How to control business roaming costs

Since the European Union abolished roaming surcharges, many companies consider roaming solved. Travelling around Europe with a company phone should no longer cost more than being at home. Yet roaming still shows up on invoices, sometimes with surprising amounts.

The key is understanding where it is still generated and reviewing it methodically.

Where roaming still costs money

Outside the European Economic Area

"Roam like at home" rules apply in the European Union and the European Economic Area. Outside that zone, each carrier applies its own rates or bundles. Common business destinations such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland or Andorra may not be included, depending on the carrier and the plan.

On ships and planes

On ferries, cruise ships and aircraft, phones can connect to satellite or maritime networks that are not part of any roaming zone. These connections are very expensive and easy to trigger without noticing.

Fair use within the EU

Even within the EU, carriers can apply a fair use policy to roaming data. If a user goes over that limit, or spends long periods outside their home country, extra charges can appear.

Border areas

Near a border, a phone can latch onto a neighbouring country's network. If that country is outside the regulated zone (for example, near the Andorran border), usage is billed as roaming even though the user never left the country.

Why roaming is caught late

Roaming has one particular feature: you see it on the invoice, not before. Usage happens during the trip, the carrier bills it weeks later and by then the money is spent. If nobody reviews the invoice line by line, the pattern repeats on the next trip.

So roaming control has two parts: prevent before the trip and review every invoice to spot patterns and correct them.

Before the trip: prevention

• Know what your contract includes. Which countries are covered, which bundles are available and what out-of-bundle usage costs.
• Add bundles for frequent destinations. If part of your workforce travels often to the same countries, a bundle is usually cheaper than paying for usage as it comes.
• Brief travellers. A short note before the trip (what is covered, what is not, how to turn off data roaming) prevents most surprises.
• Configure devices. Depending on your MDM and device type, you can apply policies that restrict data roaming on company devices.

After the trip: review on the invoice

• Separate roaming from other usage on every invoice and per line.
• Identify the lines and destinations that concentrate the cost.
• Look for patterns: the same people, the same countries, the same months.
• Check against the contract: make sure usage was billed at the agreed rates and bundles.
• Fix the cause: a bundle for a frequent destination, a plan change for a frequent traveller or a conversation with the person travelling.

Example

Acme Industrial's invoice shows, month after month, data roaming on the same line. Reviewing the destinations reveals regular trips to a country outside the regulated zone. The answer is not to ban the trip but to add a bundle for that destination and remind the traveller before each journey.

How EPItoolbox does it

EPItoolbox analyses roaming from each carrier's invoice:

• It breaks roaming usage down by line, user, cost centre and destination.
• It shows which lines concentrate the cost and how it evolves month by month.
• It compares what was billed with the contracted terms, so you can dispute anything that does not add up.
• It helps you decide which bundles or plans fit your workforce's real travel patterns.

This is an analysis of what has been billed, not real-time usage control. Its value is that every invoice teaches you something to fix before the next trip.

To review the rest of the invoice with the same method, see Telecom invoice audit.