Britain outside the EU

[mrmistoffelees]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

To all of you:

1/
Again, the WTO doesn’t come into the UK single market enshrined in the NIP.

2/
The above needs appropriate interpretation by th EU.

3/
Now the rub. The UK needs trusted status and Boris is not that person to take that foward. This is my point of convergence with some Remainers (not Hugh).

Point 2. No it doesn't, As the EU aren't doing anything illegal. (The UK government has already admitted such) if the UK govt. attitude is anything like yours with your insatiable use of 'perfidious' and referring to them as 'the enemy' why on earth would the EU shift stance?

Point 3. You would need someone who firmly believed in Brexit, as any appeasement towards the EU would be met with ghastly horror by many Brexiteers. I can't think of one who would be suitable?


The EU hold the cards here.......

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by mrmistoffelees

The EU hold the cards here.......

Even the sim cards as roaming charges set to be reintroduced,

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

Even the sim cards as roaming charges set to be reintroduced,

The UK could always legislate against roaming charges if it wanted to, as that's all the EU has done, there is no EU funding mechanism for it.

The deflating balloon continues to deflate.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57595913

Mobile operator EE will charge new customers extra to use their mobile phones in Europe from January.

Those joining or upgrading from 7 July 2021 will be charged £2 a day to use their allowances in 47 European destinations from January 2022.

EE previously said it had no plans to reintroduce roaming charges in Europe.

It is the first UK operator to reintroduce the charges since the Brexit trade deal was signed at the end of December.

Mobile networks in EU countries are not allowed to charge customers extra to use their phones in other EU countries, within fair use limits.

EE, O2, Three and Vodafone had all stated they had no plans to reintroduce roaming charges, despite Brexit giving them the option to do so.

---------- Post added at 12:59 ---------- Previous post was at 12:44 ----------

Originally Posted by mrmistoffelees

The EU hold the cards here.......

Agreed

This debate over the relative merits of Brexit rages each time there is a story about exporters struggling to sell goods to Europe or whether the UK was able to vaccinate faster than Europe because of Brexit. The British government often leads the charge in these arguments, not least because Johnson led the 2016 Brexit campaign.

EU officials and diplomats fear this sort of tit-for-tat politics will be an unfortunate but permanent fixture of UK-EU relations for the foreseeable future. They also suspect it is, in part at least, an exercise in distracting the British public from the reality of life as a small nation negotiating with the world's largest trading bloc.

"For us, Brexit should be over. But we are now in a situation where we have to negotiate with a UK that is fooling itself into thinking it's as powerful as the EU," said one senior EU diplomat.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/23/u...cmd/index.html

Fine by me. I’ve not traveled in Europe for years. Why should my mobile phone bill subsidise those who do? Abolishing roaming charges was never intended to save money. It was a political move designed to further the illusion of the EU as a single, seamless territory. The phone companies faced a loss of income by no longer having the option to charge customers the additional cost of managing their use via a third party telecoms network. Hands up who seriously thinks they haven’t simply rearranged the deckchairs and recouped as much of that as possible from everyone else ...

[jonbxx]

Originally Posted by Chris

Fine by me. I’ve not traveled in Europe for years. Why should my mobile phone bill subsidise those who do? Abolishing roaming charges was never intended to save money. It was a political move designed to further the illusion of the EU as a single, seamless territory. The phone companies faced a loss of income by no longer having the option to charge customers the additional cost of managing their use via a third party telecoms network. Hands up who seriously thinks they haven’t simply rearranged the deckchairs and recouped as much of that as possible from everyone else ...

It was fun while it lasted. I used to whizz through the phone charges when I travelled abroad for work. We're talking £30-40 in roaming fees each trip. When I have 5-10 trips a year, it soon adds up. Data was the killer...

Saves my work thousands a year with roaming being free in the EU for UK employees. We'll just have to wait and see what the network my company uses decides to do.

[Sephiroth]

O2 has confirmed that call charges with the Europe zone will count within the monthly allowance.

When travelling within our Europe Zone, your minutes and text allowances will work like they do in the UK. That includes calls you make and receive within our Europe Zone and back to the UK, and texts you send within our Europe Zone and back to the UK.

https://www.o2.co.uk/help/account-an...-_-CVM-_-07723

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Chris

Fine by me. I’ve not traveled in Europe for years. Why should my mobile phone bill subsidise those who do? Abolishing roaming charges was never intended to save money. It was a political move designed to further the illusion of the EU as a single, seamless territory. The phone companies faced a loss of income by no longer having the option to charge customers the additional cost of managing their use via a third party telecoms network. Hands up who seriously thinks they haven’t simply rearranged the deckchairs and recouped as much of that as possible from everyone else ...

It went from one extreme to the other! It was originally like the Wild West with people reporting bills in two and three figures and costs being opaque. And then it reduced to just UK charges.
I hope we don't return to rip-off Britain days.

Originally Posted by Chris

Fine by me. I’ve not traveled in Europe for years. Why should my mobile phone bill subsidise those who do? Abolishing roaming charges was never intended to save money. It was a political move designed to further the illusion of the EU as a single, seamless territory. The phone companies faced a loss of income by no longer having the option to charge customers the additional cost of managing their use via a third party telecoms network. Hands up who seriously thinks they haven’t simply rearranged the deckchairs and recouped as much of that as possible from everyone else ...

As someone who used to work on Interconnect* billing for a mobile company and a Cable company, once the recharge mechanism was set up, there was very little additional cost.

*Interconnect - recharging for phone usage within or between countries using your Home Country phone.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Hugh

As someone who used to work on Interconnect* billing for a mobile company and a Cable company, once the recharge mechanism was set up, there was very little additional cost.

*Interconnect - recharging for phone usage within or between countries using your Home Country phone.

Yup, the costs previously charged by the mobile companies to consumers roaming included hefty mark-ups. Hence an easy win for the EU.

Originally Posted by Chris

Fine by me. I’ve not traveled in Europe for years. Why should my mobile phone bill subsidise those who do? Abolishing roaming charges was never intended to save money. It was a political move designed to further the illusion of the EU as a single, seamless territory. The phone companies faced a loss of income by no longer having the option to charge customers the additional cost of managing their use via a third party telecoms network. Hands up who seriously thinks they haven’t simply rearranged the deckchairs and recouped as much of that as possible from everyone else ...

I thought it worked by making operators co-exist without the massive mark-up?

It's like banking fees for international transactions where there wasn't any real justification for some of the prices the retail banks charged for them but it made them money.

[Pierre]

Who cares? Roaming charges were not a factor in leaving or staying in the EU.

Originally Posted by Damien

I thought it worked by making operators co-exist without the massive mark-up?

It's like banking fees for international transactions where there wasn't any real justification for some of the prices the retail banks charged for them but it made them money.

If it’s a price-gouging issue then UK regulators can and should intervene. Given the period of charge-free roaming we’ve just had, there is presumably the beginnings of a case already. I noticed that EE carefully justified its move by earmarking the additional revenue for UK network expansion, which is a pretty blatant attempt to align with present government targets on the rollout of 5G and overall improvement in coverage. The networks must all be aware that they’re not going to get away with high charges for nothing, especially when the present government may be quite sensitive to Press stories blaming it on Brexit.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Yup, the costs previously charged by the mobile companies to consumers roaming included hefty mark-ups. Hence an easy win for the EU.

You may be relishing this, Andrew, but I think EE is on its own here and will be forced to backtrack. If they are the only ones charging these exorbitant fees, other companies will reap the benefits of having more customers. Almost certainly, EE will be forced to backtrack.

Sorry to burst the EU love-in bubble, mate.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

You may be relishing this, Andrew, but I think EE is on its own here and will be forced to backtrack. If they are the only ones charging these exorbitant fees, other companies will reap the benefits of having more customers. Almost certainly, EE will be forced to backtrack.

Sorry to burst the EU love-in bubble, mate.

Dunno why I should be relishing this. Hopefully, companies won't price gouge as they did before the EU's intervention but will charge an appropriately small mark-up. And I'm with Virgin Mobile who've not announced any changes yet, as far as I know.

Not that I have any plans to visit Europe any time soon due to covid. But we're blessed in this country with an amazing coastline and a wealth of great countryside, mountains, towns, villages and cities which is where my holiday spend is going this year. So won't be impacted in 2021 even if VM does do somethng similar to EE.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Dunno why I should be relishing this. Hopefully, companies won't price gouge as they did before the EU's intervention but will charge an appropriately small mark-up. And I'm with Virgin Mobile who've not announced any changes yet, as far as I know.

Not that I have any plans to visit Europe any time soon due to covid. But we're blessed in this country with an amazing coastline and a wealth of great countryside, mountains, towns, villages and cities which is where my holiday spend is going this year. So won't be impacted in 2021 even if VM does do somethng similar to EE.

Unfortunately, most holidaymakers here want sun and warmth. A holiday in Britain? I think I’ll give that a miss.