From next month, mobile phone firms will be capped on how much they can charge customers who use data services – for example to read emails or browse the web – while travelling on the Continent.

Under the new rules, networks will also have to text customers if they approach a ￡41 download limit.

But in the few weeks before that, the rates remain punitively high. And even after the new rules kick in, they will apply only to EU countries, leaving holidaymakers in other destinations risking huge bills, frequently of hundreds of pounds.?

Fiona Chow, 33, of Wandsworth, south-west London, was hit with a ￡187 bill after a holiday in South Africa earlier this year.?

Fiona, who works in marketing for an online ticket seller, says: ‘It was a real bolt from the blue. I had made sure I did not use the phone for any calls to limit charges. I only used my iPhone to occasionally check on my emails, log on to Facebook once and use a travel app a few times to find restaurants.?Because I could not work out how much data was being used, there was no way of knowing what the final bill would be until I got home. I had no idea that just a few seconds on the map application could cost several pounds.’

Ernest Doku, technology expert at , says that if you are abroad and want to use a smart phone or tablet, you should turn off the data roaming facility. This is usually easy to find in the ‘settings’ menu.

Doku says: ‘Mobile phones can automatically download data, depending on your settings and software. To be on the safe side it is best to simply turn this facility off.?If you want to download you can always visit a cafe or hotel offering free wi-fi access. You won’t need to turn the data roaming back on. You simply sign into the local service.’

滬江英語快訊：下個月開始，歐盟國家將會限定移動電話公司對漫游的收費(fèi)。社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)也會在用戶用滿41英鎊的數(shù)據(jù)后發(fā)訊息提醒。不過這項(xiàng)優(yōu)惠對于出門在外的度假者不適用，不過一些手機(jī)人士建議出門在外關(guān)閉數(shù)據(jù)開關(guān)，用wifi上網(wǎng)可以有效節(jié)約流量，避免吃啞巴虧。