As summer approaches and overseas travel increases, reports continue to emerge of tourists facing unexpected expenses while on holiday. This time, the warning comes from a well-known European tourist destination. British tourists who holidayed on the Greek island of Corfu returned to the UK with hundreds of euros unpaid on their cell phones, after the devices were automatically connected to mobile networks in neighboring Albania, generating considerable roaming costs, according to the newspaper.
Despite staying on Greek territory, many visitors report receiving welcome messages from Albanian operators shortly after arriving at Corfu airport. The case, shared by several British people on social media, is causing surprise and outrage. Some tourists say they have received bills exceeding 300 euros to pay just a few days after their vacation.
Location close to Albania creates a problem
Corfu is located in the northwest of Greece, about 48 kilometers from the Albanian town of Ksamil, located on the so-called Albanian Riviera. Due to the short distance between the two countries, especially in the eastern part of the island, some cell phones end up automatically connecting to Albanian antennas, even when they are on Greek territory.
A visitor told the British publication that, shortly after landing, he received a notification with the message: “Welcome to Albania! Calls, messages and data in Albania are paid separately, outside of the usual UK packages.”
“It looked like a robbery”: users report cases
In the Facebook group We Love Sidari, frequented by British tourists visiting Corfu, Steve Moore reported that he was surprised just two days after arriving on the island. “I received the welcome message to Albania. I called the operator and they told me that the signal must have switched to another antenna. If we are not careful, it will be very expensive”, he wrote, quoted by the same source.
Other tourists described similar situations. A British man claimed to have spent £128, around €150, just for using his GPS while riding a quad bike near the coast. Another user summed up the experience bluntly: “We got home from the holiday with £298 unpaid. Crazy.”
How to avoid these unexpected charges
Faced with the increase in complaints, several recommendations began to circulate among British tourists who visited this tourist destination. According to the same source, one of the most repeated suggestions involves turning off roaming as soon as you arrive on the island or manually selecting a Greek operator, avoiding automatic connections to Albanian mobile networks.
“As soon as it lands, let the phone automatically connect to the Greek network. Then go to settings and disable the automatic network selection option,” advised one of the users. Another recommended keeping roaming turned off throughout your stay and only using Wi-Fi networks in hotels, cafes and restaurants.
Experts warn of other pitfalls
In addition to the issue related to foreign networks, expert Georgia Brivida, from the SIM card company Sim Local, warned of another frequent situation that can quickly increase mobile data consumption. Applications such as Instagram or TikTok continue to load videos automatically while the user scrolls through the feed, which can result in high costs within a few minutes, according to the source cited above.
Brivida advises tourists visiting this destination to disable automatic video playback before traveling and limit mobile data usage while on holiday, especially outside the European Union.
Interestingly, similar situations have also been reported in some coastal areas of Turkey, Montenegro and even in southern Spain, where the proximity between borders can lead cell phones to automatically switch networks without the user noticing.
Also read:
