If you’re planning on travelling abroad, you’ll want to know in advance if your smartphone will still be able to make calls, send messages and use data before you head out. There’s nothing worse than arriving back home to find a huge bill that you accidentally amassed while on your adventures.
So, if you’re Vodafone UK customer, then you’ll be glad to know that it lets you use your phone in over 150 countries worldwide, but you’ll need to check first as some countries allow free roaming for certain customers, while others incur daily charges or require purchasing a roaming Extra in advance.
We’ve broken down how roaming works for both Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go Vodafone customers, including details on where you can roam for free.
If you’re not happy with the roaming fees charged by Vodafone, an eSIM could unlock cheaper data costs – see our pick of the best travel eSIM plans.
Pay Monthly Vodafone customers
If you’re on a monthly plan with Vodafone, then you’ll already be able to take advantage of roaming for free in a selection of countries.
Vodafone categorises the world into five roaming zones for Pay Monthly customers:
- Zone A: Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man, Iceland, and Norway
- Zone B (Euro Roam): 47 European destinations including EU countries
- Zone C (Global Roam): 32 worldwide destinations including Australia, New Zealand and the US
- Zone D: 73 worldwide destinations including China, India and South Korea
- Rest of the World: 73 destinations, split into four numbered zones
See which destinations are included in each Zone at Vodafone.
Roaming in Zone A is included in all Vodafone plans (with the exception of the old Basics plan). The cost of roaming outside Zone A depends on your specific plan and where you’re traveling. For instance, the Unlimited Plus plan only includes Zone A, while the Unlimited Max Xtra Euro Roam plan includes both Zone A and B as part of the subscription cost.
You can check your plan details by logging into your Vodafone account. To find out which plan you’re on, log in via the Vodafone website. (If you signed up to your subscription before 11 August 2021, you should get more countries included in your free roaming allowance. You can read more about this in the dedicated section further down the page).
If a Zone is not included in your plan, this is what you’ll pay:
- Zone B: £2.42 per day (or you can buy an 8-day pass for £12 or a 15-day pass for £17)
- Zone C: £7.39 per day
- Zone D: £7.39 per day
- Rest of the World: £1.20 per minute to make calls, 72p to receive calls, 30p per text message, 66p per picture message, 60p per MB to use data. If you purchased your plan before 21 February 2024, you can either buy a Rest of the World roaming pass or pay per megabyte of data used.
See which destinations are included in each Zone at Vodafone.
To check European Roaming Passes, visit the Extras page on Vodafone’s website. If you’re a new customer, you can see all the plans and choose the best one for you. Vodafone also provides a roaming charge checker to help you find call, text, and data costs for different destinations.
The full list of Vodafone Pay Monthly plans is available on its website.
Pay As You Go Vodafone customers
For Pay As You Go customers, Vodafone divides the world into five zones:
- Zone A: Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man, Iceland, and Norway
- Zone B: 47 European destinations including EU countries
- Around the World: 74 destinations including Australia and the USA
- Rest of the World: 61 destinations including South Korea and Kenya
- Additional Destinations: 39 destinations including Tunisia and Greenland
Roaming in Zone A is included in your plan. Outside of Zone A, roaming charges depends on your plan and destination. But you’ll almost certainly need to buy a Europe Roaming Extra, an Around the World Extra, or Rest of the World Extra, depending on where you’re travelling.
At the time of writing, Vodafone offers the following options for those travelling to Europe:
8-day Europe Extra: 100 minutes, 200 SMS, 3GB data. Available for £12
8-day Europe Data Extra: 3GB data. Available for £9
8-day Europe Minutes Extra: 100 minutes. Available for £5
8-day Europe Texts Extra: 200 SMS. Available for £4
While these are the options for their Around the World tiers:
8-day Around the World Extra: 100 minutes, 100 SMS, 2GB data. Available for £17
15-day Around the World Extra: 200 minutes, 200 SMS, 4GB data. Available for £27
If you don’t buy an Extra in advance, most Pay As You Go users won’t be able to make or receive calls, send texts or use data. You can see all the Pay As You Go Extras on the Vodafone website, buy Extras and see all the Pay As You Go plans.
Purchased your plan before 11 August 2021?
If you bought your Vodafone plan before 11 August 2021, the above information may not apply to you. You’ll need to log in via the Vodafone website to find out where you can roam.
Vodafone data roaming charges
To see all the call charges when travelling abroad, have a look at Vodafone’s roaming charge checker. Charges vary depending on which Zone you’re calling from, and which Zone you’re calling to. If you go over your allowed data, you can find out what out-of-plan calls, texts and services will cost.
Other things to know
- You can also see how to turn on roaming on your device using Vodafone’s guide
- Some Vodafone monthly plans may include Amazon Prime, Spotify Premium, NOW TV, YouTube Premium or Sky Sports Mobile TV. Not all these services will work abroad, or might have limited access. Find out if you can use your entertainment pack abroad
- If your phone doesn’t work abroad for some reason, call 191 for customer support