topic Mobile Calling not working in Australia? in Roaming

Mobile Calling not working in Australia?

Allon1us — Mon, 12 May 2025 09:28:44 GMT

I upgraded to the sim plan I had on my Samsung phone to "Full Works SIM" which is £53 per month, as I was promised it would work for calls and data in Australia.

I have arrived now in Australia, and haven't been able to make a single phone call all day. The phone doesn't even ring! I did receive a text from EE advising I can use data and calls, but I am only able to use the data. For whever reason calling doesn't work.

I have increased my spend cap - and on the way to Australia, my phone worked perfectly fine in Singapore. I have tried aboslutely everything on my mobile phone to get it to work, but to no avail.

My wife is in the exactly same predicament, with her apple phone. And she gets data but no calls at all.
This can't be an isolated incident as we are both independantly on separate plans and mobile devices. Is there any resolution at all for this?

Re: Mobile Calling not working in Australia?

Allon1us — Mon, 12 May 2025 08:57:16 GMT

I am experiencing the same issue. Internet works, but the phone doesn't even ring when I try to call.
Was in singapore yesterday and everythhing was working perfectly. Please does anyone have any idea how to resolve this?

I attempetd to cycle through networks, but to no avail. Phone just does not ring. I can't call EE because phone doesn't ring and they are in UK.

Re: Mobile Calling not working in Australia?

bristolian — Mon, 12 May 2025 09:13:26 GMT

Your post has been moved to a new thread.

Can you send & receive text messages? Is there any difference in behaviour with calls, depending whether the number you're calling is in-country or international?

Re: Mobile Calling not working in Australia?

Ali_A — Mon, 12 May 2025 11:15:30 GMT

Hi @Allon1us

Welcome to the Community

Are you able to manually connect to the Telstra network?

To manually select a network on an iPhone, navigate to Settings > Mobile Service > Network Selection, and toggle off the automatic selection option.

For Android phones it's settings > connections > Mobile networks > Network operators

Ali

Re: Mobile Calling not working in Australia?

Allon1us — Mon, 12 May 2025 13:14:03 GMT

Hello, thank you for your reply.

I had not experienced a difference. Its a long quiet attempt at making a call, and then the call drops. I have read up on Australias phasing out of the 3g network to call, and move to VoLTE networks middle of last yeat. I trust this may underly some of the issues.

Re: Mobile Calling not working in Australia?

Allon1us — Mon, 12 May 2025 13:37:05 GMT

Hi Ali, thank you for the reply. I have had some partial success.

I looked at my network options and only had one option "optis" which I found quite peculiar, as it should have more options.

I changed my network mode from 4g/3g/2g to 5g/4g/3g/2g, and then Telstra and Vodafone appeared (both of which were not there before). I then connected to Telstra and attempted to call an Australian number and it rung. I was overjoyed, as this had not happened before, but am now faced with another problem - and that is getting my wifes apple phone to work as well.

I got her on the Telstra network (as on her mobile the options are 5G auto, 5G on, and 4G), and she is able to call me off her mobile, which I receive when she dialls my UK number from Australia using the +44 prefix, but it goes straight to missed call if she doesnt use the prefix.

When calling her now as both of us are on the Telstra network, something bizare happens. There is a silence on the line and after a while it says "...E voicemail, im sorry but the person you called is not available. If you would like to leave a voicemail". It cuts off straight to her voicemail without her phone ever ringing, and shows my call immidiately as a missed call on her mobile with no caller I.D.

I guess the new uqestion is - how can a UK EE number on an apple device receive calls, when on an Australian network - as these all drop off and go straight to voicemail, leaving the user eith a missed call, and the line never ringing?

Re: Mobile Calling not working in Australia?

bristolian — Mon, 12 May 2025 14:12:44 GMT

@Allon1us wrote:

I guess the new uqestion is - how can a UK EE number on an apple device receive calls, when on an Australian network - as these all drop off and go straight to voicemail, leaving the user eith a missed call, and the line never ringing?

I can't directly answer that, but the call flow for these calls would be...

Calling phone <---> Local radio <---> Local core routing <---> EE-UK-core network <---> Local core routing <---> Local radio network <---> Called phone

Thus the reason is likely to be in the central/routing networks somewhere.

Re: Mobile Calling not working in Australia?

Allon1us — Mon, 12 May 2025 14:28:18 GMT

Thank you Bristolian,

I am trying to understand myself as the setup now should in principle work.

My EE android phone -> Full works Sim -> connected to Telstra

My Wifes Iphone -> full works Sim -> connected to Telstra.

Apple to Android calls will start ringing and work.

Android to Apple calls go straight to voicemail and fail to ring.

I have tried toggling a few settings on the Apple phone, but seems to have made no difference:

1. Data mode: low data or stabdard gave same outcome

2. Wifi calling - made no difference

3. Calls on other devices - this option also didnt affect apple phones ability to receive calls

I am running out of ideas of what else to possible toggle or try - and am open to any thoughts

Re: Mobile Calling not working in Australia?

bristolian — Mon, 12 May 2025 14:44:42 GMT

I'll take WiFi-calling as a good example of where confusion can often result. This does not mean using an app to call as is often mistaken, but uses the phone's normal dialler & menus to send & receive texts, make & receive calls with the WiFi-signal replacing the network one. In technical terms, the core network remains the same but the access layer changes.

It's meant as a coverage enhancement in the UK, isn't supported abroad but can sometimes work. To illustrate my point, the cal flow for any UK call would be...

User device <---> Radio access layer <---> Core network <--- onward routing. Thus whether that radio access layer is WiFi or mobile, makes no difference to the routing otherwise. It's what enables handovers between VoWiFi & VoLTE.

I'd be tempted to 2way SIM-swap between the Apple & Android phone, to be sure the issue remains with the device itself. The "data mode" would be irrelevant, neither VoLTE nor CSFB (fallback to 2G/3G) use data.

With Android > Apple calls failing to EE voicemail, that tells me the call is failing to setup on the receiving side.

Re: Mobile Calling not working in Australia?

Allon1us — Mon, 12 May 2025 15:12:25 GMT

Thank you once again for the response Bristolian - its insightful.

I keep thinking that the other variable is that I have a physical sim card, and my wifes iphone 16 had an eSim. And whether the fact she has an eSim is preventing the reception of the calls. Are they regionally locked, compared to traditional Sim cards?

Re: Mobile Calling not working in Australia?

bristolian — Mon, 12 May 2025 15:32:23 GMT

The presence of an eSIM unfortunately rules out a 2way SIM-swap - one of the downsides of electronic rather than physical SIM, for sure.

The purpose of the SIM is primarily to authenticate the user-equipment onto the network. If coverage is displayed, then the local core has verified your eligibility to connect, and thus allowed the radio network to attach. In simple terms!

As to whether there's anything different between eSIM & pSIM, that's beyond my expertise. I seem to recall there were some issues with roaming on eSIM in the very early days, and I dare say they're provisioned differently... but I would not want to comment further.

Re: Mobile Calling not working in Australia?

Schockwave — Mon, 12 May 2025 15:39:51 GMT

@Allon1us , on the IPhone, could you go to settings, then scroll down to phone and then scroll down to dial assist and see if that makes a difference.

You would definitely need the prefix of the country when ringing each other abroad, at least I would have thought.

Re: Mobile Calling not working in Australia?

bristolian — Mon, 12 May 2025 15:44:25 GMT

@Schockwave wrote:

You would definitely need the prefix of the country when ringing each other abroad, at least I would have thought.

In theory, both yes & no.

The core network can route based on originating SIM-serial number as much as dialled number. So a UK-EE SIM can have +44 added, and leading zeros dropped, if the dialled number is not in a local-format but "could" be in a UK format (the local network would have no means of knowing)

In practice.... it can be a lot safer to dial using +44 and is one of the first things to eliminate.

Re: Mobile Calling not working in Australia?

Allon1us — Wed, 14 May 2025 05:10:31 GMT

As an update, I went and got a telstra esim in my wifes iphone 16, and am now able to call her off my UK number to her UK ee number while we are both in Australia. She does require two esims, but when it comes to troubleshooting, even getting the cheapest possible mobile minutes plan from a local provider seems to have enabled the calls to recognise receiving them in Australia.

Re: Mobile Calling not working in Australia?

Ritu_D — Wed, 14 May 2025 08:22:02 GMT

Hi @Allon1us

Thanks for coming back with an update.

I am pleased to hear you can now call your wife's number.

Enjoy Australia.

Ritu

Re: Mobile Calling not working in Australia?

Allon1us — Wed, 14 May 2025 15:34:04 GMT

Thanks to everyone for pitching in and helping. It was a big hill to climb, especially with the multitude of issues. Reading peoples historic messages never felt like there was any closure to the issue, as many didnt respond back. But hopefully this will be a good reference document to help others experiencing the same issue to get on track!

Re: Mobile Calling not working in Australia?

bristolian — Wed, 14 May 2025 16:06:00 GMT

@Allon1us wrote:

Reading peoples historic messages never felt like there was any closure to the issue, as many didnt respond back.

This is a constant problem with many web fora...

Posting with a problem, and either not posting back to say "this is how I sorted it", or "all sorted now thanks anyway" but not explaining how.

It never helps other users wanting help, nor do regular users learn what works and what doesn't...