Three drop roaming charges from seven countries: "Feel At Home" in Hong Kong, Australia

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three-logo-thumb.jpgHot on the heels of their free 4G plans, Three are gaining further good favour with their users today by announcing they will be dropping roaming charges in seven international territories.

The “Feel At Home” scheme will allow you to make use of your standard data plan in Australia, Italy, Hong Kong, Republic of Ireland, Austria, Sweden and Denmark at no extra cost – even if you have unlimited calls and data in the UK.

Activating as soon as you plane touches down in one of the countries above, your phone will connect to a local mobile network signed up to work with the Three scheme.

Three’s Feel At Home service will work on pay monthly, Pay-As-You-Go, SIM-only, mobile broadband and business plans. Should you exceed your standard data allowance, you’ll be charged at a rate lower than the usual roaming rate. Tethering is not supported at all, however.

The beginning of the end for roaming charges? We’d like to think so, but we doubt it. It’s a lucrative side business for the mobile networks, and with recent EU changes regulating the cost of roaming charges, it’s already being policed to a point where networks need not justify the high asking price. Fair play to Three for their generosity here.

Gerald Lynch
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