Talking telephone numbers: how to roam without a loan

The man who pays his way

Calls from locations such as the UAE are not covered by new European rules

It was close to midnight and there were three of them, so I offered no resistance.

They cornered me late at night in a side street of the Baixa district in central Lisbon. When they made off, I checked my pockets and backpack.

I was amazed to discover the three robbers had left me with my wallet, passport and laptop. They had taken only my mobile phone.

Shaken and bewildered, but relieved not to have to start bureaucratically reconstructing my life, I queued at a crowded, noisy and comprehensively useless police station near Rossio station to report the mugging.

No problem about the phone, I thought; it was cheap, I’ll call Orange, the provider, in the morning to tell them, and sort out a new one when I get home.

Twenty-eight calls were made that night, with a total duration of over five hours. Who knew phone batteries could last so long, or that tourists could be targeted for the sole purpose of calling family and friends?

I’ve had some alarming phone bills in my time. But none compares to the £200-plus that was run up at my expense by the loquacious Lusophones of Lisbon, before I notified Orange.

As a “goodwill gesture” the firm refunded £50, leaving me £150 out of pocket, besides the phone that was taken out of said pocket.

Yet if the experience is repeated next time I’m in the Portuguese capital, the same level of misuse would cost me less than £15.

The 60p-per-minute rate that Orange charged me for those illicit phone calls has been progressively reduced. And this weekend, the latest round of roaming caps imposed by the EU takes effect. The new limits govern how much your mobile provider can add to your domestic deal. If you have a typical pay-monthly contract with a generous allowance of minutes, SMSs and data, the surcharges represent the most you will pay for using your phone within the European Economic Area (the EU plus Norway, Iceland and plucky Liechtenstein). For making a call anywhere in the EEA the limit is 4.3p per minute. Receiving a call costs about a penny a minute. And you will pay just 1.7p to text “Weather here, wish you were beautiful” to anyone from Spitsbergen to Santorini.

Brussels also says each megabyte of data cannot cost more than 4.3p for 1MB. There is also a cap of €50 (around £40) per day, unless you opt out. Before you switch on “Data Roaming” to watch an old episode of Top Gear, though, be warned that an hour-long programme could consume that full allowance.

If anyone mistakenly interprets what's happening in Europe as a global move, it could prove very expensive. Suppose you happen to be in Australia; you opt out of the data cap; and you decide to watch an hour of the trio’s test-driving antics. That guilty pleasure is likely to cost a multiple of your air fare: £3,000 with Vodafone.

To avoid a bad case of “bill shock” this summer, consider your roaming options - particularly if you are heading beyond Europe. There’s no need to pore through a tangle of tariffs; I merely mention some deals that strike me as worthwhile.

First, that Vodafone figure of £3,000 for watching Top Gear can be cut by a factor of 600 with the firm’s WorldTraveller offer: pay £5 a day to take your UK minutes, texts and data with you to India, China, South Africa and 55 other countries. Three goes one better to four key destinations: Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the US. Its Feel At Home concept means you use your phone just as you would in the UK, at the same rates. Unlike many of these deals, you don’t need to opt in; your phone knows it’s in a Feel At Home nation and acts accordingly. The Three offer handily also applies to some EU countries, including the prime holiday spots of Spain, France and Italy. It doesn't cover Greece, Croatia or Portugal, with its talkative muggers, but those nations are embraced by Carphone Warehouse's iD TakeAway plan, which offers similar benefits. And between 23 May and 3 September, Tesco Mobile customers can roam right across the EEA - and Switzerland - with the Home From Home summer proposition. Again, there’s no need to do anything special: just turn on your phone when you land.

But how about something more radical and rewarding? Leave your mobile at home and immerse yourself in your destination. While you may be terrified at surrendering the ability to summon an Uber with the dab of a finger, other forms of transport are available - such as flagging down a taxi or catching a bus. And if you need a hotel room at short notice, just ask the locals or wander the city streets. Except that was exactly what I was doing when the muggers struck in Lisbon.