Greater protection to prevent mobile phone and computer users from running up large bills when overseas comes into force across the EU on Thursday.

New rules mean that users will be automatically cut off when their monthly bill for using the internet abroad reaches 50 euros ($61; £41), excluding VAT.

Customers will receive a warning when they have used 80% of this limit.

They can set their own monthly cut-off point by contacting their provider.

Accessing the internet via your mobile phone while abroad is called "data roaming".

why cant they do this for calls as well? Both here and abroad?

In a lot of cases aren't you better off by buying a local SIM card and using it for calls etc (outside of the EU)?

When I go anywhere to stay for a while I do that. You need an open phone though.

What annoyed me was that it cost 5c (about 2 1/2" pence at the time) to text to a UK mobile. I costs about four times that from a UK mobile IN the UK.

Going back a good few years, some UK providers were routing UK landline calls via the USA because it was cheaper than routing them directly.

Today, some providers route UK landline to UK mobile calls via Europe, because the termination fees are cheaper that way.

It's a very peculiar game and the figures make no sense at all.