topic Using Mobile in Australia in Roaming

Using Mobile in Australia

Fen80 — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 17:50:20 GMT

I turned on my Roaming in the UK for Australia
I get a message saying it's all setup and I'll get a text when I get here to choose to set up a package or not
On the layover in Dubai I got a text about setting up for there, I didn't as only there for couple of hours
Now I'm in Australia, and I have no signal at all
I tried to force the phone to use a different network operator and it won't connect to any, says they aren't available

I've tried to log onto EE manage account to double check roaming etc (despite the text saying it's all set up) and it's down

Any contact details I've found say ring EE, I can't I have no signal

What do I do now?

Re: Using Mobile in Australia

bristolian — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 17:53:06 GMT

Regardless of any billing add-on, your ability to get coverage abroad (which calls, texts & mobile data rely on) is dependent on roaming being activated - which allows your phone to connect to foreign networks. How exactly do you think you "turned on my roaming"?

Have you used your phone abroad previously, did you receive a welcome text message on first arrival abroad? These are good evidence of roaming being enabled if so. In these cases, manually cycling through all available local networks often resolves issues - toggling flight mode can have the same effect.

If not...On PAYG, roaming is auto-enabled once your phone is used in the UK first. On pay-monthly, this needs to be enabled manually - usually by texting ROAMING to 150 before leaving the UK. Did you do this?

If you are on pay-monthly and now find yourself abroad without having enabled roaming, your only recourse will be to contact CS to request it activated. You can either contact +44 7953 966150 from another working phone, or +44 800 9566000 using a web-calling app such as Skype over WiFi.

Re: Using Mobile in Australia

Fen80 — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 22:01:13 GMT

I texted Roaming to 150 and did the where and when and after all that their last message started "Great news, your device is all set to roam in Australia"

I haven't been aboard since I was a kid pre-mobiles so this is all brand new, but at the layover in Dubai I got a message about setting up a plan for Dubai. I didn't as I was there for about 2 hours and it was Australia I wanted.

I'm on a monthly contract

I assume I need to use one of the local networks here as there's no EE setup in Australia, but when I try it just says "Could not connect to a network now. Please try again later"

Re: Using Mobile in Australia

bristolian — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 22:22:30 GMT

Indeed so - EE is a UK network operator, so just like Kiwi customers use UK networks when they are here, in the same way EE's roaming services allow you access to Australian networks when you're there.

Are you getting those same symptoms on every local network?

Re: Using Mobile in Australia

Fen80 — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 05:51:20 GMT

When I search for a Network I get; Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and 50513
I've tried all of them and just get a message which says 'Could not connect to network now. Please try again later' and have been getting that since yesterday

Re: Using Mobile in Australia

Katie_B — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 08:16:22 GMT

Thanks for getting back to us @Fen80.

Are you aware of anyone else experiencing this?

Since landing in Australia have you tried to toggle your phone onto flight mode and back off again?

Katie