Vodafone's roaming tiers explained: EU, worldwide and none

We'll help you make sense of Vodafone's roaming rules

Vodafone have made understand what inclusive roaming you get your mobile deal complicated to understand. There are a million different plan types, all with different destinations included and some with none.

So how do you go about choosing if you're joining Vodafone? We'd recommend thinking about where you want to roam, how often and for how long.

We'd say there's no point for example in paying extra every single month for a worldwide roaming plan if you only ever leave Europe once a year for a week.

In this guide, we'll make a recommendation for which plan to take based on where you want to travel:

Where do you want to go?: UK only | EU countries | USA and worldwide

Choose Vodafone Basics if you never want to go abroad

It's not unreasonable at the moment to think you might not fancy going abroad for the next 12 months that your plan lasts for. If so, take a look at Vodafone's Basics Plans.

These SIM only deals include no roaming whatsoever. And we don't mean no "free roaming". We mean they literally won't work abroad, not even in Ireland or the Isle of Man.

The best thing about Basics is they're Vodafone's cheapest plans, because Vodafone don't have the cost of roaming to cover. Have a look at their pricing under the dropdown below:

Current Vodafone Basics Plan prices

None of these include any roaming whatsoever:

We've written a review of Vodafone Basics here. They don't include 5G either. But you can upgrade to a regular SIM only plan mid-contract for a premium, if you suddenly find you want to be able to roam.

If you want to get roaming in Ireland and the Isle of Man, Vodafone do still include that on their pay monthly contracts. But if you want to go further afield, we go over the plans that get you EU roaming below.

Useful link: More info on Vodafone Basics

Choose to pay a daily charge or a plan that includes it

Until recently, you could choose any pay monthly Vodafone plan apart from Basics and get inclusive EU roaming. Your usage there would come out of your regular monthly allowances for no extra cost.

You'll now either need specifically to pick a plan that includes EU roaming (Xtra Plans with 4x Xtras), pay a £2 daily charge or buy a time-limited data pass (£8 for 8 days or £15 for 15 days) to access your regular mins, texts and data while roaming.

It's annoying to pay extra but if you only go away for a week or two a year, it could be worth sucking these charges up for those times, rather than permanently paying more for an Xtra plan that includes EU roaming:

Xtra plans with inclusive EU roaming

Vodafone’s sub-brand VOXI will soon get rid of their free EU roaming. But Virgin Mobile, ASDA Mobile and Talkmobile use Vodafone’s network and include EU roaming as standard, while being much cheaper than Vodafone anyway:

Best current deals on smaller providers using Vodafone’s network

Useful link: All smaller providers that use Vodafone’s network

Only the most expensive plans include extra destinations

Vodafone used to include 32 extra worldwide destinations with their Unlimited Max plan, but this is now only included on Vodafone’s most expensive Unlimited data plan with 4 Xtras on either a 24-month or 12-month contract.

Vodafone’s plans that include free worldwide roaming

While it’s a pricey plan, it’s the only plan out of all the UK networks that includes worldwide roaming. And it can work out as pretty good value if you go abroad a lot, as you won’t have to pay the £6 a day fee for worldwide roaming.

It’s also better than having to pay as you go, as you can use your regular allowance (up to 20GB) worldwide without racking up a massive bill, like you would on Virgin Mobile for example (using 1GB in the USA costs £5000).

But we still think it’s a hefty price to pay, especially since you’re paying extra for something you won’t always use. We also don’t like that you’re paying for an unlimited data plan to roam worldwide, only for it to be limited to 25GB once you’re there.

There are also a few other networks with worldwide roaming options. With Sky Mobile’s roaming passport you can roam in these worldwide destinations for just £2 a day. And VOXI offer Global Roaming Extras that work out as decent value.

Also, bear in mind that while it’s called “worldwide roaming” you don’t get roaming in every country. There are a few notable destinations missing, India being the biggest omission in our eyes. You have to pay £6 a day beyond their covered destinations.

Useful link: The best UK networks for EU and worldwide roaming