topic Re: My phone is not working when roaming in Canada in Roaming

My phone is not working when roaming in Canada

Mandee1977 — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 15:14:04 GMT

Hi how can I get my phone to work I’m in Canada and done everything and have £25 enabled .

Re: My phone is not working when roaming in Canada

bristolian — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 15:05:30 GMT

Post moved to a new thread. Can you explain what "everything" is that you've tried? Are you on PAYG or pay-monthly?

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.

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 over WiFi.

Re: My phone is not working when roaming in Canada

XRaySpeX — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 16:08:13 GMT

@Mandee1977 : 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.

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

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.