Couple stung with £11k roaming bill

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Travellers are being warned about the high cost of roaming charges after a couple were sent a bill for £11,000 for using their mobile phone abroad.

According to reports, the British pair received the astronomical phone bill after the wife began downloading episodes of popular sitcom Friends. The download took 12 hours – during which time the husband jetted off on a business trip to Germany with the mobile phone.

Vodafone, the mobile phone company that the couple were with have not yet commented on the incident but it is believed the pair are trying to appeal against bill.

The event highlights a growing concern over the high cost of roaming charges when you take your mobile abroad – with consumer watchdog Ofcom saying it plans to "take action" to force companies to reduce their fees.

Viviane Reding, the European Union commissioner for information, supports this view, saying: "Sending a text message or downloading data in another country should not be substantially more expensive than at home."

"Higher retail charges abroad must be justified or they will have to disappear."

Holidaymakers and business people are urged to shop around for firms which offer cheap international calls to avoid being charged a hefty bill.

To avoid being hit by large roaming charges whilst abroad, simply buy one of our global SIM cards here if they had used on of the Skinttariffs international sim cards their calls from Germany would have been cheap and they would have avoided roaming charges.

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