Euroaming ripoff...

GSM operators time is nearly up on roaming charges. At least I hope it is. The EU is currently considering what to do about sky high roaming charges, and it's about time!
It is a sad reflection of what happens when there is no regulation to force fair trade and competition onto the mobile operators.
In the past GSM operators had roaming agreements that were based on a 'retail-plus' model where the Home Operator would charge the Visiting Operator a retail tariff plus a 10-25% surcharge, which was then marked up by the Visiting Operator by another 10-25% before appearing on your bill.
The spirit of this agreement was supposed to be the 'standard' retail charge, however it never came down when the operators reduced their tariffs for their own customers. If the spirit of the agreements had been honoured then we would all be paying no more than around 20p/minute, allowing for a 50% surcharge on the current standard rate (some would argue that typical per minute charges are lower than that).
With the advent of TAP3, operators were free to negotiate individual roaming agreements not based on 'retail-plus', however, rather than this reducing rates to the level they could easily support, rates fell only marginally, operators preferring to emphasise the improvements in price transparency instead.
'Hey, instead of surprising you with a bill for random amounts between 50p and 1.00 per minute, we can now guarantee you that you will be ripped off at the same level of 50p, no matter which country (in the small list provided) you travel to!'

I find it surprising that it has taken so long for anything to be done about this, as it has been on the radar for at least 5 years! They have certainly given the operators time to get their house in order.

On the other hand, the market will change in the next couple of years and will force major changes on the operators. WiFi in mobile phones, plus the VoIP software that is able to use it, will mean that no-one will need to pay the extortionate roaming charges unless they really want to.

Personally I always use Skype from the hotel room when I am abroad, and I know this is standard practice for a lot of small companies. When Skype (or other VoIP software) runs on my Nokia N80 (that I don't have yet!), I will be signed up to FON and making calls on the alternative network. Vodafone and others need to undergo as radical a transformation as BT, but perhaps it's too late, they should have started 5 years ago...