Roaming relates to a situation in which a customer of a mobile operator uses their phone when abroad.

Since the 15 June 2017, roaming rates have been regulated at a European level, and are now aligned with national rates (for reasonable use).

Operators are also required to be fully transparent. They are required to send their customers an information message concerning the prices for voice communications, SMS, and data from the first time the customers uses roaming services in a country.

Operators must implement an alert system to send a warning message to you when you have reached 80% of the limit of your internet volume, and when you reach your limit. This system helps prevent billing “shocks”. This protection mechanism does not concern voice and SMS services.

CALLS TO PREMIUM NUMBERS BEGINNING WITH 900, 901, AND 905

When you call one of these numbers, you must be alerted, free of charge, to the total cost per minute or per call within the first 30 seconds of the call. After this alert, you have the option to hang up if you do not want to be billed.

You can also block outgoing calls to these numbers with your electronic communications service operator.

RECEIVING PREMIUM SMS

When you purchase a service from a third-party service provider (e.g. Ringtones, weather, horoscope, games, logos, media, music, among many others), you will receive the requested service via a paid premium SMS message. The price of this kind of SMS can be up to 5 EUR. You may even have subscribed to this kind of service. In this case, you will regularly receive a paid SMS with the desired service.

All subscriptions to premium services are subject to a double agreement procedure as described below, distinguishing between a single product (i) and a subscription (ii):

i) paid services shared by SMS and/or MMS, not part of a subscription: following the order, a single SMS/MMS will request confirmation of the service in French, German and English, informing you of the cost of the SMS/MMS and giving a password. The service user must then send an SMS to the same number with the password in order to access the service,
i) subscribed paid services shared by SMS and/or MMS: following the subscription, a single SMS/MMS will request confirmation of the subscription in French, German and English, informing you of the monthly cost of the SMS/MMS and giving a password which will allow you to use the service. Additionally, the user of a paid service subscription must be informed about the terms of cancellation before any subscription confirmation and after any invoice is issued.

Important: If you no longer wish to receive the services in question, immediately send STOP by SMS. This will only halt messages from the number to which the STOP is sent. If you wish to block other paid service numbers, contact your operator. They can block all premium services.

Your operator will freely provide you with:

A selective block on outgoing premium calls, SMS or MMS or, when this is technically possible, other similar types of application, a mechanism allowing you to switch off the option, for third-party service providers, of using your operators bill to invoice you for their products or services.
You can also visit the following website, set up by Mpulse S.A. And supported by the operators Post Télécom S.A., Proximus Luxembourg S.A., Orange Communications Luxembourg S.A. and Eltrona Télécom S.A., in order to check any subscription to premium services made with your number: www.stopsms.lu.

It is very important to react to the premium SMS you receive, and especially not to ignore them or put them in your spam folder, as you will continue to be invoiced for the SMS you received – even if they are marked spam. The service in question is delivered to you and, as such, must be paid for.

It is also important to be aware that premium SMS messages are billed through your operator, who handles the transport of premium SMS messages to a mobile number via their network. The operator takes on two distinct roles: transporter and paying agent.

Ensure that you do not enter your phone number on advertising websites when participating in games, competitions, or when ordering various services with your phone, so as not to be involuntarily subscribed to premium services.

Please check your bills regularly and contest any incorrect totals in writing, and within good time.

By sending your operator a written complaint as quickly as possible, the consumer can inform it of the problem and give it the chance to explain and solve the problem as quickly as possible or, if necessary, propose a solution.

The written complaint can take the form of a standard or registered letter, or an email. Registered post provides a guarantee that the letter has been sent and received.

We advise you to give the operator around two weeks to properly respond to the written complaint. If the operator fails to respond or responds unsatisfactorily, the consumer can then call on the ILR mediation service.

Your operator must provide you with a detailed invoice which includes the explicit identity of the supplier and the duration of the services invoiced for any premium-rate number free of charge, unless you have requested that this information should not be listed.

Calls which are free for you, including calls to support lines, do not necessarily need to be listed on the detailed invoice.

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