Tourists travelling to Corfu have been warned of a hidden network charge that may cost them hundreds before they’ve even left the airport. Holidaymakers are in confusion after receiving a Welcome to Albania text upon arriving in the Greek island of Corfu.
An employee from MailOnline has shared his experience after recently taking a trip to the popular island hotspot. Upon landing, the text entered his inbox and appeared to be “rate advice” It reads: “Welcome to Albania! Calls, texts and data in Albania are chargeable and do not come out of your standard allowances or UK data add-ons. Roam Beyond data add-ons for this destination are available in the iD Mobile app for as little as GBP 5.00. If you haven’t already purchased a Roam Beyond data add-on, it will cost GBP1.50 per MB. Minutes and texts are not included , and will cost GBP0.60 per text to roam. To protect you from excessive charges, a GBP45.00 roaming data cap is in place.”
Corfu is located only a short distance away from a small coastal village in the riviera of Southern Albania, Ksamil. Due to this, the Albanian mobile phone signals near the coast are able to connect to phones in Corfu automatically.
Some tourists have taken to social media to warn others of the unexpected charges and risks.
Steve Moore, from Chesterfield, shared his experience in the Facebook group, We Love Sidari, he wrote: “I arrived Sunday, usual welcome text to corfu charges just the same as UK – 2 days later message welcome to Albania this is your charges.
“Wow what a rip off, phoned company and after 45 mins of conversation was told the network must of changed to a different mast. You need to keep an eye on it otherwise it will cost you a lot.”
Another Facebook user added: “Only if you go to the east of the island. I did that mistake while on a quad. Using google maps. £128 to drive up road lol,’ while a third added, ‘We got caught out £298 bill when we got home.”
Holidaymakers have been urged to inform their current network provider in order to avoid these charges. Also, by turning off roaming, you can avoid the extra charges.
“All you do is let your phone set it’s paired Greek network automatically when you arrive on the island at the airport,” a Facebook user suggested.
They added: “Once it’s selected the correct Greek network, go into your settings and turn OFF “automatically select network”. This means your phone will not hunt for or connect to anything else other than your correct Greek network.”
Another said: “Just carry on then when you get back tell your provider to do one. You’re not gonna pay for a different provider. I did and got all charges stopped.”
A third user shared: “We keep our roaming off at all times and just log into WiFi in bars, hotels, etc.”
They reminded those travelling to the Greek island to turn their roaming back on upon arriving back in the UK.