A British couple faced a £109 (€128.88) phone bill after spending just two hours in Monaco, with roaming charges making up most of the cost. Polo Lam, 30, from Whitby, North Yorkshire, and his girlfriend Laura Matos, 29, used only 18.66MB of mobile data between them during their brief stop in September, yet were charged almost £85 (€99.79) in roaming fees.
Their monthly bill soared to £109 (€128.88), compared with just £25 (€29.18) the previous month. According to experts, 18.66MB is roughly the amount of data someone might use scrolling through Instagram for three to 10 minutes, depending on the content viewed.
A budget interrail trip turns costly
The couple were on a budget-friendly interrail holiday from Barcelona to Vienna, travelling through France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary. While staying in Nice, they decided to visit nearby Menton and make a short stop in Monaco, which had not originally been part of their plans.
Laura, a psychologist and founder of La CoolMente, said: "It was actually my idea to visit Monaco. I'd heard so much about the luxury and the famous casino, and I wanted to see what it was like for myself."
It was only when they continued their journey into Italy that Polo checked their mobile account and discovered the trip had cost more than they bargained for. Speaking to Nomad eSIM, Polo said: "I couldn't believe it when I saw the bill. We'd only been in Monaco for a few hours, and somehow our phone bill had jumped to £109 (€128.88). We'd barely used our phones. We only checked Google Maps and opened Instagram, but that was about it."
Shock at the unexpected charges
Polo expressed concern about what could have happened if they had stayed longer. "What really scares me is thinking about what could have happened if we'd stayed overnight. If we'd spent a whole day or two there, we could potentially have been looking at a bill running into the hundreds, or even thousands of pounds," he said.
Laura added: "We were both confused about where the charges had come from. We'd only used our phones briefly to find our location, so we felt the bill was completely unreasonable. We kept talking about it for days afterwards because we'd been trying so hard to save money throughout the trip."
The unexpected expense put a dampener on their holiday. Polo said: "The worst part was thinking about what else we could have spent that money on. We were trying to keep costs down, and it would have paid for three or four meals out in some of the places we visited."
Monaco is not covered by EU roaming rules
Tim Page, Marketing Lead at Nomad eSIM, explained why the couple faced such high charges. "One of the biggest misconceptions about mobile roaming is that travelling within Europe automatically means you're covered by your usual mobile plan," he said.
"Monaco is a perfect example. Despite being surrounded by France on three sides, it's not part of the European Union and isn't automatically covered by the EU's Roam Like at Home rules. Introduced in June 2017, these rules generally allow customers of EU mobile operators to use their calls, texts and data across EU countries without paying additional roaming charges."
"This means travellers could be using their phones in Nice without additional roaming charges, then cross into Monaco and face significantly higher rates for exactly the same usage. Before travelling, always check which countries are included in your mobile plan, particularly destinations such as Monaco, Andorra and Switzerland."
Page advised travellers to consider switching off data roaming or using a travel eSIM that covers their destination, and to contact their mobile provider if they receive an unexpected roaming charge, as some providers may be willing to reduce or waive the charges as a goodwill gesture.
