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O2 Travel International Roaming Review: Countries, Speeds & Fair Usage

On O2, you can use your mobile phone abroad at no extra cost in up to 75 destinations, depending on your price plan.

The countries in which you’re able to use the O2 Travel offer depends on the price plan you have. On O2’s Pay As You Go plans, you’ll have access to international roaming at no extra cost in 43 European destinations. This increases to 48 destinations on Pay Monthly plans, and to 75 destinations on Pay Monthly Plus (and on regular Pay Monthly plans if you’re living in a Virgin Media household ).

In this article, we’ll review the O2 Travel offer including the countries where you’re able to use it and how much it will cost. We’ll also look at data speeds when abroad, the fair usage policy on O2 Travel and alternative roaming offers from other networks. Finally, we’ll look at how you can keep your current phone number if you’re moving to O2 to take advantage of their O2 Travel offer.

• 1.1 O2 Europe Zone Countries
• 1.2 O2 Travel Inclusive Zone Countries
• 1.3 O2 Travel Countries
• 2 Roaming Speeds
• 3.1 Within Europe
• 3.2 Outside Europe
• 4 Keeping Your Phone Number
• 5 More Information

What is O2 Travel?

On most O2 price plans, it’s possible to use your mobile phone abroad when travelling to other countries. The destinations that are included within the O2 Travel offer depend on the type of price plan you have:

For customers with an O2 mobile broadband plan , the O2 Travel offer isn’t currently available. This is because international roaming is not available on O2’s mobile broadband service.

O2 Europe Zone Countries

The following destinations are part of O2’s European roaming zone (locations marked with a † are only available on Pay Monthly plans) :

• Canary Islands
• Czech Republic
• French Guiana
• Isle of Man†
• Liechtenstein
• Netherlands
• Saint Barthelemy
• Saint Martin
• Switzerland†
• Vatican City

† If you’re an O2 Pay As You Go customer, inclusive roaming is not available in 5 European destinations (Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Monaco and Switzerland). Instead, you’ll need to pay £1.99/day for up to 100MB of data in these countries.

Within Europe, you’re able to use your inclusive minutes and texts to contact any other number within O2’s Europe Zone. Your usage of European roaming is subject to the fair usage policy described here : the most important being that it should only be used “for periodic travel, like holidays or short breaks”. If you use your mobile phone abroad for 63 days or more in any four-month period, O2 reserves the right to apply a regulated surcharge to your usage (currently 3.3p/minute, 1p/text and £3.50/GB).

You’ll be able to use up to 25GB data per month when abroad (or less if your normal UK data allowance is less than 25GB).

On O2’s Pay As You Go plans including Big Bundles , roaming is not included in Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Monaco or Switzerland. In these places, you can pay £1.99/day for 100MB of data.

O2 Travel Inclusive Zone Countries

Within O2’s Travel Inclusive Zone countries, you’ll get unlimited minutes, texts and data when abroad in the following destinations:

• El Salvador
• New Zealand
• United States

There’s traffic management applied when you’re abroad, so your download speeds could be slowed down, depending on your usage.

O2 Travel Countries

You can use the £6 per day O2 Travel offer in all of the following destinations:

• British Virgin Islands
• Cayman Islands
• Costa Rica*
• Dominican Republic
• El Salvador*
• Madagascar*
• Netherlands Antilles
• New Zealand*
• Saint Lucia
• South Africa
• St Kitts & Nevis
• St Vincent & the Grenadines
• Trinidad & Tobago
• Turks & Caicos islands
• United Arab Emirates
• United States*

* This country is also part of the O2 Travel Inclusive Zone offer. If your tariff includes this offer, you won’t need to pay the £4.99/day charge.

To opt-in to the O2 Travel offer, text TRAVEL to 23336. It can take up to 24 hours for O2 Travel to be enabled on your account so it’s best to opt-in before departing on your trip. To opt-out of the offer and to pay O2’s standard international roaming rates instead, text NOTRAVEL to 23336.

The £6 per day O2 Travel offer isn’t available to customers on O2 Pay As You Go .

Roaming Speeds

According to their terms and conditions , there’s now a download speed limit of 2Mbps when you’re travelling abroad in other countries. This has applied from June 2022.

The 2Mbps speed limit should be enough for most day-to-day use such as browsing the web, sending messages and using social media. It’s also enough for things like maps and for listening to music. If you’re streaming online video, it should be possible to stream in standard-definition. However, it won’t be possible to stream in HD quality.

Fair Usage Policy

O2 has a fair usage policy for their O2 Travel international roaming service. The fair usage policy depends on whether you’re travelling to another European country or to a country outside of Europe.

Within Europe

According to O2’s terms and conditions , a surcharge may be applied for your usage if you spend more 63 days abroad in Europe over a rolling 4-month period. If you exceed the 63-day limit, O2 should give you the opportunity to demonstrate prevailing use in the UK. They should also give you two weeks notice before a surcharge is applied at a rate of 3.3p/minute, 1p/text and £4.50/GB of data.

Outside Europe

• The download speeds available for file transfer, online gaming, peer-to-peer downloads and network backup services is restricted. According to O2, these services “may not work with O2 Travel”.
• Audio and video streaming optimisation are in use. This may reduce the quality of your streaming content when abroad.
• The use of tethering and personal hotspot is not permitted in O2 Travel countries. This means you’re unable to share your data connection with other devices.
• When using O2 Travel outside Europe, your SIM card can only be used inside a smartphone.

Keeping Your Phone Number

If you’re joining O2 to take advantage of their O2 Travel offer, it’s a straightforward process to keep your current phone number .

To do so, ask your current mobile network to provide you with a PAC Code . You can get this through your mobile network’s website or app, or by texting PAC to 65075.

Once you’ve received the PAC Code from your old network, order your new mobile phone or SIM card from the O2 website. When it arrives, you can provide the PAC Code to O2 by submitting it through this online form . Your phone number transfer will then be scheduled by O2, normally for the next working day.

For a step-by-step guide on moving your phone number to O2 , please select your current mobile network from the drop down menu below:

Select your current mobile network:

Your current mobile network... BT Mobile EE giffgaff O2 Sky Mobile Three Virgin Mobile Vodafone 1pMobile ASDA Mobile Honest Mobile iD Mobile Lebara Mobile Lycamobile Orange Plusnet Mobile Smarty Superdrug Mobile Talk Home Talkmobile TalkTalk Mobile Tesco Mobile T-Mobile Vectone Mobile VOXI

   More Options

More Information

For more information about O2 Travel, please see O2’s official website .

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• Active Escapes

ACTIVE TRIP TO LISBON WITH O2 TRAVEL !!!

As you may have seen from my Twitter and Instagram feeds, last weekend I was in Lisbon for a fabulous blog trip in partnership with O2 Travel , and I discovered a true European gem! I’d been set a series of active and cultural challenges to complete; a city cycle , a 5k run , a winding hike , a harbour-side Yoga class, as well as cookery classes , a fresh market tour and some extensive sampling of the local fare . Having met my challenges head-on, I now understand why this is Europe’s #1 city break destination – and what a fabulous & sporty way to discover a city’s charming character! Read my full account, with plenty of lovely pictures,  HERE …

Yes, Portugal has endured an especially tough financial crisis (evidenced by abandoned buildings left to peel in the sunshine) but in no way did it feel downbeat. Instead the city feels full of life, energy, character and endless potential. It could be the St. Tropez of Portugal, with stunning weather, delicious cuisine and magical buildings; it just needs a little time to flourish to its maximum potential! I would recommend it to anyone, in a heartbeat . Below is a quick run through of all the fun active adventures O2 Travel sent me on over the weekend.

You can find some extra pics on my Twitter & Instagram feeds; the specially designed tariff they put me on (for  anyone travelling in Europe) let me chew through all the roaming data I could ever want in a day for £1.99. It felt like a bit of a guilty luxury to just *keep* getting emails abroad, to *keep* instagramming, to keep a check on my favourite bloggers, to Skype, to Tweet, to Facebook etc, without an £800 bill waiting at the end! So a big thanks from me to O2 for bringing my euro travel out of the technological dark ages ! 🙂

1) THE LOCAL MARKET TOUR : There’s no better way to get a feel for a local culture than to sample the food. Thanks to my fabulously knowledgeable guide, Filipa from Taste of Lisboa , I discovered the Mercado Da Ribeira – it’s a bit of a ‘Jekyl & Hide’, with a 132 year-old fish market adjoining a brand new gastronomic zone (which stylishly showcases the finest of Portugal’s culinary concepts), separated by a cavernous hangar full of ripe fruit-&-veg. I picked up my super-fresh ingredients of choice (avoiding tourist prices – thanks Filipa 😀 ), and moved on to stage 2…

2) THE COOKERY CLASS : Chef Isabel Caramelo from Cooking Lisbon had the unenviable task of schooling me in authentic Portuguese cuisine. My menu? – Starter: Caldo Verde Soup (Potato and Cabbage soup with Chorizo) – Fish Main: Cuttle fish, Algarve style – Meat Main: Portuguese Pork dish – Dessert: Farofias (Portugese egg-white sweets) With her expert instruction, I made light work of a 4 course extravaganza! My personal highlight was the Fish, remarkable for its lightness and unbeatable freshness, partly thanks to the Market’s authenticity, and partly thanks to Isabel – but it was certainly not my doing! After a very rich and delicious dessert, I’d need to burn it all off!

3) THE 5k RUN : The farofias simply evaporated with my exertion. Walking, jogging or running a city must be one of the best ways to see the sights, and Lisbon was an utter joy! The waterside stretch between the two bridges is so picturesque and punctuated by such a beautiful mix of buildings and landmarks, it was the perfect setting for my run!

4) THE DINNER CHALLENGE : To locate and dine at Sol E Pesca , a tiny fishing tackle-shop-turned-bar made famous by owner Henrique Vaz Pato, whose award-winning cookbook of the same name helped elevate one of Lisbon’s most famous staples – the tinned sardine – from cheap basic to gourmands’ favourite. Objective complete!

5) THE YOGA SESSION : On Sunday I awoke bright and early and headed to the idyllic, secluded beach of Guincho, 5km outside the gorgeous little town of Cascais , which looks out onto the most western point in Europe (the Capa da Roca ). Normally, it’s about as good as it gets. HOWEVER, less than ideally, there was an unseasonal July monsoon , so I met up with a wonderful friend who has a summer house in Cascais overlooking the bay, where we enjoyed a yoga session together on her balcony. Afterwards, a delicious fresh fruit salad with yoghurt and honey, and a restorative coffee to prepare me for the next challenge, by which time the sun had peeped through again 🙂

6) THE BICYCLE TOUR : I took a bicycle tour of the city with Bikeiberia , checking out sites from around the city, from the majestic ‘Avenida do Liberdad’ (aka Lisbon’s Bond Street) all the way to the majestic Belem Tower! This is where the O2 Travel app came in handy, with its integrated TripAdvisor city guide to help conquer my shocking sense of direction! I also discovered a fantastic coffee house, Browns Coffee Shop !

I WAS WEARING: TOP: Under Armour women’s Heatgear Pink Roundneck training top, similar HERE T-SHIRT: ‘More Issues Than Vogue’ Ebay find LEGGINGS: Under Armour Stunner Stretch Woven Capris SHOES: Under Armour Speedform Apollos

__________________________

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

YOGA FOR DUMMIES

LONGCHAMP ON TOAST

KALE + MONKFISH

GRAZIA OUTFIT

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Hydrate & Revitalize

O2’s electrolyte formula is modeled on clinical-grade hydration solutions to hydrate pre-workout and help alleviate muscle cramps and fatigue post-workout. O2 comes caffeine free or caffeinated with green coffee beans for revitalizing hydration before or after any high-intensity activity.

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O2 offers naturally caffeinated flavors when you need clean caffeine without the crash. Green coffee beans deliver a crisp, fresh feeling of mental alertness with no crash. Don’t need the caffeine? Grab a caffeine-free flavor instead for pure, delicious hydration.

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