A warning has been issued to holidaymakers that using the Internet on their mobile phones abroad could cost more than the holiday itself.
The Government and providers are being urged by the Citizens Advice to work on a voluntary agreement to prevent large bills, which would also include further warnings for customers and a voluntary price cap.
Due to holidaymakers not realising how quickly the costs can rise when travelling outside of the European Union, especially when they are unaware their mobile device is using roaming data, the customers face bills of thousands of pounds through high charges.
Citizens Advice Chief Executive Gillian Guy said: “The market shouldn’t be a lottery where some customers can be unwittingly plunged into life-changing amounts of debt just because they used their phone.”
“A voluntary price cap would help better protect customers and companies could do more by giving more warnings to customers if their bills start to rise.”
Following changes brought in by the European Commission last year, the highest per megabyte roaming rate within the EU is capped at 17p.
Outside the EU, no such limit is in place, with researchers finding the rate can reach £12.50 per megabyte.
Watching a 30 minute TV episode in Turkey could cost up to £1,360, compared to £32 within the EU, Citizens Advice discovered.
The charity has assisted a holidaymaker who was stung with a bill of £1,500 after enabling data roaming to download a music album whilst in Egypt, along with military personnel who were billed for thousands of pounds after leaving data roaming enabled whilst on deployment.
The rate which consumers pay differs based on which network provider they are with, whether they have purchased any “bolt-ons” which allows them a set amount of data for a fixed price, and where they are travelling to.
Currently, network providers are required to send a warning notification to customers who are outside of the EU when their bill reaches €50 (approx. £35), asking if they would like to continue using data.
Citizens Advice argue that because there is no requirement to contact the customer again, they can unwittingly rack up much larger bills.
Consumers are able to contact their provider to check which tariff they are on and whether data roaming is enabled, but the charity wants the companies to assist more.
Citizens Advice wants a voluntary agreement which would include a maximum per megabyte cost and standard warnings for customers about what they are spending on data at regular intervals above the €50 level.
The charity also wants measures implemented to ensure customers who are given unexpectedly large bills to be treated fairly, that money is not recouped immediately and customers are not pushed towards debt.