Roaming message on Devon coast

[Runaway]

Just walked a section of the SW Coast path west of Brixham and received texts from EE saying “Welcome from EE” and charges that will apply while I’m here. Unless Devon is now in the EU and nobody told me then EE is wrongly trying to charge me for EU roaming etc whilst in England.

I can’t be the first person to suffer this - so why is this happening? France is the other side of the channel.

[bristolian]

This is not an uncommon scenario in border areas where your home network has no coverage but your phone can see a foreign network and has therefore attached to it.

The welcome text is operating as intended, providing costs info if you are abroad and a warning notification if you're not. A workaround is to switch your phone to manual network selection and choose EE - this will prevent automatic selection.

[Runaway]

Thanks for the workaround. However, I’m over 100 miles from France and no nearer than other places along the England coastline. It suggests that if in the location you are there is not a strong enough signal from a transmitter in Devon then it switches to one from France over 100 miles away. In which case EE is a rubbish service to have in Devon. As Lebara don’t charge for roaming in EU, I’ll be switching to them because if they share the same transmitters then at least I won’t suffer extra charges though no fault of my own.

Perhaps Kevin Bacon can apologise for the poor coverage in the next advert.

[James_B]

Hi @Runaway,

Did the text specifically say France or could it have been a maritime network broadcasting from a nearby vessel?

James

[Runaway]

The message said:

Welcome from EE. There is now a charge to access to your pack allowances, Free Boost or add-on while you're here.

The nearest non-UK territory to my location was (imho only) France. I’ve no knowledge of what maritime vessels do or don’t do so cannot comment on that.

[James_B]

What was the full message you received @Runaway?

James

[bristolian]

Lebara is an MVNO operator using Vodafone, so it's incorrect to say that they use the same network sites as EE - for every location where VF may have coverage that EE don't, there will be others were EE has service and VF doesn't.

This scenario will only occur when your home network has no coverage, and it affects all telecoms providers. Any network that has coverage holes in border locations would therefore be a bad choice, so you should thoroughly research all 4 networks in every location in coastal Devon you may find yourself - to guarantee this not happening.

[Runaway]

I never said it did use the same sites - I said IF.

the point was that it doesn’t charge for roaming which EE does.

[Runaway]

The full message received was (and I’ve copied this so it may strip something out for html rules):

Welcome from EE. There is now a charge to access to your pack allowances, Free Boost or add-on while you're here.

It will cost £2.50 for 24 hours access or you can choose to pay £10.00 for 7 days access.

For 24 hours access text ROAMEU1D to 150 or for 7 days text use ROAMEU7D

If you don't have an active pack, or choose not to pay the daily/weekly charges, you'll be charged 70p/min, 30p per text and need a EU data add on add-on.ee.co.uk

To find out more about roaming in the EU click here https://ee.co.uk/help/paygeuroaming

Calls to countries outside of the EU cost£1.20/min and texts 50p each.

For Customer Services call +447953966250. In case of Emergency, dial 112. Enjoy your trip!

[James_B]

That message does indicate that you have connected to an EU, rather than maritime network @Runaway 

I can see @bristolian has shared some useful information on how this scenario can occur.

James