Caution during the holidays: Free roaming in the Western Balkans can cost you dearly!

It’s been almost three years since roaming in the Western Balkans was abolished, and citizens of Serbia were given the opportunity to use their phones unhindered in North Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, despite the fact that roaming is free, misunderstandings and mistakes when using it lead to many complaints about high bills, so we want to clear up some of the most common doubts and prevent you from emptying your wallet during the May Day and Easter holidays.

When the regional agreement abolished roaming charges on July 1, 2021, it became free. However, this does not mean that using the operator’s services is free. The prices for calls, messages and internet are the same as if you were staying in Serbia, and whether you will pay for these services depends solely on your package.

If you have unlimited minutes and messages, there is no need to worry. However, if you have used up the free minutes, messages and internet available to you each month, you will be billed at the following prices depending on your operator:

mts

• Outgoing calls: 11.90 dinars per minute
• Incoming calls: 0.00 dinars
• SMS: 5.90 dinars
• Internet: 1.00 dinars per 1 MB

Yettel

• Outgoing calls: 14.50 dinars per minute
• Incoming calls: 0.00 dinars
• SMS: 7.90 dinars
• Internet: 1.00 dinars per 1 MB / traffic ban

A1

• Outgoing calls: 9.90 dinars per minute
• Incoming calls: 0.00 dinars
• SMS: 4.90 dinars
• Internet: 1.00 dinars per 1 MB

Be sure to check before your trip how many free minutes, messages and internet are available in the package you are paying for to avoid a large amount on your bill.

Source: Unsplash / Milana Jovanov

You can call all +381, +382, +383, +387, +389 and +355 while staying in North Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

So, whether you want to invite a family member in Serbia or your host in Montenegro whose accommodation you cannot find, you do so according to the above rules and prices.

ADVICE: If you’ve used up or don’t have any free minutes, try inviting people through one of the messaging apps. These apps consume about 1-1.5 MB per call minute. If we consider that 1 MB in roaming costs 1 dinar, it is clear that it is much cheaper than ordinary calls.

To avoid confusion – free roaming rules apply only outside the borders of Serbiaand calling users from other countries of the Western Balkans is considered international invitation if you do it from our country. The price of an international call varies from operator to operator, as well as from the country you are calling, but one thing is for sure – it is not cheap.

The only exception is if you do it from the territory of the AP of Kosovo and Metohija, where the rules of free roaming within the Western Balkans apply. Also, calling numbers from the southern Serbian province is in some cases considered an international call.

Limit the use of your monthly subscription package to calls, messages and internet while roaming. Although you may be paying for a package that contains other extras and bonuses, they cannot be applied during your stay in North Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Therefore, bonuses such as free internet for social networks and messaging applications are not valid as part of free roaming in the Western Balkans, unless the operator has expressly stated otherwise.

When roaming charges were abolished in the Western Balkans, the amount of free roaming internet was symmetrical to that in Serbia. However, since last year, that rule no longer applies. Now each operator provides a reduced number of gigabytes for each package in its offer that can be used during a stay in the countries of the Western Balkans.

It doesn’t matter whether you have 2, 5, 10, 50 GB or unlimited internet in Serbia, it doesn’t matter whether you can transfer unused gigabytes to the next month – in roaming, the number of free gigabytes is smaller and fixed on a monthly basis.

How much less it is depends solely on the package you are paying for, so we advise you to check it before you go on your trip so that you are not unpleasantly surprised when you return to Serbia.