there’s a 25GB fair usage limit.

The additional locations include:

Albania, Anguilla, Antigua, Aruba, Australia, Barbados, Bermuda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Ghana, Grenada, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Mexico, Montserrat, Mozambique, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten, South Africa, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey and Northern Cyprus, Turks and Caicos, and the US.

Travelling further

For many other parts of the world or for those who don’t have a plan that offers inclusive roaming in 84 locations, you can pay £8 per day to use your allowances beyond Europe.

Vodafone also lets customers on a 5G plan roam at 5G speeds in select locations.

Pay As You Go

The roaming situation is slightly different on Pay As You Go to on other plan types, as not only is it not included as standard, but you also can’t pay a low daily charge.

Instead, you need to purchase an eight or 15-day extra, with these starting at £9.60 for 3GB of data that you can use for eight days in 52 European destinations, and topping out at £28.75 for 4GB of data, 200 minutes, and 200 texts that you can use in 74 destinations worldwide.

Three

Three Roaming

Plan Type	Roaming Destinations	Roaming cost
Lite / Lite+	None included	From £2.75 a day
Value	49 across Europe	Included
Complete	Over 160 worldwide	Included
Pay As You Go	71 worldwide	Included

Three’s Lite plan customers (previously called Standard plans) and Lite+ plan customers will have to pay £2.75 per day to use their allowances in the EU (across 49 destinations), and £8 per day to use them in most other destinations — though if you’ve had your plan for a while, you might still be benefitting from older, lower prices.

Customers of Value plans (previously called Plus plans) can roam for free in 49 European destinations, and those on Complete plans (previously known as Premium plans) can roam at no extra cost in over 160 global destinations.

In most cases that’s up to a 12GB limit, though if you’re on a Pay As You Go plan you can instead roam at no extra cost in 71 global destinations, with a variable fair use limit depending on your pack.

The European locations (which all plans other than Lite and Lite+ plans can roam in at no extra cost) can be seen in the chart below. Three collectively calls these locations ‘Go Roam in Europe’.

Places beyond Europe that can be roamed in for £8 per day (or inclusively on Complete and Pay As You Go plans) are listed in the chart below. These are known as ‘Go Roam Around the World’ destinations.

Albania, Andorra, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba (Netherlands Antilles), Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bermuda, Bonaire (Netherlands Antilles), Bosnia and Herzegovina, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Curacao (Netherlands Antilles), Cyprus, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Faroe Islands, Gabon, Georgia, Ghana, Greenland, Grenada, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Rwanda, Saba (Netherlands Antilles), Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sint Eustatius (Netherlands Antilles), Sint Maarten (Netherlands Antilles), South Africa, South Korea, Suriname, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Uzbekistan, and Zambia.

O2

O2 Roaming

Plan Type	Roaming Destinations	Roaming cost
Classic	48 across Europe	Included
Plus	75 worldwide	Included
Ultimate	123 worldwide	Included
Pay As You Go	48 across Europe	Included

O2 allows customers (including those on Pay As You Go) to roam for no extra cost in 48 European destinations, many of which offer 5G speeds. The list of roaming locations can be seen in the chart below, but is similar to that offered by other networks.

However, unlike other networks O2 hasn’t announced plans to remove free roaming, so at the time of writing it’s the only one of the big four UK networks that still offers free roaming on all plans. Note though that there’s a 25GB data limit when roaming in Europe.

On Plus plans you can also roam in 27 other locations, for 75 in total. Those extra locations are: Argentina, Australia, Botswana, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Greenland, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Honduras, Madagascar, Mexico, Myanmar, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Rwanda, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela and Yemen.

If, however, you have an Ultimate plan then you can roam in the following 75 locations outside Europe, for 123 in total:

Albania, Anguilla, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Bermuda, Botswana, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ghana, Greenland, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Montserrat, Myanmar, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Qatar, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Turks & Caicos, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela, Yemen, and Zambia.

In all of these non-European places there’s no fair use data limit, but instead your speeds are capped at 2Mbps.

If you don’t have an Ultimate plan, then you can roam in a similar selection of locations for £7 per day.

MVNO Roaming Policies

Below you’ll find brief details of the roaming policies for most of the UK’s MVNOs, along with links to more detailed guides for each network where available.

1pMobile

1pMobile allows all customers to roam across 46 European destinations at no extra cost, up to a fair use limit of 14GB of data.

1pMobile will also check that you’re using your phone more in the UK than abroad over a rolling 90-day period.

Asda Mobile

Asda Mobile allows customers to roam in 46 European destinations at no extra cost. However, there’s a roaming data limit of 5GB, so you can’t use more than that abroad each month without being charged extra.

It’s worth noting that Asda Mobile offers 5G roaming in parts of numerous EU countries too.

Giffgaff

Giffgaff lets customers roam in 37 European destinations at no extra cost. However, there’s a fair usage limit of 5GB for all plans that come with that much data or more.

Honest Mobile

Honest Mobile allows EU roaming of up to five days per trip at no extra cost, but additional days will cost £2 each, and there’s a 20GB fair usage limit.

iD Mobile

On iD Mobile you can roam abroad in 50 destinations in the EU, EEA and beyond. All of these locations are at least partially located in Europe, but the list includes Kazakhstan, which is primarily in Asia, so we’ve counted that as outside Europe in the charts above. Like most networks, iD Mobile has a fair usage policy, but it’s reasonably high at 30GB, and the network offers 5G roaming in some places.

Lebara

Lebara allows customers to roam at no extra cost in the EU, up to a 30GB fair usage limit.

This network stands out though by also offering inclusive roaming in India, where there’s likewise a fair usage limit of up to 30GB.

Lyca Mobile

On Lyca Mobile you can roam across the EU at no extra cost, as well as in India and even China on some plans, but there’s a variable fair usage limit depending on your plan. At the time of writing the highest available cap is 35GB – with China having a separate, lower cap.

ParentShield

ParentShield doesn’t offer inclusive roaming, so you’ll have to pay extra to use your plan abroad.

Sky Mobile

Sky Mobile doesn’t let you roam for free, but you can access your allowances in 120 destinations for £2 per day. You’re not limited to Europe either – you can also roam in numerous other parts of the world.

Smarty

When travelling in the EU on Smarty you’ll have access to your normal allowances at no extra cost, up to a fair usage limit of 12GB. It’s worth noting that Smarty has the same parent company as Three, and yet Three doesn’t offer free roaming on all plans.

Spusu

Spusu offers inclusive EU roaming as standard, with a variable fair usage limit (depending on your plan) that tops out at 20GB at the time of writing.

Talk Home

Talk Home lets users roam across most of Europe at no extra cost, with a variable fair usage limit (depending on your plan) that tops out at 30GB at the time of writing.

Talkmobile

Talkmobile allows customers to roam as if at home in 47 European destinations, up to a fair usage data limit of 5GB per month, and the network also offers 5G roaming.

Tesco Mobile

Tesco Mobile lets you roam in 48 destinations in the EU and beyond at no extra cost.

Its fair usage terms are less restrictive than on most networks, as it basically just says you can’t be spending more time or data in its free roaming locations than in the UK or the rest of the world. Your usage for these purposes will be monitored over a rolling four-month period.

VOXI

VOXI is among the rare MVNOs that charge you to roam even in Europe. The network charges £2.60 per day, though you can get discounts for longer periods, with an eight-day roaming pass costing £15 and a 15-day one costing £20. This pass will cover you in Europe up to your standard data allowance or a 20GB fair usage limit, whichever is lower.

It's worth noting that VOXI also allows 5G roaming in some regions.

Cost Comparison

As we’ve seen, each UK network has its own roaming provisions and deals that can reduce the cost of using your phone while travelling dramatically. However, they also each have a list of base charges that apply when none of these provisions is met.

By way of a comparison, here is a table that compares the basic unsubsidised costs of placing a local call, sending a text, and surfing the web in three of the most popular destinations for UK travellers, on the UK’s four main networks. 

Conclusion

As you can see, standard roaming charges are hardly what you’d call cheap. But each network’s roaming initiative can provide massive savings in their own separate way.

As things stand at the time of writing (September 2026) O2 arguably tops the pack in terms of the four main networks, as it's keeping roaming free on all plans. That said, for a wide selection of destinations, Three comes out on top, and you can still roam for free on some plans with that network.

As for the MVNOs, the vast majority do offer free EU roaming. However, VOXI, ParentShield, and Sky Mobile don’t. So these two rank low – though notably Sky lets you cheaply roam beyond Europe.

Of the other MVNOs, we’d highlight Tesco Mobile as one of the best, as this has less restrictive fair usage limits than the other networks. Lebara and Lyca Mobile also rank high for certain travellers, since they allow you to roam for free in India, and in Lyca Mobile’s case China too.

Overall though we’d say O2 has all of those beat as well, since select plans let you roam widely, on top of all plans letting you roam in Europe. So O2 is our pick as the best network for roaming overall.

Beyond that, our one piece of advice for frequent travellers is to pick out the UK network that offers the best roaming terms for the highest number of countries you intend to visit over the duration of your contract.