Mobile Phones Blog

Today, proposals were announced by the European Commission to further cut the costs of calling abroad within the EU for residents of member states, following what it calls a failure by the industry to self-regulate. “I have announced today that enough is enough,” said EU Telecommunications Commissioner Viviane Reding, who is insisting that regulation “now must happen from top down from Brussels in the interests of consumers.” New proposals from the Commissioner could see the cost of sending a text fall from 23p to as little as 9p per message, with voice calls falling from 36p per minute down to 27p.

Several European holidaymakers, more often than not British ones, have experienced what is known as “bill shock”, upon return from a holiday abroad - you come home and get your next bill for your phone in the post only to find that you’ve unexpectedly racked up a three-figure debt just for making a few calls and sending some texts to friends and family back home.

The Commission set a deadline of July the 1st of this year for the mobile industry to take action; both T-Mobile and O2 promised to cut the rates of sending messages from abroad, and Orange slashed the cost of their data rates. In 2007, the networks were limited to charging a maximum of 34p per minute to make a call back home, and 17p to receive a call, limits which are still observed today.

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Airlines have come one step closer to enabling widespread use of mobile phones on flights following a ruling by the communications watchdog Ofcom today.

The regulator said it would grant licences for mobile communications equipment on aircraft under the 2006 Wireless Telegraphy Act, and that licenses would be issued to UK airlines on request. Applications would have to go through EU regulators, the European Aviation Safety Agency and the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority before any systems could be approved.

The thought of mobile phone calls on flights will fill many passengers with dread. Some 86% of British holidaymakers and 78% of people internationally said they were opposed to allowing mobile phones to be switched on during flights, according to a recent survey conducted by travel website TripAdvisor.

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Britons are overwhelmingly opposed to allowing mobile phones to be switched on during flights, a survey by travel website TripAdvisor has found. Of those interviewed, some 86% of British flyers said that mobiles should be banned throughout flights, compared with 78% of people internationally.

The research comes as low cost airline Ryanair recently unveiled plans to enable customers to send text messages and have conversations on their handsets in the air. Other airlines considering allowing the use of mobiles on board include Bmi, Emirates, Air France and SAS. Qatar Airlines however continues to ban them.

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In the wake of the recent EU roaming charge price adjustments, we’ve heard all sorts of roaming charge holiday horror stories, but this one takes les biscuits.

Iayn Dobson opened his mobile phone bill to discover he had been charged £31,000 by Yes Telecom, the small-business arm of Vodafone, he assumed it was a ludicrous mistake. “The figures looked like they had come down from the moon,” he said in an interview for the Telegraph. “I just laughed. There had to be some mistake”. Although he was aware that his bill would be higher than usual, he expected charges “to the tune of about £150.”

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