Mizter T writes:

On 20/03/2012 07:54, Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 15:13:45 on Mon, 19 Mar
2012, Stephen Sprunk remarked:
If you prefer something more concrete, consider the UK has a land area
of 243,610 km^2--slightly smaller than Oregon, our 9th-largest state,
and 1/37th that of the entire US.

Having spent quite a bit of time in Texas, I prefer to think of the UK
as being able to fit inside it.

Think of this in terms of having free pan-EU roaming vs. your current
national service, with your service location only determining which
country code your number is from.

On PAYG rates, since last year it's broadly similar in cost to use a
mobile anywhere in the EU now. Partly because regulators capped the
maximum roaming charge, but also because operators increased costs of
intra-UK calling to compensate.

One day we may see the same for "bundled minutes", it's not a technical
thing - the networks are pan-European, just commerce.

Though the big communications groups don't necessarily have a presence
in each country (e.g. France Telecom/ Orange has no presence in
Germany, and Deutsche Telekom/ T-Mobile has no presence in
France). But yes, it's more a commerce thing.
In the UK they are now a single operator, and I have noticed that the
first choice for our T-Mobile phones when roaming in France is Orange.

In return for using my bundled minutes and no roaming charges, I would
certainly be happy to accept Orange France coverage, and to drop roaming
onto Bougitel or SFR.