topic Re: All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus in Roaming

All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus

Stubsy — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 12:57:00 GMT

I have been in Cyprus for a few weeks, using my EE phone to call UK numbers. I visit Cyprus regularly and never had a roaming problem since joining EE 3 years ago. I have an All-Rounder contract, with unlimited everything, including EU roaming. Roaming suddenly stopped working a few days ago. I've made 8 (eight) support calls to EE, and I've tried everything suggested (roaming on/off; phone on/off; local provider auto/manual; spend-cap none/zero/30). Finally, on the 8th help call, EE said they have an internal memo reporting some local network problems in Cyprus, and just to keep trying. It's now been 5 days, but no solution. Is anyone else having the same problem? To make matters worse, EE sent me a text yesterday saying my request has been resolved, but it's still not working !!! Maybe I should just switch from EE?

Re: All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus

Peter_W — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 15:26:33 GMT

Good afternoon @Stubsy.

Thanks for reaching out to us here on the Community!

I've not heard anything in particular about issues in Cyprus.

What did the message you receive most recently say exactly, and did this come via text or email?
Peter

Re: All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus

Stubsy — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 16:41:30 GMT

When I dial, there is a long silence, then 3 or 4 beeps, then the EE operator voice says "we're sorry, this number is barred from your phone". I've tried calling many different UK landlines and mobile numbers, but always the same. It's been 5 days now. I've even tried switching the SIM socket in the phone (S21 Ultra), but no difference. Could the SIM be fried?

Re: All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus

Stubsy — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 16:46:54 GMT

I cannot call any local numbers in Cyprus either. Roaming is ON on my phone, and the app says it's ON too. Your technical support people said we've now tried all the usual fixes, so it must be the Cyprus network. They then told me that they've received an internal email saying that there are problems being reported in Cyprus (BTW, I'm on the Greek side, ie: in the EU).

Re: All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus

Peter_W — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 07:08:38 GMT

Thanks for explaining all of that for me, @Stubsy.

Is it just calls that seem to be affected here, or are you unable to text and use mobile data too?

Peter

Re: All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus

bristolian — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 08:12:57 GMT

@Stubsy wrote:

Could the SIM be fried?

The symptoms you've described are not those of a "fried" SIM, I doubt you'd even have a network connection if that were so.

CS should have raised a fault ticket into (non-customer-facing) Tech Support/Networks if they believe there's a pattern to complaints or network issues.

Re: All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus

Stubsy — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 08:33:34 GMT

Thanks for replying. I'm using my EE data, and I'm receiving support desk codes and messages by SMS, so it seems that only the calls are barred. The only exception is that I CAN call 150 to EE, but no other numbers, so I guess that means the SIM is NOT fried 🙂 I've also checking my phone's call barring options, and none are active. This is now Day 6 of this, and I'm getting desperate to make calls.

Re: All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus

Stubsy — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 08:40:23 GMT

CS did raise a "complaint", but they texted me 2 days ago saying that they have closed it !!! I don't know why they would do that? I've also received a rather annoying series of "standard" messages suggesing that I buy a roaming pack, which tells me that they're not diligently reading my complaint .... I am on an ALL-ROUNDER contract INCLUSIVE OF EU ROAMING, and I've been using it without a glitch before this recent barring incident. Something has gone bad in the past week. ONE QUESTION: Is there a limit on the number of consecutive or aggregated roaming days in the EU? I can't see anything about that in the small print, so I am assuming NOT.

Re: All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus

Peter_W — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 08:51:11 GMT

I'm glad to hear that you can still use some of your services here @Stubsy .

With EU roaming we offer two settings - one that just enables the ability to connect locally, and another that also allows you to call between borders.

You need the latter in order to be able to make calls, but from the amount of time you've spent on the phone with our team I'd expect they would have checked this.

As @bristolian mentioned as well, we'd expect this issue to be logged against a fault ticket if unresolved.

How long have you been outside of the UK for?
Peter

Re: All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus

Stubsy — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 09:33:40 GMT

Yeah, we've been all through the helpdesk checklist, several times. This morning I've sent and received SMS test messages to 2 of my UK contacts, and I've been using data without any problem. I also received ONE call from one of my UK mobile contacts last night, but when I tried to call them back (as a test) I got same voice message, "we're sorry, calls to this number are barred from your phone". I'm at the end of my tether with this issue. I regularly commute between the UK and Cyprus, but I've been in Cyprus for a bit longer this time, around 6 weeks. I don't think there is a limit because I've done the same many times before without difficulty, and I've been using this number with EU roaming for the past 3 years. In fact, CS said I've been an excellent customer, and that I have a relatively low data/calls/text history (which is true). I really don't know what to try next? Just keep waiting for the problem to "go away", or spend another day on calls with CS? I really don't want to do the latter because every time it's like starting from scratch, with all the silly basic checks all over again !!! Any suggestions how I can get this escalated to a senior techician?

Re: All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus

Stubsy — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 09:58:41 GMT

I've done some more tests this morning. I've now been through every Network Operator on the manual connection list, and I have exactly the same problem with all of them (FYI, the auto default is PrimeTel, the others are EPIC, CableNet and Cyta). I also checked/unchecked all the barring options in my setting, but that made no difference. I've also tried my SIM in a friend's spare phone, and the problem is exactly the same. I have therefore ruled out the problem being "in" my device, or with any specific local network operator, so it seems that the problem is either "in" my SIM; or my number has been barred from making calls on EE's network for some reason that neither I nor CS can see? Questions: Could my SIM be remotely tested/reset by EE? Could my phone number have found its way on to some kind of barred-numbers/devices list, and if so, would CS be able to see that?

Re: All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus

Peter_W — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 10:14:59 GMT

@Stubsy We do recommend that customers roaming need to maintain a stable link with the UK network, but six weeks shouldn't be an issue here and I'd not expect you to lose service.

We would usually classify this as at least 2 months of a 4 month period being within the UK and connecting to our network.

How were things left with you when last speaking to us?

If you're unhappy about a complaint being closed, you can request to reopen this at any point within the next 28 days.

Our complaints code of practice gives an overview of our escalation process too.

Peter

Re: All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus

Stubsy — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 12:49:46 GMT

Thank you @Peter_W

I've read through the Fair Use and Stable Link policies, but I can't find a document less than 2 years old. However, it seems quite clear to me that if I had breached any rules, I would have been notified and offered a remedy (eg: a surcharge). As this inability to make calls came totally out of the blue, I'm assuming that I'm not in breach.

Moreover, I'm paying for unlimited everything, including EU roaming and max speeds, so as a low-volume user I don't think my account activity would ring any alarm bells.

So, I suppose I need to reactivate my complaint.

In the meantime, I shall also start researching other UK providers, as this episode has left me less-than-impressed with EE (with the exception of your kind replies).

Re: All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus

Peter_W — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 15:03:04 GMT

I would definitely recommend getting back in touch so we can get this logged, @Stubsy.

If there are any similar reports like one of the Guides eluded to, we can get your impact logged against this for further investigation.

Peter

Re: All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus

Stubsy — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 17:45:38 GMT

Yay, fixed !!!

The lady who helped me today told me that there is a rare issue, not just in Cyprus, when the EE system fails to pick-up the phone user's actual location, so it doesn't acknowledge that you are in the EU. She told me that she could make a change on my account (a setting that I cannot see) that MIGHT work, but there was a small risk that it would block me from roaming until I return to the UK. I told her to try it, and she agreed to call me back after 2 minutes so that I could test it. I tested it on a phone call to the UK, and it connected instantly !!! The CS lady then called me back, and told me that she wasn't sure it was going to work, but was relieved that it did. So, a big thanks to everyone on this thread, and if I ever get the voice message again, "this call is barred", I will assume the system has "lost" me again 🙂

Re: All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus

pwalk — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 21:01:23 GMT

I'm having a similar issue where I can't make calls to UK numbers from EU, and I have roaming add-on, the call just says barred. CS tried to help and did a network refresh but no help. I need to speak to them again tomorrow to try and fix this. Do you know by any chance what was the setting that they changed on your account that made it work?

Re: All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus

Stubsy — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 08:25:27 GMT

I don't really know, but the CS lady said they have various roaming group options on their system, so she would try taking me out of the one that I was in, and putting me in another group (just a guess on my part, but maybe they have groups like EU only, European Countries, EU+UK, EU+EEC, etc?). Whatever she did, it worked instantly, and it is (thankfully) still working.

Re: All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus

bristolian — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 09:14:54 GMT

Externally of course, there's only 2 levels of roaming permissions. EU-only, or full-global.

Re: All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus

Stubsy — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 09:23:50 GMT

For your troubles, maybe they can put you on full-global for a few minutes to test that the network is functioning properly? If that doesn't work, then you/they will know that the problem lies somewhere else. Just a suggestion.

Re: All-rounder contract, with EU roaming, suddenly stopped working in Cyprus

pwalk — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 09:24:44 GMT

Thanks @Stubsy . In my case, it turned out to be the spend cap set to 0, preventing outgoing calls to the UK. Once increased, it solved the problem.