Travel

Travelling alone sounds wonderfully simple until you actually have to do everything yourself. There is no friend standing next to you saying, “I think this is the right platform.” No…

Roaming passes are convenient. That is their biggest selling point. You land at the airport, switch on your phone and carry on as normal. No new SIM. No new number.…

Arriving in the UK without mobile data is one of those things that sounds manageable until you are standing outside an airport trying to work out which train platform you’re…

No.  A VPN does not prevent mobile roaming charges.  Even if your VPN says you’re connected to London while you’re physically sitting in Dubai, your mobile provider still knows that your SIM is connected to…

Some aircraft have an actual mobile phone network onboard.  Not Wi-Fi.  A cellular network.  On supported flights, your normal SIM can connect to that onboard system much like it connects to a foreign…

In many cases, yes.  An expired roaming data or call bundle does not necessarily stop your phone from reaching emergency services.  Emergency calling is treated differently from ordinary paid mobile usage. …

Usually, nothing dramatic happens.  Leaving Data Roaming switched on does not mean your phone starts paying roaming charges while it is connected normally to your UK home network.  The setting simply gives the…

Yes, voicemail can sometimes lead to roaming charges even when you never answer the incoming call, but it depends heavily on your mobile provider, destination and roaming plan.  The confusing bit…

Yes, but close to shore your phone should normally be using a terrestrial mobile network rather than the ship’s own cellular system.  Shipboard networks are specifically managed so they don’t interfere with mobile masts on…

Maritime roaming is what happens when your phone connects to a mobile network installed on a ship instead of a normal land-based mobile mast.  Cruise ships and some ferries carry their own…

You can enter roaming while travelling through the Channel Tunnel, but whether that actually costs you money depends on which mobile network your phone connects to and what your UK plan includes.  The tunnel has…

No. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, so using a normal UK SIM on a UK mobile network there is domestic usage, not international roaming.  Your usual UK minutes,…