topic Re: Re: No signal in NZ in Mobile Services

Re: No signal in NZ

CraigSteen — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 09:45:57 GMT

I’m having the exact same problem today in NZ.

If I turn off automatic network selection, I can see the other networks but cannot join any of them.

luckily I have an Airalo eSim for data , but I can’t make / receive any business from my EE number - which is the whole point of it.

Ive just come from Dubai and it was working fine there. My wife is on O2 and her phone / sim is working fine, so it’s an EE thing for sure.

Is there any solution from EE here ? I can’t make any calls so asking me to call EE is adding insult to injury.

thanks

Craig

Re: Re: No signal in NZ

bristolian — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 09:53:39 GMT

Phone working in Dubai proves roaming is activated.

Does this issue remain across substantially different local areas in NZ? Trying different local networks os absolutely the correct diagnostic check and is usually a good fix.

Re: Re: No signal in NZ

CraigSteen — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 20:45:14 GMT

Hi Bristolianim in downtown Auckland, but have been to other places on the north island within a 20m radius ( Albany, Browns Bay etc) so have moved between multiple masts / areas.

No idea what’s going on, but EE had to do something to my account before I left and I think they screwed something up. The My EE app stopped working and I had to re-register then ended up with 2 accounts that had to be merged. Bit of an IT nightmare.

Re: Re: No signal in NZ

CraigSteen — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 20:49:28 GMT

As you can see in this pic - I can see and select networks , but it never tries to join them. I’m just sat with no connection to any service. I’ve tried reboot, taking the sim out and putting it back

Re: Re: No signal in NZ

bristolian — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 00:40:42 GMT

I suspect you'd need to move between TAC areas to eliminate a local authentication issue, just moving between two serving sites would be unlikely to have the desired outcome.

The only thing EE could have done, is to disable your roaming facility - self evidently if your phone has connected to foreign networks since, that's not the case.

Has this phone ever had a local network connection in NZ since arriving?

Re: Re: No signal in NZ

CraigSteen — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 01:40:26 GMT

I don’t think it did , because I didn’t get the ‘welcome to NZ’ message from 150 when I landed here. My Airalo global eSIM kicked in immediately, and it’s set to my primary data sim when travelling. I only noticed the problem when I’m getting emails about my calls not coming through to my Ee business number - which is pretty bad for a self employed company owner.

I have also tried disabling my eSIM in case it’s causing issues - but nothing is working.

I’m here for 5 days then back so don’t see this getting fixed before my return, sadly.

Re: Re: No signal in NZ

Leanne_T — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 08:15:32 GMT

Hi @CraigSteen

Thanks for coming back to us.

If you call us from any other phone on +44 (0)7953 966 150, the team will get this looked into for you.

Thanks 🙂

Leanne.

Re: Re: No signal in NZ

CraigSteen — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 21:47:16 GMT

Thanks Leanne ,

I actually can’t make calls from my phone because of this issue. Also being in NZ and having a business account, everyone in the UK is closed / asleep when I’m awake - business support is only 9-5 Monday to Friday excluding Bank Holidays., so it’s challenging for me to resolve this remotely. It’s 10am here and 9pm in the UK as I type.

I can confirm that I’ve been to NZ many times before ( and all over the world ) and never had this problem. I do think something has changed as a result of the My EE account issue ( 2 accounts being merged into 1) and I have lost some roaming access.

Is this something that can be checked remotely without needing to call? I’ve had to log in with my EE account to comment on here, so you should have all the details required ?

Thanks

Craig

Re: Re: No signal in NZ

XRaySpeX — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 23:09:01 GMT

Try calling CS on the Freephone no. in my sig. on Skype over WiFi. It should be free.

Re: Re: No signal in NZ

CraigSteen — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 10:41:58 GMT

Hi Leanne ,

I’ve called and it turns out that global roaming had been turned off somehow ( not by customer services ).

it was turned on an hour ago again, but I still have no reception after 3-4 reboots of the phone.

iI’m worried that the changes won’t apply until I come back to the UK now.

Re: Re: No signal in NZ

Leanne_T — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 10:45:12 GMT

Hi @CraigSteen

Thanks for coming back to me.

Any account changes can take up to 24 hours to activate for you.

Thanks 🙂

Leanne.

Re: Re: No signal in NZ

bristolian — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 10:46:35 GMT

Enable flight mode and leave the phone for an hour or so. Then disable and give it 10 minutes to auto-select - manual select after that if no joy.

Re: Re: No signal in NZ

CraigSteen — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 04:14:23 GMT

Hi thanks again for the feedback on this.

I’ve tried as suggested ( and as per the EE support person suggested ) but this hasn’t made any difference for me .

It almost feels like the sim needs a ping for the update, but can’t get one because it’s not connected.

I fly on to Singapore tomorrow and I suspect I’ll have the same problem there too.
As I mentioned , this is a work phone not a personal one , so this is a bit of a nightmare. 😡

Re: Re: No signal in NZ

Katie_B — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 08:09:48 GMT

Hi @CraigSteen.

Since your last post has there been any update in regards to your service?

Katie

Re: Re: No signal in NZ

bristolian — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 08:16:36 GMT

In the dim & distant "Orange" past, a SIM update unlocked certain roaming-related menus, but this is no longer the case & all necessary updates are on EE's central network databases.

Although if the phone is a work one, I'm surprised they are allowing an end-user to make account changes.

I've had issues in NZ in the past, and was never left with the highest opinion of their telco networks.

Re: Re: No signal in NZ

CraigSteen — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 20:58:46 GMT

It’s my company - so I have full control over this kind of thing.

as an aside - 36 hours after the ‘full roaming was enabled’ I still have no connectivity on my EE sim. That’s pretty much the last straw for me now.
I’ve never had a problem in NZ in the past , or the US, Croatio, Maldives, Iceland, Canada and so on. I’m supposed to be working remotely this week but am not contactable by my business number. It’s a big deal for me and my company 😞

Thanks everyone for the contribution, and have a good new year!

Re: Re: No signal in NZ

CraigSteen — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 21:06:05 GMT

No not by me , no. I had a data problem in Reykjavik in October and the ‘automated chat bot’ thing said to send a message of ‘Roam Eu’ to 150. It made no difference. I fixed the problem in the end via manual network selection.

However the advice to send the ‘Roam EU’ message seems to be what’s caused my global roaming to be switched off.

To be honest - having no human available to talk about roaming 24x7 for a business account is nuts. The whole point of roaming is that you’re in different countries / time zones - at the moment I have to call at 10pm NZ time to speak to someone at 9am in UK time. Nobody is available during my working day. And then I have to wait another working day to find out the problem hasn’t been fixed. I’ll have to wait another 12 hours now before I can contact someone again ( my 10 am is UK 9pm ) by which time I’ll be flying to Singapore.
It doesn’t work as a process 😞

Re: Re: No signal in NZ

bristolian — Sat, 30 Dec 2023 00:15:31 GMT

EU-specific roaming is indeed the opposite of full-global roaming.

The vast majority of roaming issues can be resolved by choosing an alternative local network, it's unusual for there to be a countrywide-issue affecting all networks - that isn't picked up by central network monitoring.

Re: Re: No signal in NZ

CraigSteen — Sat, 30 Dec 2023 01:48:52 GMT

Hi again - yep,

As per my picture below , my phone can ‘see’ several networks but I am unable to join any of them when I select them.

There’s still definitely a problem with my account / sim. I’ll try to phone EE one last time from the airport tonight at 10pm.

Re: Re: No signal in NZ

CraigSteen — Sat, 30 Dec 2023 10:37:28 GMT

Sadly no improvement despite roaming being turned on again by customer services 😞

thanks for asking though.
Craig