EE has let us down badly

[rufford155]

On around the 8th of April while in Portugal, I suddenly got a message "NO SIM CARD" on my android phone.

Managed to speak to customer service on my wife's phone who determined it was defunct and agreed to send me a new one to my home address in UK - not much use abroad !

While in contact with them we asked for roaming to be removed from my phone (as it was now wasted and pointless) but instead to be added to my wife's phone.

On about the 16th April, still in Portugal, my wife tried to ring a UK number but was thwarted with a message reading "Not registered on network".

How on earth this happened we have no idea but we are now stuck with two useless phones unable to send or receive any calls or texts.

If it were not for wi-fi we would be completely cut off from everyone and everything.

By the way, wi-fi calling doesn't work abroad so that couldn't help.

EE is the UK's best network !!!   Really ?   Surely they are joking.

Contracts are up at the end of April so it will be bye-bye.

[Christopher_G]

Hi @rufford155 

Welcome to the community.

I'm really sorry to hear of your experience. Have you tried manually searching for other networks on your Wife's phone, to see if you can connect to another one?

Chris

[bristolian · Accepted solution]

This could happen with all UK operators and you'd be in no different a position.

Hard to comment on your SIM fault without knowing the specifics, but replacement SIMs are always sent to your UK billing address for very valid security reasons to prevent potential fraud.

WiFi-calling is a coverage-extension-facility for UK use, and has never been intended for roaming use. If you have WiFi, you can contact EE CS over a web-calling app such as Skype, on +44 800 0798586. Not every other provider has a free number for such eventualities, you would need to have credit to make the call.

[rufford155]

Yes - obviously.

[rufford155]

Went to EE shop first morning back in UK.

SIM card problem - it happens sometimes !

Network problem - the customer service agent we rang probably made a mistake because roaming pass should not be added when already abroad - always arrange before travelling.

The phone had picked up the EE UK network as soon as we returned.

[bristolian]

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@rufford155 wrote:

roaming pass should not be added when already abroad - always arrange before travelling.

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The Roaming Pass is a billing add-on, and has no bearing on your ability to roam. Add-ons can safely be removed or added whilst abroad.

The (free) roaming facility is what enables your phone to connect to foreign networks, if you don't have this enabled before travelling you won't get coverage abroad.

The two are different.

[rufford155]

The free roaming facility - as you call it - is available permanently in the account according to the website.

Of course, it's not actually free to roam - there's a hefty daily charge.

We are happy to pay for the roaming pass on one phone (mine) and leave mobile data off the other.

We only asked for the pass to be switched because my SIM had packed up !

The expert in the EE shop told us it should not be added while abroad.

It is certainly a fact that something that customer services did stopped any network being found.

If not adding the pass - then what ?

[bristolian]

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@rufford155 wrote:

The free roaming facility - as you call it - is available permanently in the account according to the website.

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Roaming is not a selectable option anywhere on myEE online or app, you may be confused with a different option. It would be so much easier if the option were there, it was removed a few years back.

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@rufford155 wrote:

Of course, it's not actually free to roam - there's a hefty daily charge.

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To have roaming enabled is free of charge. To use the facility, naturally incurs charges, which are reduced by using add-ons. This is at the root of the confusion which causes many customers to travel abroad without roaming being enabled.

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@rufford155 wrote:

The expert in the EE shop told us it should not be added while abroad.

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The "expert" is either mistaken or there is some misunderstanding. Billing add-ons can be added & removed at ease regardless of the user's location  - data-specific add-ons can't usually be added until you are abroad. Trying to register a phone onto foreign networks without roaming being enabled, won't work - and is a catch-22 scenario.

Your issue being resolved is the main point of this thread, but poor advice by well-informed retail staff can easily be taken as fact by others, and cause another user to travel abroad with the incorrect setup.