Vodafone UK Roaming 2023: Everything you need to know

Vodafone UK lets you use your phone in over 150 countries around the world, but as of January 2022 some things have changed. Some countries are free to roam for certain customers, while other countries incur daily charges.

We’ve detailed how roaming works for Vodafone’s Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go customers, including which countries you can roam for free and other data roaming charges.

Changes to roaming charges

Unfortunately, Vodafone has changed the Pay Monthly plans which previously included free roaming in its Europe zone. These changes affect both individuals and businesses.

What changed?

Pay Monthly customers who joined Vodafone or upgraded or changed their plans on or after August 11, 2021 will receive daily charges for using their phone in European roaming areas, unless their plans include roaming in Europe. Customers who joined Vodafone before August 11 will not see any changes until they upgrade or change their plans.

Full details and eligibility can be found here.

How much will it cost to use your phone abroad from January 2022?

Vodafone has created a number of European and Global destination zones and charges vary depending on the zone you are visiting. Your plan will also make a difference: depending on the plan you have, you may be able to access your UK data, minutes and text plan in certain areas at no additional cost. If not, there will be daily charges for using your phone.

Pay monthly roaming destinations

• Zone A – Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man, Iceland and Norway
• Zone B – 49 European destinations including EU countries
• Zone C – 32 destinations worldwide, including Australia, New Zealand and the United States
• Zone D – 75 destinations worldwide including Argentina and Vietnam

For the full list of roaming zone destinations, visit the Vodafone website.

How will my plan be affected?

If you are unsure which plan you have, log in to the My Vodafone app or My Vodafone online and click on Plan details. Here’s how the different plans will be affected.

Unlimited Xtra Data plan with 4 Xtra benefits

• Use your UK allowance in areas A, B and C.
• £6 per day to use UK allowance in Zone D.

Limited Data Xtra plan with 4 Xtra benefits

• Use your UK allowance in areas A and B.
• £6 per day to use UK allowance in areas C and D.

Other Vodafone Pay monthly plans

• Roaming passes for Zone B (Europe zone) will cost £10 for 8 days or £15 for 15 days, or £2.25 for a day pass.
• Using your phone in Zones C and D will cost £6 per day.

5G roaming is included in these prices.

Vodafone Pay As You Go Plans

There will be no change in the way you move.

Monthly payment – Vodafone Roam Abroad (Europe travel)

For Pay Monthly customers who joined Vodafone before August 11, 2021 and did not upgrade or change their plans, global roaming is included. However, keep in mind that this perk will only exist for a limited time.

For now, you can still use your data, texts and minutes abroad as you would in the UK if you are travel in Europe.

If you are traveling to one of the 51 European countries without roaming and have an eligible Unlimited Data Xtra plan, you will not be charged any additional costs. We’ve listed all of the included countries below, but you can also check out Vodafone’s handy document.

Vodafone fares on a flight or at sea

If you use your phone on a ferry or plane, it can connect you to a maritime or aerospace network. In this case, when you contact a number in the UK, Vodafone charges the standard rate Maritime/aerospace roaming costs, which are as follows:

• Make calls – £2.40 per minute
• Incoming calls – £1.80 per minute
• Sending SMS – 60p per SMS
• Picture message – 66p per text (flight only)
• Data – £7.20 per MB (flight only)

However, you will not be able to send a picture message or use data if you are connected to a maritime network.

If you go over your monthly text, call and data allowance, you’ll pay the same standard rate as you would in the UK. Out-of-bundle data is capped at £39.33. For more details on the data cap, see Vodafone’s FAQ section here.

Global Roaming Plus with Red Entertainment or Unlimited Max plans

Customers who purchased a Red Entertainment package between September 4, 2018 and July 9, 2019 automatically receive Global Roaming Plus, as well as customers who purchased an Unlimited Max package from July 10, 2019.

What are Vodafone’s Pay As You Go global roaming rates?

Pay As You Go (PAYG) customers traveling within the Europe zone (see table above) will not be charged additional roaming charges if you are within your usage allowance. This applies to PAYG Extras, PAYG Packages and PAYG Services 1.

If, however, you are traveling to a Roam-Further country (eg Afghanistan), you will need to pay a separate roaming rate. Prices vary by country. Find your rate by destination using Vodafone’s tool.

If you are traveling within the Europe zone and you do not benefit from any of these Pay As You Go plans or if you use your included data, minutes and SMS, you will have to pay standard UK rates, which are:

• 55p per minute for calls to UK mobiles, landlines and voicemail
• 35p per text
• 55p for a photo/video message in the UK
• 55p per minute for video calls

You can learn more about the different types of standard fees here. Also see our article on how to charge your phone on all networks.

Extras are additions to your existing payment plan that give you more flexibility abroad and can also help you save. You can use these services in the European zone.

Pay Monthly customers can get a few extras (see all here), but overseas customers are likely to benefit the most from the 8-day or 15-day European roaming pass, which cost £8 and £15 respectively, and includes data, SMS and minutes.

Pay As You Go customers also have a few extras to choose from. For example, you can get an extra 2GB of data for £15 for 30 days by SMS ROAMEXTRA8 to 2345 from your Vodafone mobile.

It also gives you 100 minutes and 100 texts

To get 4GB data with 200 minutes and 200 SMS for 15 days, you can SMS ROAMEXTRA15 to 2345.

See all Pay As You Go extras here.

Vodafone data roaming charges

If you exceed your UK data allowance while in Europe, you will only be charged what you would be charged in the UK. If you are outside of Europe, your rate may be slightly different. You can see UK data charges herewhich varies depending on whether you are a Pay Monthly or Pay As You Go customer.

To see how much data will cost, use this tool from Vodafone, which breaks down the costs for Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go customers. The cost of additional data for Pay Monthly customers involves a few variables, such as when you registered with Vodafone, if you have both a phone and a Vodafone SIM card, just a Vodafone SIM card, or a Vodafone tablet/dongle or mobile Wi-Fi.

Vodafone RED Roaming (travel from Ireland to Europe)

If you are a Vodafone customer traveling from Ireland to other countries in the Europe zone, you can opt for RED Roaming. For $3.99 per day, RED Roaming allows unlimited calls and texts to Ireland and to numbers in the country you are visiting.

Learn more about RED Roaming here.

Other things to know:

• You can also see how to enable roaming on your device using Vodafone’s guide.
• Some Vodafone monthly plans may include NOW TV Entertainment or Sky Sports Mobile TV passes. Not all of these services will work overseas or may have limited access. Learn more here.
• If your phone does not work abroad, call 191.
• If you want to access voicemail abroad, call 121. See our in-depth article on accessing voicemail on all networks here.