4g data dropping in USA

[Jbarmcake]

Hello! 

I've been in the USA and Canada for around 8 weeks and have the roam further pass. Everything worked pretty flawlessly for the first 6 weeks of being here but now my 4g connection is constantly dropping out - the phone usually reverts to 3g or 2g connection and sometimes doesn't pick up any signal at all. 

I took my Pixel 4a to the Google store in NYC thinking it was the phone but after some sim swapping it looks like the issue is with my SIM or EEs service - the same issue happens with my SIM in another phone and the store assistant's US TMobile sim worked fine in my phone.

The issue is very intermittent - sometimes it connects to 4g without an issue, then randomly drops out and no amount of restarting, clearing network settings of aeroplane mode fix it.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Faulty SIM? An issue with roaming? It has to be a network/SIM rather than phone issue.

I have a 50gb allowance and have only used around 15-20gb per month which is well within the fair use policy.

I'm potentially in USA and Canada for another few months ... Could EE set me up with an esim if my SIM is faulty? Tried the online chat but with intermittent signal and the wait times I couldn't get a conversation started.

[Christopher_G]

Hi @Jbarmcake

Welcome to the community.

It's an unusual one, since your phone is able to connect to the network. It means that everything is set up from our side for you to use your phone abroad.

Is it possible for you to try a different available network? Are you still able to use your phone for calls, texts and data on 2G/3G?

Chris

[Jbarmcake]

Cheers Chris, 

Yes, very strange - I could only think of 2 issues - either faulty SIM card or some sort of compatibility issue with certain cell towers in the US, as the problem didn't happen at all in Canada. 

I've tried both T-Mobile and at&t as well as auto selecting the network. Generally it's happier connecting to the 2/3g network but sometimes fails on these too, and sometimes after waiting an hour it'll randomly connect to the 4g network , sometimes for only an hour or so and sometimes for a long time, or at least until I start moving and presumably get within range of the next mast.

Is it possible to switch to an e-sim? That's what I'd like to do if possible as it will allow me to get a us/Canada provider too if I need to.

[Jon_K]

Hi @Jbarmcake.

Sometimes swapping SIM cards when abroad would cause you to lose service until you reconnect to the UK network.

Do you know of anyone else with a UK phone having the same issues?

Jon