topic Re: EE wont work abroad in any country in Mobile Services

EE wont work abroad in any country

NealThomas — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 15:51:18 GMT

I took up a contract with an iphone with EE.
within 2 months i traveled to NewYork and the phone wouldn't work on the roaming bundle. I spent hours of wasted times in cafes/hotels using wifi contacting EE to fix the issue. Many reassurances from EE that the phone and roaming settings and bundles I bought were correct, the phone wouldnt not work. EE couldnt sort it but when I was back in the UK they promised it would work next time.

The same happened in Greece, Germany, France and Morocco (different bundle needed in Morocco). You need your phone working to get you to meetings/hotels/work etc. Its not good enough for a large company to let this happen and not help.

On all of these trips, friends and colleagues that I have been with all had perfectly working phones, and often iphones on EE. so the countries phone signals were fine and it was clearly EE's settings and iphone that were to blame each time.

I have spent days calling/emailing/whatsapping EE and they just cant/wont help.

I finally asked them to just release me from my 36 month contract as its failing. I said i would pay for the iphone and could they stop the monthly charges. the answer 'NO'. So i am stuck with a phone/contract that wont work abroad for the next 22months and I have 6 abroad business trips organised this year already.

Dont use EE if you need a working phone abroad.

EE will reply to this stating they cant confirm or guarantee if a foreign countries signal will work.......however all of my friends/colleagues/family have had no issue on their vodaphone/iphones or three or gifgaf etc. So it is EEs fault and they wont help.

Re: EE wont work abroad in any country

bristolian — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 15:53:39 GMT

The only relevant setting is that roaming is enabled on your SIM/account to unlock access to foreign networks.

The billing add-on you have, is irrelevant - that merely reduces the cost of roaming.

Re: EE wont work abroad in any country

NealThomas — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 16:03:04 GMT

Hello,

Are you putting this in the community help page also?

I would hope that EE had changed that setting from the number of times I contacted them and each time they reassured me that it would work.

The billing is valid as EE wont release me unless I pay the entire 36 month contract, even though it is their fault that the phone/contract wont work abroad. I offered to buy the phone off them, but they aren’t interested in helping.

Sent from Outlook for iOS<>

Re: EE wont work abroad in any country

XRaySpeX — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 20:55:19 GMT

You never texted ROAMING to 150 before you left UK to ensure the roaming ability is enabled on your account, as advised under "Get Ready to Roam" on the various Roaming Costs Help pages.

Re: EE wont work abroad in any country

Chris_B — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 21:14:36 GMT

@NealThomas It’s also in the my EE app in settings on what to do to enable roaming. You can pay off the phone but you’ll need to also pay off the contract if you wish to terminate and roaming is optional not contractual.
As for your title of the post that’s not true in the slightest I’ve used my devices many times abroad as I enable roaming on my account.

Re: EE wont work abroad in any country

NealThomas — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 21:39:12 GMT

You always type ROAMING in before you travel and when you land abroad.. I also called EE before travelling each time after it went wrong the first time to check it was all set up.

best part of 100 emails/messages and 40+ calls to EE on this. I did everything possible to get it working. EE just failed.

i appreciate the advise on what to do now. None of it worked though and EE just messed up and won’t help.

Re: EE wont work abroad in any country

NealThomas — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 21:41:38 GMT

It’s all true. I’m not going to spend time making things up. This has cost me days of time trying to rectify.
My daughter is on EE with the same iPhone and it works fine abroad. Mine doesn’t.

This is what has happened and EE won’t help.

Re: EE wont work abroad in any country

XRaySpeX — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 01:38:40 GMT

Text ROAMING alone or ROAMING PASS. They are diff!

Re: EE wont work abroad in any country

NealThomas — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 06:50:00 GMT

Yes I did that and I was told to try ROAMING GREECE (the countries name afterwards). Still didn't work.

Re: EE wont work abroad in any country

James_B — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 07:49:00 GMT

Hi @NealThomas,

What response do you receive when you text ROAMING to 150?

James

Re: EE wont work abroad in any country

bristolian — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 08:02:21 GMT

@NealThomas wrote:

My daughter is on EE with the same iPhone and it works fine abroad. Mine doesn’t.

Your post is subjected "EE won't work" yet if another EE user was having service, this should have been a red-flag that this issue was user-specific.

I agree that CS had numerous opportunities to check your account settings, but it's equally possible they were only being asked by a (well intentioned but mistaken) user to check the bundles/billing add-ons.

If the tone of the CS calls were anything like this forum thread, I can see how this situation has developed and continued unresolved. As per the latest reply here, what response do you receive when you text ROAMING to 150?

Re: EE wont work abroad in any country

NealThomas — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 08:02:39 GMT

Often no replies when messaging EE on 150 or it’s not understood

but normaly I get a reply saying it’s set up and the prices for bundles and using the phone abroad. I can see a 5G signal. Some times people can call me but I can’t call out.

so it’s clearly not a foreign signal issue. It’s EE.

see screen shots of my ROAMING replies

Re: EE wont work abroad in any country

bristolian — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 08:12:48 GMT

Doesn't look like you ever got a reply from the ROAMING text, partly because of sending multiple commands to the bot in a short space of time, thus it replied to the wrong one each time. I'm also intrigued by the reference to BT in one of your texts.

@NealThomas wrote:

Some times people can call me but I can’t call out.

If people can call you, it follows that you have a mobile network connection. It therefore follows that your roaming is active, and the issue is elsewhere.

Re: EE wont work abroad in any country

James_B — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 08:15:43 GMT

Hi @NealThomas,

The texts seem to show a mix of BT Mobile and EE responses.

Have you recently switched from BT to EE?

If you're now on an EE plan, being able to receive calls but not make them would indicate there is an international calling bar on your account. Our Customer Care Team can remove this for you.

James

Re: EE wont work abroad in any country

NealThomas — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 08:26:07 GMT

Originally, before all of those messages I uploaded I was with BT, they moved me to EE on the same number.

since then it’s all gone wrong.

yes once they did mention an international call blocking and apparently fixed it. Unfortunately nothing changed. Since then when I’ve called they have said that international blocking was ok.

it is quite frustrating.

maybe from what you’ve said I’m stuck between BT/EE somehow?

I appreciate your thoughts one this👍

Re: EE wont work abroad in any country

NealThomas — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 08:29:12 GMT

I only uploaded a few messages that I sent to 150. There are literally hundreds. I’ve also been messaging them on whatsapp also which goes through to a person but although they can order bundles, switch ROAMING on/off, nothing gets fixed.

i agree. The issue lies somewhere else but EE has given up.

thanks for your help

Re: EE wont work abroad in any country

bristolian — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 08:37:25 GMT

@NealThomas wrote:

I’ve also been messaging them on whatsapp also which goes through to a person

How so? EE don't have a WhatsApp contact.

Re: EE wont work abroad in any country

XRaySpeX — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 09:44:29 GMT

@NealThomas wrote:
Yes I did that and I was told to try ROAMING GREECE (the countries name afterwards). Still didn't work.

That should be RO GREECE, another of EE's confusing texts. All RO does is tell you the costs of roaming there, but it won't activate roaming.

Re: EE wont work abroad in any country

NealThomas — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 09:45:22 GMT

Thanks

i did try that for NY, Germany and France. RO then country name. It didn’t seem to do much.

I think my account is just stuck in a glitch

Re: EE wont work abroad in any country

XRaySpeX — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 09:49:42 GMT

In fact BT Business.