topic Re: ZERO SERVICE in Roaming

ZERO SERVICE

alexcourtney — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 10:18:35 GMT

I have been traveling America fro the past 7 months and had ZERO service. I had to buy a separate US phone package to be able to communicate. I have been back in the UK for a few weeks and the phone has gone back to working fine. I am now in Hannover German and again have ZERO service. one of my add ons is a data roaming package. this is unacceptable and quite frankly ridiculous. what is the point in being with a phone provider when you cannot even provide be with signal/roaming abroad that has been specifically added on

Re: ZERO SERVICE

XRaySpeX — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 10:36:23 GMT

Often just rebooting the phone is the simple remedy. Also try selecting a network manually rather than auto.

Did you receive a Welcome text upon arrival?

Are you on contract or PAYG? Had you used that SIM for making calls or texts in UK before leaving to go abroad?

If you are on contract, did you activate roaming on your EE a/c before leaving UK by texting ROAMING to 150? Having a roaming billing add-on doesn't of itself activate roaming on your a/c. Having roaming activated on your EE a/c, not just on your device, is crucial to using your contract SIM abroad.

Otherwise if you are on contract you need to call CS to get your roaming activated. Try calling CS on the Freephone no. in my sig. using a web-calling app over WiFi.

Re: ZERO SERVICE

Northerner — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 11:36:38 GMT

Hi @alexcourtney

There are time limitations to roaming.

It sounds like your account is not activated. Text ROAMING to 150.

Thanks

Re: ZERO SERVICE

ee_user14 — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:11:25 GMT

@Northerner wrote:
There are time limitations to roaming.

There are time limits on inclusive roaming. The free roaming facility is a one-off process.

@Northerner wrote:
It sounds like your account is not activated. Text ROAMING to 150.

....which you can't do once you already abroad, due to lack of network coverage. The reply above yours has already covered this off.

It could indeed be suggested that it's "quite frankly ridiculous" that some users travel abroad without checking all the documented advice, and then blame their provider when they find themselves caught out.