topic Re: Roaming in Australia in Roaming

Roaming in Australia

MB_007 — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 14:58:32 GMT

Hi. I have been here in Australia (Sydney) for the past 4 days and have the EXACT same issue. I notified EE prior to my departure that I will be in AUS, removed my spend cap, authorised my 5 day abroad pass and turned on roaming once we arrived. I also called CS via Skype yesterday to have them confirm that my account is set up with correct settings, which they confirmed. I have removed the auto network selection and tried all 3 networks available (YES OPTUS, Vodafone AU & Telstra Mobile) but I am still unable to make and receive calls from my phone. Data works fine to browse internet and I can send/receive texts, but alas I am unable to make or receive calls. Please advise on a viable remedy.

Re: Roaming in Australia

bristolian — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 13:04:11 GMT

Your "me too" post has been moved to a new thread, it's usually a lot better to avoid confusing replies. There's a few alarm-bells in what you've posted, worth clarifying..

"Turned on roaming once we arrived" - how, exactly? I'm driving at "data roaming" in your phone settings NOT being the answer, which many people think it is. Roaming permissions are an account-level setting that is usually best allowed by texting ROAMING to 150 before leaving the UK - otherwise you need to have spoken to EE-CS. Sounds like you did that later.

You've not said what happens when you try making calls? And are you using Apple or Android?

Re: Roaming in Australia

MB_007 — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 13:14:50 GMT

Device is an Apple iPhone 15 Max Pro.

Prior to departure I text 150 and requested that roaming be set up for travel to Australia. Once I arrived in Sydney, i turned on the Data Roaming settings option but still had no service (SOS displayed), so I called EE via Skype and the Cs rep I spoke with manually activated the plan for me. At that point, I was able to receive texts and access data plan but unable to make outgoing calls via any of the perviously mentioned networks. When I attempt to call local or any UK #, the line never rings (complete silence for about 20 sec) and eventually I get a message that says call failed.

Re: Roaming in Australia

Matt_124 — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 13:29:12 GMT

When making the call, do you notice your data connection dropping out? For example 5G or 4G symbol disappearing?

Re: Roaming in Australia

MB_007 — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 13:36:55 GMT

Not when making a call but before or after call, it will change from 5G to 4G. It seems to change back and forth from 5 to 4G about every 20 sec or so.

Re: Roaming in Australia

MB_007 — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 14:11:22 GMT

Additionally, of the three available networks (YES OPTUS, Vodafone AU & Telstra Mobile) here in Sydney, only YES OPTUS provides me with access to both 4 or 5G data. When selecting either of the other two networks, I get SOS displaying in the cell data field.

Re: Roaming in Australia

bristolian — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 15:53:26 GMT

@MB_007 wrote:

Not when making a call but before or after call, it will change from 5G to 4G. It seems to change back and forth from 5 to 4G about every 20 sec or so.

Sounds like at least VoLTE is trying to work, even if VoNR/5GSA isn't.

iPhones don't have any easy options for disabling VoLTE to at least test CSFB - this is a scenario where Android allows extra tests.

If you toggle flight mode with auto-selection on, is Optus the selected MNO? (In other words, is the preferred network set to allow data).

You've referenced data roaming several times, but this has no relevance for voice calls which don't use data. All this enables is mobile data whilst roaming. It's separate from (what would be) "voice roaming" or indeed "is roaming enabled on my SIM", which is what catches a lot of users out.

Re: Roaming in Australia

MB_007 — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 01:23:28 GMT

Correct, OPTUS is always the selected MNO when auto is enabled and flight toggled. Why would data roaming be activated and not voice roaming? How do ai get voice roaming activated?

Re: Roaming in Australia

Leanne_T — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 09:52:20 GMT

Morning @MB_007

Thanks for coming to the community.

If you get in touch with our tech guides they can make sure you have full roaming set up for calls and data and help you get this sorted.

Please see the Contact Us page for ways to get in touch from abroad.

Leanne.

Re: Roaming in Australia

MB_007 — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 08:13:03 GMT

I have spoken with two Tier 2 CS technicians in the past 24 hours and unfortunately neither has been able to fix the issue. I am still unable to make local calls or call voicemail, nor am I able to receive calls. Both techs confirmed that all voice permissions were set up correctly on my account and are baffled as to why I cannot make calls. This is now going on 4 days without a proper resolution.

Re: Roaming in Australia

bristolian — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 08:17:45 GMT

If CS agents are unable to resolve an issue having exhausted their account-level checks, and presumably also checked against known network-issues, there is a very obvious next step.

A fault ticket should be raised for investigation by (offline) tech support staff who have deeper network access and can also liaise with other operators as required. "Baffled" is fine for CS staff, but they're not the end of the technical escalation process, more the beginning!

Did the CS agents offer to raise a fault ticket? The reference should begin INC.

Re: Roaming in Australia

h_shewan — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 22:22:55 GMT

Hi.
Getting fed up with EE now.
Now coming into my 3rd week in Australia with no phone calls despite paying roaming add on.
To make it worse they have just taken £79 for my bill up to 7th April.
I have tried to access my bill online many times to see what I am getting charged for but every time I get a message saying sorry we cannot show you your bill just now try later but every time I get the same message.
Harold

Sent from my iPhone

Re: Roaming in Australia

Christopher_G — Sat, 12 Apr 2025 07:12:05 GMT

Hi @h_shewan

I'm sorry to hear that you're still having problems with your service in Australia.

Have you managed to speak with our Customer Support team? I've seen other people in the community use VoIP services, such as Skype, to get in contact with us. Once you're able to speak to someone, they'll be able to check to see if everything is set up fully from our end.

Hope you get sorted.

Chris

Re: Roaming in Australia

MB_007 — Sun, 13 Apr 2025 01:58:18 GMT

I spoke with a Tier 2 Tech Support Specialist at EE yesterday and they were finally able to resolve my issue. EE does not have an agreement with OPTUS here in AUS for voice, they only partner with Telstra for voice. Thats why my data plan worked but voice did not.

While calling EE via Skype, the tech was able to change some settings within my account profile so that Telstra voice was approved while I’m here in Australia. While remaining on Wi-Fi and talking to him via Skype, I was able to manually move my network connection from Optus to Telstra (cellular>eSIM>Network Selection>Telstra). At that point I asked him to call my EE number to confirm that the update worked and I remained on the call with him via Skype. Once I saw his call come through on my UK # I knew that the issue was resolved. At that point I ended the Skype call, reset my phone fully and when it rebooted, I made sure that I was only connected to the Telstra network here in Australia. Voice calls are now active local and back to UK.

Re: Roaming in Australia

Leanne_T — Sun, 13 Apr 2025 07:29:34 GMT

Morning @MB_007

Thanks for coming back and letting us know this is has been sorted for you after getting in touch.

Have an amazing time 🙂

Leanne.

Re: Roaming in Australia

bristolian — Sun, 13 Apr 2025 07:29:41 GMT

It's good that a manual network selection has resolved your issue, but there's something about the advice your CS bod has given you that doesn't quite add up.

If EE has no agreement with network-X for specific services, then there are no amount of account settings that will change that. The core network will simply not be setup for those services, and/or there will be flags to prevent those services being used. It's a bit like saying "EE has no agreement with O2 for use of their network but I'll change something on your account to give an exemption"

I would be very interested in knowing what specific config the CS bod changed, I appreciate you won't know. A spend cap or international call bar wouldn't surprise me.