EE roaming charges: daily, or buy a pass?

How EE's roaming charges work

EE doesn't have one roaming rate. It groups destinations into zones, then sells access either as a daily charge or as a longer pass. In Europe you get your normal UK allowances for calls, texts and data; further afield the allowances shrink sharply.

Prices as published by EE in August 2026. Some EE plans include roaming without a charge, so check yours before assuming.

Should I buy a pass or pay daily?

It depends on trip length, and not in the way you'd expect. In Europe, daily is cheaper up to six days. At exactly seven days the pass wins, saving £2.54. Then from eight to ten days daily is cheaper again, because two passes cost more than ten daily charges. At twelve days the 12-day pass wins. Beyond that, stacking 7-day passes is cheapest — a fortnight costs £33 rather than £38.08, and four weeks costs £66 rather than £76.16. The calculator works this out for you.

What are EE's roaming charges in Europe?

£2.72 a day, or £16.50 for a 7-day pass, or £27.50 for a 12-day pass. In all cases you use your normal UK allowances for calls, texts and data rather than a separate roaming allowance. EE's European zone covers 47 destinations.

Is Switzerland included in EE's Europe zone?

Yes. Switzerland is in EE's European zone at the standard £2.72 daily rate, despite being outside both the EU and the EEA. So are Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City, Gibraltar, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. This is worth knowing because several comparison sites state the opposite.

Is Turkey included in EE's Europe zone?

No. Turkey is Zone 1, at £6 a day or £30 for a week. Northern Cyprus is excluded while the Republic of Cyprus is included, and EE's plan terms explain why: in Northern Cyprus your phone connects to a Turkish network, so calls are charged at non-standard rates as though you were in Turkey. Your rate can change while crossing Nicosia. Most of the Balkans are also outside Europe for EE: Albania, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro and Moldova are Zone 1, Kosovo is Zone 2, and North Macedonia is Zone 3.

Is Andorra included?

No, and it's the exception that catches people. Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City are all in EE's European zone, but Andorra is Zone 2 at £8 a day — roughly three times the European rate. EE draws the distinction explicitly: Andorra and the Faroe Islands sit in its Europe International Zone for calls made from the UK, but not in its Europe Roaming Zone. Easy to trigger accidentally while driving between France and Spain.

What are EE's roaming zones?

EE has six bands, not the two or three most people assume. Europe covers 47 destinations at £2.72 a day. Zone 1 is 38 destinations at £6, Zone 2 is 34 at £8, Zone 3 is 37 at £8 but capped at 500MB of data for the whole pass, and Zone 4 is 25 at £16 for 10MB. Then there is a sixth group of 30 destinations where EE sells no data at any price and there is no pass to buy. The full lists for all six are on this page.

Which countries are in EE Zone 1?

Thirty-eight destinations at £6 a day, or £30 for a week, using your normal UK allowances. It includes the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, China, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. Several European countries sit here rather than in the Europe zone: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Moldova, Ukraine and the Faroe Islands. Zone 1 is also the only band beyond Europe an Inclusive Extra can cover.

Which countries are in EE Zone 2?

Thirty-four destinations at £8 a day, or £40 for a week, using your UK allowances. Andorra is the one that catches people, sitting in Zone 2 while the Spain and France either side of it are in the Europe zone at £2.72. The rest are largely African and Latin American, along with Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Kenya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Russia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Uruguay. Kosovo is here too.

Which countries are in EE Zone 3?

Thirty-seven destinations at £8 a day, and this is where EE's pricing stops behaving like everyone else's. Calls and texts are unlimited, but data is capped at 500MB for the entire pass rather than drawing on your UK allowance, and there is no weekly pass to buy. Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Greenland, North Macedonia, Belarus and most of the Caribbean are in it. If you need working data in any of these, a travel eSIM is not a saving so much as the only practical option.

Which countries are in EE Zone 4?

Twenty-five destinations at £16 a day for 10 megabytes of data, which is roughly one map screen. Calls are £2.46 a minute and texts 98p on top. The Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, Georgia, Lebanon, Iran, Mongolia, Myanmar, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, the Falkland Islands and the Democratic Republic of Congo are among them. Separately, 30 further destinations have no data roaming at any price and no pass to buy at all.

Does EE cap your data when roaming?

Only on larger plans. EE's terms set a 50GB fair-use policy for roaming in its Europe zone, but it applies only if your domestic data allowance is greater than 50GB. If your plan gives you 50GB or less, there's no separate roaming cap — you use your normal allowance, and once it's gone you need to buy a data add-on to keep using data abroad. Past the 50GB fair-use amount, EE charges £0.0036 per MB, which works out at roughly £3.69 per gigabyte, until you return to the UK or your next bill date.

How long can I roam before EE charges extra?

EE requires what it calls a stable link to the UK. Over any four-month period you need to either spend at least two months in the UK, or use most of your allowance in the UK rather than while roaming. If EE thinks you've breached this, it will contact you and ask for an explanation, and can apply surcharges to future usage if you don't respond within 14 days or it finds your explanation unreasonable. Long-stay travellers and people who winter abroad should read this carefully.

Do I still pay in the Republic of Ireland?

No. Calls, texts and data used in the Republic of Ireland, and back to the UK, come out of your normal allowance with no daily charge. Two caveats from EE's terms: if you use up a limited allowance, the daily charge then applies to further calls back to the UK; and the daily charge does apply to calls from Ireland to the rest of the EU, the EEA or Switzerland.

Does WiFi calling work abroad?

No. EE's terms state plainly that if your device supports WiFi Calling, you can't use it outside the UK. 4G Calling is also unavailable while roaming. So the common trick of relying on hotel wifi to make normal calls home doesn't work on EE — you'd need an internet calling app instead, which uses data rather than your minutes.

What if I'm on an EE business plan?

Different scheme, different prices. EE Small Business plans carry a daily European roaming charge of £2.38 excluding VAT, and the cutoff date is 27 October 2021 rather than the consumer date — plans started before it, and Business Connect plans, roam in Europe at no extra cost. Business customers also get their own add-ons: a Roam Abroad Pass covering the EU plus seven other destinations, and Daily and Monthly Passports for travel further afield. Business prices rise on 31 March each year rather than in April. If you're on a business plan, use EE's business price guide rather than the consumer figures on this page.

Does this apply if I'm on EE pay as you go?

Not necessarily. EE runs pay as you go roaming with its own terms and a lower data allowance than pay monthly plans. The prices here are the pay monthly ones. Use the pay as you go toggle in the calculator and check EE's PAYG roaming pages rather than the main ones.

When does the daily charge actually start?

When your phone connects to a network in the destination. EE texts you on arrival with a link to its pass options, and you can buy one while abroad at add-on.ee.co.uk. Near a border your phone can latch onto a foreign mast without you crossing it, which can trigger a charge for somewhere you never visited.

Every country in EE's roaming zones

The full lists as EE publishes them, so you can check your destination without leaving the page. The zone sets both the price and what you actually get: Europe and Zones 1 and 2 give you your normal UK allowances, Zone 3 caps you at 500MB however long you stay, and Zone 4 gives you 10MB. Some destinations have no data roaming at any price.

Europe — 47 destinations at £2.72 a day

Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Gibraltar, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City are all here despite sitting outside the EU. The Republic of Ireland is not on this list — not because it costs more, but because it carries no daily charge at all, so it sits outside the paid zones entirely.

Zone 1 — 38 destinations at £6 a day

Turkey is here, not in Europe, and so are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Moldova. The Faroe Islands are here too. A 7-day pass costs £30, and Zone 1 is the only zone beyond Europe that can be covered by an Inclusive Extra.

Zone 2 — 34 destinations at £8 a day

Andorra is in Zone 2, four zones from the Spain and France either side of it — the single easiest way to trigger an £8 day by accident. Kosovo and Hong Kong are here too. A 7-day pass costs £40.

Zone 3 — 37 destinations at £8 a day, 500MB only

This is where EE's pricing stops behaving like the others. Calls and texts are unlimited, but data is capped at 500MB for the whole pass rather than drawing on your UK allowance, and there is no weekly pass to buy. Japan, Brazil, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, North Macedonia and most of the Caribbean are here. If you need data in any of these, a travel eSIM is not a saving so much as the only workable option. EE marks Aruba and Haiti with an asterisk on its list without publishing what the asterisk means.

Zone 4 — 25 destinations at £16 a day, 10MB only

Ten megabytes is not a usable data allowance — it is roughly one map screen. Calls are charged at £2.46 a minute and texts at 98p on top of the £16. The Maldives, Nepal, Georgia and Lebanon are all here.

Zone 4 with no data — 30 destinations

There is no data roaming in these destinations at any price, and no pass to buy. Calls cost £2.46 a minute and texts 98p. Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay and Papua New Guinea are the ones most likely to catch a holidaymaker. A local SIM or a travel eSIM is not the cheaper option here — it is the only way to get data at all.

Lists taken from EE's own roaming zone pages, checked August 2026. Laos appears in both Zone 4 and the no-data group on EE's own lists, so check it directly rather than trusting either.

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