Guide

EU roaming: what roam-like-at-home actually guarantees

By Covered Abroad Research Desk · Last verified July 2026

Within the EU, using your phone in another member state costs what it costs at home: calls, SMS and data are charged at domestic rates, and calls or texts you receive while abroad cost nothing extra — the roam-like-at-home rule, in force since June 2017 and recast by Regulation 2022/612, which runs until 30 June 2032. The boundaries: fair-use policies against permanent roaming, and the rule stops at the EU/EEA edge.

The rule, from the EU's own page

Your Europe states it without hedging: when travelling in the EU you pay domestic rates for calls to mobiles and fixed lines, texts and data — "the same price as calls, texts and data within your home country" — and the same applies to calls and texts you receive while abroad: no charge for picking up. The legal spine is the recast roaming regulation: RLAH surcharge abolition since 15 June 2017, renewed by Regulation (EU) 2022/612, whose own final article sets the horizon — "This Regulation shall expire on 30 June 2032."

The boundary conditions matter to movers more than tourists: fair-use policies let operators act against permanent roaming — living in Spain year-round on a German SIM eventually triggers surcharges or warnings — because the rule was built for travel, not relocation.

Source: Your Europe, mobile roaming costs in the EU, read 6 September 2026.

Source: Regulation (EU) 2022/612 (roaming recast) — EUR-Lex, read 6 September 2026.

Where it stops

Three edges. Geography: the guarantee covers the EU (extended in practice across the EEA); the UK, Switzerland, Turkey and the Balkans depend on your operator's goodwill and plan smallprint — check before the ferry, not after the bill. Calling abroad from home is not roaming: ringing a French number from Germany is an international call with its own (separately capped) pricing. Permanent use: the fair-use machinery — stable-links checks, usage windows — exists precisely to push long-term residents onto local SIMs.

For a genuine move, the local SIM is also the practical unlock: national numbers still gate banks, delivery apps and two-factor codes across Europe — the reality our US-phone guide walks for the transatlantic case.

60-second check

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The mover's phone plan

Sequence that works: keep the home SIM alive for banking codes (an eSIM slot makes dual-SIM trivial), add a local SIM or eSIM early for the national number, and let RLAH cover the scouting trips in between. Then put the same discipline into the paperwork that actually gates the move — the insurance certificate your route names:

Print the moving checklist

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Common questions

Do I pay roaming charges in the EU?

No — roam like at home means calls, texts and data at your domestic rates across the EU, and receiving calls or texts abroad costs nothing extra. The recast regulation runs to 30 June 2032.

Does roam-like-at-home work if I move abroad permanently?

Not indefinitely — fair-use policies let operators act against permanent roaming, since the rule protects travel, not relocation. Long-term residents end up on local SIMs, which national services effectively require anyway.

Is calling another EU country from home covered?

That's an international call, not roaming — a separate category with its own EU price caps, but not the domestic-rate guarantee.