Mobile Phones: Sun, Sangria and SMS Sorrows

Picture it; you're relaxing on a beach in the Costa del Sol, you're sipping your sangria and listening to the strains of OBK's Tú sigue así emanating from the nearest bar when suddenly, a tell-tale beeping makes your heart sink.

No, it's not a large truck reversing towards you and forcing you into shade; it's your mobile phone receiving a text message from your well-meaning friends back home, stating that they wish they were with you and bemoaning the fact that you'll make them look like ghosts when you get back. You groan and think, "It just cost me £1.50 to find out something they told me before I left".

So maybe 'roaming' text messages aren't quite that expensive but the fact remains that sending and receiving a text message from one EU country to another is more expensive than simply texting your friend in the next town. Currently it costs around 23p to send a text message and another 23p to receive one back – four times as much as it costs at home where you don’t have to pay if someone sends you a message.

New regulations called for by the EU Telecoms Commissioner recommend a price cap of between 8p and 11p on all roaming text messages sent within the EU. If these come into play, it will halve the cost of roaming texts within the EU. While you'll still be charged for both sending and receiving the message, the actual charge applied will be half, making it just double rather than quadruple the price of sending a text at home.

There are already voice call price caps in place as of 2007, currently set at 38p per minute for making the call and 19p per minute for receiving one. These rates are set to fall by around 5p in the next year, making it cheaper to keep in touch with your envious friends while on holiday. There are also plans to reduce the cost of data roaming – sending emails and MMS messages, and surfing the web via mobile phone or laptop.