topic Re: I am abroad and my phone won't pick up a signal. in Roaming

I am abroad and my phone won't pick up a signal.

DJLJinnit — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 18:27:32 GMT

I am in Tenerife - my wife's ee phone is working fine but mine is not picking up a signal. Or roaming etc. I've tried all the settings and I'm confused. Any idea how to fix this? I can't call 150 from here as they won't take a call via WhatsApp or message etc

Re: I am abroad and my phone won't pick up a signal.

XRaySpeX — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 18:35:28 GMT

Are you on contract or PAYG? Had you used that SIM for making calls or texts in UK before you left to go abroad?

If you are on contract, did you activate roaming on your EE a/c before you left 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. on Skype over WiFi. It should be free.

Re: I am abroad and my phone won't pick up a signal.

DJLJinnit — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 20:15:41 GMT

OK thanks

The sim was fully activated before we left and all working well.

I'm still confused how to call a uk mobile number 150 without having a signal here only WiFi sorry

Re: I am abroad and my phone won't pick up a signal.

DJLJinnit — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 20:16:32 GMT

Ah sorry you said Skype! I'll try to find it - very old school!!

Re: I am abroad and my phone won't pick up a signal.

bristolian — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 20:45:30 GMT

@DJLJinnit wrote:

I'm still confused how to call a uk mobile number 150 without having a signal here only WiFi sorry

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: I am abroad and my phone won't pick up a signal.

DJLJinnit — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 22:43:42 GMT

UPDATE
I spoke to CS this morning and was promised that roaming would be enabled ASAP.
It wasn't

I contacted CS via the ee app messaging 5 hours later and spent over 2 hours talking to an arrar of people and it's still not sorted.

I bought two contracts at the same time. I thought they're identical.

They aren't.

One has roaming on it and one hasn't! And they couldn't even upgrade me!

I bought two the same but they're apparently different. I'm wasting my holiday time talking to EE for ages

I'm going to escalate this to a complaint

Oh and I've still got no signal.

EE talk a good game but their CS is truly terrible. No one follows through - I'm just passed from one person to another. No one has authority. I've used ee community, I've called and used the app. Still not sorted.

Comedy

Re: I am abroad and my phone won't pick up a signal.

Matt_124 — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 23:18:26 GMT

Is automatic network selection enabled on your device? If so, are you able to switch this to manual and look for a network that way?

Re: I am abroad and my phone won't pick up a signal.

DJLJinnit — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 08:13:37 GMT

I've tried it all Matt.
I'm pretty geeky and know my way around my iPhone well.
No automatic or manual network signal
It is switched off.
As they say - it's them not me 😂
They need to "flick a switch" at their end. I can't do anymore.

Re: I am abroad and my phone won't pick up a signal.

bristolian — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 08:26:57 GMT

@DJLJinnit wrote:

No automatic or manual network signal

To clarify - are you saying that there is no network shown on a manual network search? If so, then no amount of account settings can resolve that, if there's no operator to connect to.

Either way, this has nothing to do with "which contract" you're on - that's immaterial and talk of changing plans won't make a scrap of difference.

The complaints process is perfectly valid to escalate poor service, but it's not a fault reporting avenue. Did CS offer to raise a faults ticket for you? That would be the correct process if their first-line attempts to enable roaming were not working.

Re: I am abroad and my phone won't pick up a signal.

DJLJinnit — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 12:55:29 GMT

To clarify
I can see networks but when I click them nothing happens.
Roaming is switched off at their end.
I've spoken to them for hours on this.
Will call one more time.
I don't need anymore help here tbh just letting people know the outcome.

EE sometimes fails and doesn’t give good CS - it's not all unicorns and sweetie shops regarding this issue I'm afraid.
I'll sort it.

Thanks everyone. No more responses needed, keeping this here to help others.

Re: I am abroad and my phone won't pick up a signal.

bristolian — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 13:49:23 GMT

@DJLJinnit wrote:

I can see networks but when I click them nothing happens.
Roaming is switched off at their end.

Roaming is a toggle at account/SIM-level, not your phone. Many people confuse this with the "data roaming" menu option.

If roaming is disabled at account-level, it needs enabling in order to connect to foreign networks.

If frontline-CS are unable to rectify this on first-call, they should be raising a fault case for further investigations.