4 ms·

This is one of the things the EU is really good at: making people-centric decisions, instead of corporation-helping choices. This roaming-charges change has ac

by zrgiu_ 13y ago

This is one of the things the EU is really good at: making people-centric decisions, instead of corporation-helping choices. This roaming-charges change has actually been a long time coming, with forced decreases in tariffs for a while now, so it shouldn't surprise anyone. I just wish some similar agreement can be reached (in time) with countries outside the EU.

CaptainZapp 13y ago
> I just wish some similar agreement can be reached (in time) with countries outside the EU. Intercontinental roaming charges are a bad joke (3$ incoming, 5$ out and yes, that's per minute) . What I do is to get a local SIM and communicate the number to those contacts that need it. Internet (sometimes 20$ per MB and yes, you read that right) is less of a problem due the ubiquity of free WLANs. Another really excellent thing the EU did is to mandate mini USB as phone chargers. With the noticeable exception of Apple every newer phone can be charged with any newer charger. This used to be a major pet peevee of mine.
- masklinn 13y ago
  > sometimes 20$ per MB and yes, you read that right I can confirm, just checked my data roaming rate (from the EU), it's 0.15€/MB for European (not just EU, also Switzerland, Norway or Iceland) roaming (which is already crazy expensive, my in-country plan is 0.0075€/MB even ignoring that it also provides voice and SMS); 0.30€/MB from the US and 13.00€/MB from just about everywhere else
- zrgiu_ 13y ago
  I don't know if this still the case, but a while ago i bought an iPhone from UK (after the mini USB mandate), and it came with an adapter to miniUSB in the box. Even Apple had to abide to the new regulation. As for the roaming charges, I completely agree. Even now, within Europe, it's really bad for data. I've traveled through 10 EU countries in the last 3 months, and had to buy 7 SIM cards, as my home carrier charges 2EUR for 5MB. I was lucky with my 3LikeHome sim card from Austria, which you can use with your home rates in a few other countries.
  - masklinn 13y ago
    > it came with an adapter to miniUSB in the box Yeah but that's an adapter, even though it does abide by the rules you still have to carry the adapter around. Most manufacturers just switched to miniUSB entirely, so you don't need an adapter, any combination of charger and phone should work (in practice there may be issues with undervoltage, I've seen combinations of phones and chargers not work)
    - desas 13y ago
      There's not even rules, the EU just asked them to sort it out, otherwise it would legislate so they had have a common standard.
      - celticninja 13y ago
        even better
  - cja 13y ago
    Heyah (Poland) have a 25PLN (£5) deal that give you 1.2GB to use anywhere in the EU. Calling and texting prices aren't so good though.
- cabalamat 13y ago
  > Another really excellent thing the EU did is to mandate mini USB as phone chargers Wasn't it the Chinese who originally mandated that? Either way, it's a good thing.
  - mason240 13y ago
    Google mandated it for all phones with Android, which it when it became the de facto standard.
  - Someone 13y ago
    AFAIK, the EU initiated that. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_External_Power_Supply http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_External_Power_Supply (and it is _micro_ USB. Not that much smaller than mini USB, but thinner and better, mechanically. See http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/18552/why-was-mini-usb-deprecated-in-favor-of-micro-usb http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/18552/why-was...)
- speleding 13y ago
  micro USB is actually a very poor choice for a charger connection: it is max rated at 2.5W (way too low for an iPhone), it is keyed (you can only plug it in one way) and it is expensive (a whole bunch of pins you don't need). On top of that many people confuse it with mini USB, like you just did.
  - SEMW 13y ago
    My understanding is that, contrary to GP's comment, the EU didn't 'mandate microUSB'. The original MoU required the manufacturers[1] to get together to decide on a common external power supply "to allow for full compatibility and safety of chargers and mobile phones". So while officially CENELEC decided the standard, in practice they were never going to not adopt the manufacturers' recommendation, which was microUSB. As for amount of power, I believe the USB power delivery spec allows 5V devices to draw up to 10W of power (5V at 2A) - though it's fairly new (2012), so I don't know how widely used it is yet. [1] Motorola, LGE, Samsung, RIM, Nokia, SonyEricsson, NEC, Apple, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments
    - speleding 13y ago
      Yes, the EU only mandated that the industry choose a common standard so they picked the cheapest of all the options they had. With the newer spec you can indeed draw more power but it requires hardware negotiation to prevent older devices catching on fire. Some of the other options on the table at the time were much more elegant and extensible to, for example, household appliances (USB is not allowed for use in the bathroom or kitchen). The other options were a few cents per connector more expensive so they never had a chance when the EU decided to leave it to the industry.
  - colechristensen 13y ago
    Micro USB has 4 pins (+/- Data +/- Power, 1 additional pin for host/device determination) Where are the bunches of pins you don't need? And the power ratings are functionally design minimums so your USB device must work within those boundaries, while most phones and phone chargers can exceed them. My kindle charger outputs 5 V 1.8 A for a total of 9 watts. My droid charger outputs 5.1 V 0.75 A for a total of 3.8 watts.
devx 13y ago
Hopefully it will stay that way. I think global corporations have started increasing their lobbying in EU rapidly. It may be why the EU Comission usually seems to make the worse decisions, and the opposite of what the EU Parliament wants. If the lobbying extends from the EU Comission to the EU Parliament, that could change.

by zrgiu_ 13y ago

CaptainZapp 13y ago

> I just wish some similar agreement can be reached (in time) with countries outside the EU. Intercontinental roaming charges are a bad joke (3$ incoming, 5$ out and yes, that's per minute) . What I do is to get a local SIM and communicate the number to those contacts that need it. Internet (sometimes 20$ per MB and yes, you read that right) is less of a problem due the ubiquity of free WLANs. Another really excellent thing the EU did is to mandate mini USB as phone chargers. With the noticeable exception of Apple every newer phone can be charged with any newer charger. This used to be a major pet peevee of mine.

masklinn 13y ago
> sometimes 20$ per MB and yes, you read that right I can confirm, just checked my data roaming rate (from the EU), it's 0.15€/MB for European (not just EU, also Switzerland, Norway or Iceland) roaming (which is already crazy expensive, my in-country plan is 0.0075€/MB even ignoring that it also provides voice and SMS); 0.30€/MB from the US and 13.00€/MB from just about everywhere else
zrgiu_ 13y ago
I don't know if this still the case, but a while ago i bought an iPhone from UK (after the mini USB mandate), and it came with an adapter to miniUSB in the box. Even Apple had to abide to the new regulation. As for the roaming charges, I completely agree. Even now, within Europe, it's really bad for data. I've traveled through 10 EU countries in the last 3 months, and had to buy 7 SIM cards, as my home carrier charges 2EUR for 5MB. I was lucky with my 3LikeHome sim card from Austria, which you can use with your home rates in a few other countries.
- masklinn 13y ago
  > it came with an adapter to miniUSB in the box Yeah but that's an adapter, even though it does abide by the rules you still have to carry the adapter around. Most manufacturers just switched to miniUSB entirely, so you don't need an adapter, any combination of charger and phone should work (in practice there may be issues with undervoltage, I've seen combinations of phones and chargers not work)
  - desas 13y ago
    There's not even rules, the EU just asked them to sort it out, otherwise it would legislate so they had have a common standard.
    - celticninja 13y ago
      even better
- cja 13y ago
  Heyah (Poland) have a 25PLN (£5) deal that give you 1.2GB to use anywhere in the EU. Calling and texting prices aren't so good though.
cabalamat 13y ago
> Another really excellent thing the EU did is to mandate mini USB as phone chargers Wasn't it the Chinese who originally mandated that? Either way, it's a good thing.
- mason240 13y ago
  Google mandated it for all phones with Android, which it when it became the de facto standard.
- Someone 13y ago
  AFAIK, the EU initiated that. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_External_Power_Supply http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_External_Power_Supply (and it is _micro_ USB. Not that much smaller than mini USB, but thinner and better, mechanically. See http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/18552/why-was-mini-usb-deprecated-in-favor-of-micro-usb http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/18552/why-was...)
speleding 13y ago
micro USB is actually a very poor choice for a charger connection: it is max rated at 2.5W (way too low for an iPhone), it is keyed (you can only plug it in one way) and it is expensive (a whole bunch of pins you don't need). On top of that many people confuse it with mini USB, like you just did.
- SEMW 13y ago
  My understanding is that, contrary to GP's comment, the EU didn't 'mandate microUSB'. The original MoU required the manufacturers[1] to get together to decide on a common external power supply "to allow for full compatibility and safety of chargers and mobile phones". So while officially CENELEC decided the standard, in practice they were never going to not adopt the manufacturers' recommendation, which was microUSB. As for amount of power, I believe the USB power delivery spec allows 5V devices to draw up to 10W of power (5V at 2A) - though it's fairly new (2012), so I don't know how widely used it is yet. [1] Motorola, LGE, Samsung, RIM, Nokia, SonyEricsson, NEC, Apple, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments
  - speleding 13y ago
    Yes, the EU only mandated that the industry choose a common standard so they picked the cheapest of all the options they had. With the newer spec you can indeed draw more power but it requires hardware negotiation to prevent older devices catching on fire. Some of the other options on the table at the time were much more elegant and extensible to, for example, household appliances (USB is not allowed for use in the bathroom or kitchen). The other options were a few cents per connector more expensive so they never had a chance when the EU decided to leave it to the industry.
- colechristensen 13y ago
  Micro USB has 4 pins (+/- Data +/- Power, 1 additional pin for host/device determination) Where are the bunches of pins you don't need? And the power ratings are functionally design minimums so your USB device must work within those boundaries, while most phones and phone chargers can exceed them. My kindle charger outputs 5 V 1.8 A for a total of 9 watts. My droid charger outputs 5.1 V 0.75 A for a total of 3.8 watts.

devx 13y ago

Hopefully it will stay that way. I think global corporations have started increasing their lobbying in EU rapidly. It may be why the EU Comission usually seems to make the worse decisions, and the opposite of what the EU Parliament wants. If the lobbying extends from the EU Comission to the EU Parliament, that could change.