5G roaming

alastairhouston · ‎17-03-2022

I purchased a 5G roaming package full works and unlimited data and the most expensive and powerful 5G enabled phone for the specific purpose and was reliably informed by the sales person this was what I would get.

Sad to be realising that my purchase was not necessary as EE don't support 5G while roaming but I was told the opposite, do I get a refund. (of course I don't I should have read somewhere in a technical forum and should not have trusted the sales person.)

_MrR_ · ‎02-10-2022

Don't apologise!

I still don't get why EE aren't shouting about the fact they're absolutely smashing it with the 5G roaming.

Out of interest, what network did you use 5G roaming on in Greece? Wind or Cosmote?

argymeg1 · ‎13-11-2022

Not OP, but I'm freshly back from Greece, and my 5G phone strongly preferred to use Wind. Performance in and (especially) around Athens was rather lackluster, with semi-frequent fallbacks to 3G or even 2G, even in areas where others on (native) Cosmote had excellent (at least) 4G coverage. Attempting to manually force connection to Cosmote failed, even though it worked fine on occasion when falling back to Cosmote after completely losing Wind signal, until it reverted soon after. That may well be my phone's fault, though.

(All that said, Wind in Athens was overall a huge improvement on EE in my bit of Glasgow, so frankly I shouldn't complain 🙂)

_MrR_ · ‎14-11-2022

Hey @argymeg1

Thanks or the reply.

I'm heading to Athens myself at the end of the month so good to know your experience.

I have a dual sim iPhone so usually have it set to use the data of my Greek sim (I get good 5G coverage on vodafone GR) but am interested to see what the 5G roaming experience is like with EE)

As for Wind (due to be rebranded to Nova in the coming weeks), hopefully the experience will improve significantly now they're owned by United Group. They're in the process of closing down the 3G network so we won't have that to fall back on very soon.

_MrR_ · ‎03-12-2022

Greetings from Athens!

So I'm really impressed by the 5G roaming on COSMOTE, I did a speed test and got THE FASTEST speeds I've ever experienced on 5G so huge kudos to Cosmote (you can see why they're #1 in Greece) and brilliant work EE with having them as a partner.

One slight issue, it looks like Cosmote are phasing out 3G and have done in my area. So when I make or receive calls, I lose data completely. The moment I hang up, it comes back full 5G.

Are there any timescales for a full VoLTE (4G or 5G calling) launch when roaming (I had it when roaming in the States this summer)

Chris_B · ‎03-12-2022

@_MrR_ That will depend on that network allowing that to work. That nothing todo with EE.

_MrR_ · ‎05-12-2022

Hi Chris,

That's not quite right. 4G calling (or VoLTE) is a service provided by your home network. I've never yet seen it work abroad with the exception of in the States this summer.

To be fair, it's never been needed up to now. You'll perhaps notice that when you are abroad, you get 4G coverage but then the network drops back to 3G when you're making /receiving a call.

The only reason I've asked the question is due to the fact that the networks in Greece are closing down 3G by the end of this year meaning there's no 3G to fall back on to.

It looks like COSMOTE has already switched off 3G in the area I'm in. As a workaround, I've manually switched to WIND who haven't yet switched off 3G so it drops back to that when I'm using calls.

But as EE were able to get this service working in the States as they turned off 3G, I just wondered if there was a timetable to share on when we'll see a more widespread roll out now 3G seems to be end-of-life in a lot of places.

bristolian · ‎05-12-2022

CSFB can be to any legacy coverage layer, which includes 2G.

EE use CSFB to 2G1800 in locations where there has never been any 3G2100 rollout.

Vanguard · ‎06-03-2023

Not sure if this post is still open / ongoing - but have some follow up queries / observations:

My son who is travelling around Europe (Inter-railing) has a Pixel 7 pro, a 5G EE contract - and has been "nailing" really good 5G coverage and speeds in most European cities he's been too...

I have a Pixel 6 Pro - I also have an EE 5G contract - yet any European country I visit, doesn't even give me the option to see or select 5G networks. When I use the onboard engineering mode, it shows me that NSA network is available - but has no connection. So from that I take it that the device can "see" a 5G network - just not allowed to connect to it.

Having a read through the 3GPP specs - (technical standards for mobile networks) - it does highlight a parameter known as RAT restriction - (Radio Access Type) - so as I understand it, it could be possible for the Home Network HPLMN to restrict roaming on a per RAT basis - ie allow 4G but restrict 5G - I'm wondering if this may be something that EE has active...

A recent call to CS Tech support said that EE don't control roaming - its up to the local visited network - my understanding is that this is not totally accurate - the HPLMN can definitely control who you can roam on...

Interested in your thoughts...

bristolian · ‎06-03-2023

@Vanguard wrote:

A recent call to CS Tech support said that EE don't control roaming - its up to the local visited network - my understanding is that this is not totally accurate - the HPLMN can definitely control who you can roam on...

I suspect this was meant to mean that EE have no control over the coverage offered by roaming networks, which is correct.

Permissions to use particular networks and technologies are subject to commercial & technical agreements between the host & home network.

Deletedwood26 · ‎08-03-2023

I have a Moto g 5G plus with BT mobile. In Northern Ireland I have only seen 5G signals around Belfast. When I go to the Republic of Ireland (i.e. roaming) I have never seen 5G roaming. I do get very fast speeds (4G+ ?) while roaming, according to nPERF app scans.

My daughter has a 5G enabled iPhone with a similar BT mobile SIM. She has said she has got 5G signal notification whilst roaming in the Republic of Ireland . I didn't.

I realise this is an EE forum and BT use EE as a carrier but it would be useful for people using EE who successfully get 5G signals whilst roaming to say what phone they are using.

If I put a three SIM into my phone I can get 5G signal near me, but not whilst using the BT mobile SIM on the EE network