How much does it cost to roam? 

June 26, 2024

Four friends posing for a selfie using their Motorola Edge 40 phone

Holidays are when we’re living our best phone lives to the full. Whether it’s choosing hotel rooms or booking taxis to the airport, to planning incredible days out and taking sunset selfies with cocktails. 

When you’re planning your trip, make sure you know what it costs to use your phone before you travel. That way you can scroll, upload, get directions, and stay connected without worrying about sky high costs.

First things first

If you want to roam abroad, make sure you have roaming enabled on your phone. On most phones, you can do this in Settings under Mobile data. Remember, most smartphones automatically connect to the internet, so if you don’t want to be charged, make sure you turn off data roaming.  

You can still make calls and send texts when data roaming is off. Find out more about roaming settings.

To help you manage your roaming costs, you can set a spend cap and limit the amount you spend on data worldwide:

Setting up a spend cap

To help manage your roaming costs, you can set up a spend cap to limit spending on things not included in your monthly plan. You’ll need to set this to your preferred limit amount ahead of your travels, so you’re able to pay for the daily roaming charges in your destination, and don’t have any difficulty roaming.

It’s easy to change by logging in to My3 or using the Three app.

Worldwide data roaming limit

We’ve set up a worldwide data roaming limit for all our customers, so you don’t overspend while you’re abroad. This is set at £45 (excluding VAT) by default. If you’d like to change it, please get in touch.

Go Roam with Three

Go Roam lets you unlock your calls, texts, and data allowance in 160 destinations. 

Check if you’re traveling to a Go Roam destination here. 

Pay monthly customers

For our Go Roam in Europe destinations, it costs £2 for 24 hours. 

For our Go Roam Around the world destinations, it costs £5 for 24 hours.

For our Go Roam Around the World Extra destinations, its costs £7 for 24 hours. 

Some of our plans have Go Roam passes included as part of your package. You can check whether your plan has inclusive Daily Go Roam Passes, meaning you won’t incur a daily charge at all, by visiting My3 or by logging in to the Three app, and selecting Manage your plan. 

Pay As You Go customers 

You can roam at no extra cost in over 71 destinations, which includes all our European destinations. You can use unlimited calls and texts, and up to 12GB of your data without paying any additional fees. 

To find out more – including our T&Cs – visit our Go Roam page. 

Get a Go Roam pass

You can pay less for roaming by buying a Go Roam pass before you travel. You can get a pass for 3, 7, and 14 days. It’ll activate the first time you use your allowance abroad. 

To get a Go Roam pass, visit My3 or open the Three app, and click Manage services, and then Roaming.

What if I’m not travelling to a Go Roam destination?

Your normal allowances aren’t available in destinations that aren’t part of Go Roam. You’ll be charged the standard roaming rate, which will vary depending on your destination.

You can find out about roaming abroad charges here

Get unlimited data with a Data Passport

A Data Passport can help you save money when you travel. It gives you unlimited data for £5 a day.

To buy one ahead of your trip, go to My3 or visit the Three app, and click Manage services, then Roaming. Your Data Passport will automatically activate when you first use some data abroad, and you won’t be charged a daily roaming charge for using data while it’s active.

Alternatively, you can buy a Data Passport once you arrive. You’ll get an SMS from us if you’re in an eligible location, which has a link for you to buy the Data Passport.  

Find out more about Data Passports

Look out for our SMS notifications

When you arrive in a destination, we’ll text you info on any charges you can expect, and any charges incurred, while you are roaming. We’ll also let you know when any roaming passes or Data Passports have been activated and when they will end. To see your usage, check the Three app or log in to your My3 account.