Surfing on your mobile abroad using your Swedish subscription can be much more expensive than using this service in Sweden. If you have a fixed charge for data traffic, this is often restricted to only apply when you are surfing in Sweden. When surfing abroad, it may cost hundreds of Swedish kronor just to surf on, for example, the website of a daily newspaper. It is most expensive outside the EU.
"It is important for operators to provide clear information regarding prices. Consumers must be given the opportunity to avoid expensive mobile services. Within the EU, there is a credit hold when surfing using computers and mobiles, which your operator must apply automatically from 1 July 2010. Before this date, you must personally ask to have this hold activated. There are also limits within the EU for how much calls and SMS may cost. It is often more expensive to make calls and surf outside the EU, but even surfing within the EU can be very expensive if the hold has not been activated," says Anna Boström, acting Head of the Consumer Issues Section at PTS.
"It may be expensive to read e-mails or download maps for your GPS system if you are travelling by car abroad, as this is charged as data traffic," says Rickard Faivre, a lawyer at the Swedish Consumer Agency.
"You should always take care when you are near Sweden's borders to other countries, as your mobile services may link to a neighbouring country's network despite the fact that you are still in Sweden. You should also bear this in mind when travelling by boat, where satellite telephony is sometimes used as this can quickly become expensive," said Mattias Grafström, CEO at KTIB.
Suggestions for avoiding high costs:
- Before travelling, always contact your operator to check how much it will cost to use mobile services abroad.
- Remember that a number of services, applications, programmes and 'widgets' in your equipment may use Internet connections (e.g. when collecting your e-mails), so turn these off before travelling abroad.
- Remember that you will have to pay for both receiving and listening to messages in your voice mailbox/voicemail.
- One alternative is to use a local Internet connection instead or to buy a cash card in the country to which you are travelling (first check that your equipment is not locked to a certain operator).
For more information please contact:
Anna Boström, acting head of the Section for Consumer Issues at PTS, tel. 073-644 55 23
Rickard Favre, legal adviser, Swedish Consumer Agency, tel. 054-19 40 77
Mattias Grafström, CEO, KTIB, tel. 070-713 48 59