Overview

• UK travellers on Corfu continue to receive ‘welcome to Albania’ texts that can result in roaming charges as high as £300 when phones connect to Albanian networks.
• The mishap is caused by network drift, a form of cross-border signal interference that pulls devices onto neighbouring non-EU providers outside the EU’s Roam Like at Home scheme.
• Roaming fees for non-EU networks were reinstated following Brexit, making accidental connections to Albanian signals especially costly for British tourists.
• Tourists can avoid unexpected charges by manually selecting a Greek operator on arrival or activating a Europe eSIM before departure to secure EU-wide data rates.
• Similar inadvertent roaming incidents have been reported in other European border zones, including Croatia–Bosnia, Germany–Switzerland, France–Monaco and eastern Aegean islands.