September 28, 2007 at 11:36 am · Authored by Ewan · Filed under Mobile

So here I am in Italy surrounded by rolling Tuscan fields and a slow but functional wifi connection at the hotel.

I’m here for a few reasons — most notably, from a mobile industry perspective, to test out 3 Like Home, the 3UK roaming service and MAXroam.

3 Like Home is a genius service for any 3UK customer roaming internationally on 3’s network.

An extra bit of good news if you’re going to Austria, Australia, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy or Sweden. With sister networks in all these places, you’ll automatically connect to our 3 Like Home service. What’s that? While you’re away, it lets you use your inclusive UK minutes and messages to call or text standard UK numbers. Even check your scores on Planet 3. Just like at home.

The last bit there, ‘even check your scores on Planet 3′ got my attention. I knew calls and texts are included as normal when you’re roaming on 3 but I didn’t know about data. I’ll need to check that. Perhaps it’s only Planet 3 data roaming that’s inclusive? Or maybe it’s not inclusive at all.

MAXroam is now live, by the way. I need to activate my SIM and then give it a whirl!

Update: I checked out the terms & conditions on data roaming on 3 networks. Shockingly good:

Using data services such as browsing Planet 3 on participating networks will also be at the UK rate. Your usage when on a participating network will still count toward any fair use limits, just like when you are in the UK.

Theoretically that means my data usage here in Italy will be inclusive. Right on!