O2 roaming: free in Europe up to 25GB, £7 a day beyond

How does O2 roaming work?

O2 roaming has two halves. In the Europe Zone, O2 lets you use your UK minutes, texts and data at no extra cost, up to 25GB. Outside it, you either have a plan with destinations included, pay £7 a day for O2 Travel, or pay O2's standard rates. We read O2's international, EU roaming, O2 Travel and Travel Inclusive Zone pages on 10 November 2026. This is desk research; we have not roamed on O2.

What are O2 roaming charges in Europe?

For most people, nothing. O2's international page says pay monthly and pay as you go customers can use data up to 25GB, plus minutes and texts, at no extra cost in the Europe Zone. If your UK allowance is under 25GB, your UK allowance is your limit abroad. Past 25GB, O2's EU roaming page says you'll need a data bolt on, or may pay standard rates. It gives no per-GB price.

O2's own pages disagree on how many countries are in the zone: "over 45" on the international page, "40+" on the using-your-phone-abroad page and 48 on the EU roaming page. Switzerland is on the 48-destination list. Turkey is not. For pay as you go, the EU roaming page adds that coverage depends on the country, so check yours before you go.

O2 also says long stays abroad may fall foul of its fair usage policy, without giving a threshold on the pages we read.

Is Turkey included in O2 roaming?

Not in the Europe Zone. Turkey is one of the 75 destinations covered by the O2 Travel Bolt On, and O2 says it is part of Travel Inclusive Zone Ultimate. On other plans, a day in Turkey costs £7.

What is O2 Travel?

O2 Travel is the bolt on for pay monthly customers outside Europe. O2's page sets out the terms:

• £7 a day, charged only on days you use it
• 75 destinations, including the USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, Thailand, Turkey and the UAE
• unlimited minutes, texts and data, with data speeds capped at 2Mbps
• calls back to the UK and within the country included; calls to other countries at standard roaming rates
• the day runs 24 hours from first use, and starts when you make a call, send a text or use data, not when you receive one

You add it by texting TRAVEL to 23336 or in My O2. O2 says the bolt on is not included in a Spend Cap.

The page describes O2 Travel for pay monthly only. O2's international page says data roaming bolt ons are not available on pay as you go, and we found no pay as you go version of O2 Travel on O2's own pages.

What is the O2 Travel Inclusive Zone?

It is the set of destinations where some plans roam at no extra cost. O2's Travel Inclusive Zone page lists 27 outside Europe, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile and Peru. It is available with Plus plans and O2's Volt plans, and not on 30-day SIM only tariffs or pay as you go.

Ultimate plans get Travel Inclusive Zone Ultimate: 75 destinations outside Europe, adding Turkey, the UAE, South Africa, Thailand and over 20 Caribbean islands. That's the "O2 roaming 75 countries" figure people search for. The same 2Mbps data cap applies in both zones. Our O2 SIM only deals page sets out which plan tier gets which zone.

O2 roaming against a travel eSIM

In Europe, keep your O2 plan. Up to 25GB at no extra cost leaves nothing worth buying.

Outside Europe on a plan without the inclusive zone, the eSIM usually wins on price. Verified prices below were read on each seller's own site in August 2026:

Because a pound buys more than a dollar, every eSIM in that table costs less than £49 before conversion. O2 Travel's data is unlimited, but at 2Mbps; that is enough for maps and messaging and slow for video calls or uploads.

O2 Travel still has a case. On a two-day trip it is £14 with your number and calls, and you don't have to set anything up. And if your plan already covers the destination, it costs nothing.

If you do use an eSIM, keep the O2 line on for calls but switch its data roaming off, so a background app doesn't start the £7 day. Our data roaming guide shows how, and the cheapest eSIM table ranks plans by cost per gigabyte.

O2 roaming on pay as you go

Pay as you go gets the Europe Zone allowance, and O2's pay as you go page also lists a £30 Rolling plan with up to 500 international minutes. Beyond Europe, the pages we read offer no daily bolt on for pay as you go, so standard rates apply, and O2 did not publish those rates on the pages we read. For a long-haul trip on O2 pay as you go, a travel eSIM is the safer plan. Visitors to the UK want our O2 UK SIM card page. For other networks, see Three roaming and EE roaming charges.