topic Re: No roaming access in USA in Mobile Services

No roaming access in USA

Dotty1955 — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 16:44:47 GMT

I am at my wit's end.I have paid for data roaming but get no signal of any description. I can only communicate using a wifi in friends home. I can't seem to find any online chat facility for technical access. Can anyone please advise how to resolve my issue?

Re: No roaming access in USA

Northerner — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 16:56:22 GMT

Hi @Dotty1955

Did you activate roaming on your account?

If not you'll need to use Skype to call EE (see my signature) or live chat via contact us page:

https://ee.co.uk/contact-ee

Thanks

Re: No roaming access in USA

XRaySpeX — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 17:01:22 GMT

@Dotty1955 : Can you make calls & texts?

Are you on contract or PAYG? Did you use that SIM for making calls or texts in UK before you left to go abroad?

If you are on contract, did you activate roaming on your EE a/c before you left UK by texting ROAMING to 150? Having a roaming billing add-on doesn't of itself activate roaming on your a/c.

Often just rebooting the phone is the simple remedy. Also try selecting a network manually rather than auto. Otherwise you need to call CS to get your roaming activated. Try calling CS on the Freephone no. in my sig. on Skype over WiFi. It should be free.

Re: No roaming access in USA

BaroldG — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 03:34:26 GMT

There are 2 phones on our account. We have been in the US for a week and each have a roaming pass. My wife has been unable to access calls or data and the rare time I have managed to access data has been abysmal. I have found it impossible to resolve. I phoned to find the service was out of hours. When I did manage to connect it remained in a queue so I gave up. I managed to connect to online chat but wait time was estimated to be 40 minutes. In effect we have paid for service that is next to none existent with no support, no means to communicate. I expect a full refund but would have preferred access to calls and data. Incidentally this is being posted using WiFi at the house I am in.

Re: No roaming access in USA

Northerner — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 04:20:40 GMT

Hi @BaroldG

If you haven't activated roaming on your accounts then roaming will not work.

You'll need to speak to EE CS to activate this service. You can use live chat as you know or via Skype on the number in my signature. You can contact EE via UK working hours.

Thanks

Re: No roaming access in USA

BaroldG — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 15:58:17 GMT

Hi Northerner, yes roaming is activated on both our phones. I can connect to a very limited extent, dependant on location, but my wife gets no connection whatsoever. I seem to be linked to t-mobile but when searching on my wife's, t-mobile 2g and 4g are shown as "forbidden"

I have tried both ringing with no success due to volumes of calls and when I managed to get on live chat, the delay was going to be around 40 minutes.

Re: No roaming access in USA

BaroldG — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 16:09:54 GMT

Hi, this is BaroldG partner of Dotty. We have done all as you have suggested. She gets absolutely no means of using her phone, ie calls, text, sms and can only communicate via WiFi in our accommodation, whereas I can achieve a connection sporadically, albeit very weak data speed. I finding it impossible to communicate with EE. I accept the solution may be something simple, but it is escaping me! PS. I have also reset APN or whatever its called...

Re: No roaming access in USA

Katie_B — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 16:26:34 GMT

Hi @BaroldG.

Where abouts in the United States are you?

Have you tried connecting to other local networks or is it only T-Mobile that is showing as available?

Katie

Re: No roaming access in USA

bristolian — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 16:30:31 GMT

I can sse you've posted in two separate threads, and are therefore getting two sets of responses. Those are now in this one thread.

It may be helpful to clarify some terminology here. Roaming means using your phone on foreign networks, and needs the roaming facility enabled on your account - this is usually done by texting ROAMING to 150 from the UK. Did you do this? If not, that will explain your symptoms as your phone is unable to connect to any American networks.

Data roaming just means using data over a mobile network - you could refer to voice calls as "voice roaming" by the same token. If roaming isn't active, then your phone won't connect to a local network abroad, and you won't be able to data-roam, voice-roam or text-roam. Changing APN is only telling your phone how to make a mobile data connection. If it doesn't have a network connection over which to use mobile data, this is futile.

If roaming is not enabled, you will need to contact EE CS from another phone or potentially a Skype connection, to enable it.

Re: No roaming access in USA

BaroldG — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 16:46:26 GMT

Thankyou for merging the threads - apologies for any confusion. I wish I had access to my PC. I am next to useless on a phone! Both phones texted Roaming to 150 and both received confirmation by SMS of activation. What I don't understand is why my wife's phone says t-mobile is forbidden. I suspect this may be relevant to the issue, but am unsure. I can make calls, my wife can't. I can occasionally connect for data, albeit weak, my wife can't. When we first landed at Dallas Fort Worth, neither of us had connection, although we did receive sporadic random e-mails...

Re: No roaming access in USA

BaroldG — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 16:53:11 GMT

Hi Katie, we are near Park City Utah. There are about 6 - 8 services shown, but when trying to connect individually, there is no signal except t-mobile which I can connect to, but on my wife's it say "forbidden"

Re: No roaming access in USA

bristolian — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 16:56:15 GMT

Can your wife connect to any other local networks? https://ee.co.uk/help/help-new/roaming-and-international/using-your-device-abroad/roaming-in-the-usa is also worth being aware of.

When you say you received sporadic emails, what connection were you using? If a WiFi-connection, this just demonstrates that you weren't roaming. If this was over a mobile network, it proves roaming is active.

Re: No roaming access in USA

BaroldG — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 17:25:24 GMT

She is unable to connect to any service. As I have said, it says t mobile is forbidden, so won't register, whereas I have been registered. At the airport, I don't have a clue how we received the e mails, but any connection from whatever source couldn't be determined, because when we looked it said no Internet connection.

Re: No roaming access in USA

Christopher_G — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 06:40:19 GMT

Hi @BaroldG

Welcome to the community.

It would be unusual for you to receive a message to say that roaming is active, if it isn't. That being said, you should be able to connect to an available service whilst out there.

If it still isn't working, I suggest speaking to our Mobile Care team. I've seen people in a similar situation contact us through Skype using WiFi.

Our contact numbers >

Chris

Re: No roaming access in USA

BaroldG — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 16:05:08 GMT

Hi Chris

Thank you. It was before we left the UK we each received the sms that roaming was activated. Only when we arrived in Dallas airport did we find we had problems. I wish I could post a screenshot of the respective screenshots. In my network settings it says roaming and varies between connected and disconnected. In my wife's it says not roaming. Curiously, last night I managed to manually connect to Verizon, and achieved 9 mbs download, then it disconnected saying no signal. When I returned to auto, it hooked me on to t-mobile. I simply can't manually register my wife's phone to any provider...

Re: No roaming access in USA

BaroldG — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 19:57:58 GMT

Thank you to all who have proposed a solution. The issue with my wife's phone seems to have been resolved. We removed her sim card which we then inserted into a friend's iPhone and looked to be all good. It was then replaced into her phone and Bingo!

Her phone now seems to be working perfectly. I tried the same with mine but unfortunately with no positive outcome, but that doesn't bother me so much.