Preempting the EU Digital Single market regulations several Norwegian operators have introduced domestic rates for roaming in EU/EEA countries on selected subscriptions. Since majority of the Norwegian operators offer an AYCE (All you can eat) subscription with a data usage cap this means that the customers simply do not incur any extra charges while roaming in EEA countries.
Our own tests conducted in a few EEA countries (including Poland and Spain) show also another interesting dilemma. Operators often use a list of preferred networks which are always selected first. This is done to reduce the costs for your home network operator. However, this does not mean that the customer will actually get the best quality of service (coverage and bit rate). Your phone may still select and roam into a 2G service or prioritize service offering 3G over a 4G. Moreover, it is common that roaming service is limited to 2G/3G. This has been observed in both countries where we conducted the test. We used Telenor subscription to conduct the tests so it is difficult to say if the same applies to Telia, however, this kind of preferred network list may easily become an interesting way of reducing costs for Telenor and Telia. This will be the case if the preferred network also happens to be the slowest one since it reduces the costs which roaming partners bill home network operator. Time will show if this will be the case if so there might be a need for advanced roaming benchmarks to compare the operators and help subscribers choosing the one that gives the best performance also while roaming.
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