No roaming access in USA

[Dotty1955]

I am at my wit's end.I have paid for data roaming but get no signal of any description. I can only communicate using a wifi in friends home. I can't seem to find any online chat facility for technical access. Can anyone please advise how to resolve my issue?

[Northerner]

Hi @Dotty1955 

Did you activate roaming on your account? 

If not you'll need to use Skype to call EE (see my signature) or live chat via contact us page:

https://ee.co.uk/contact-ee

Thanks 

[XRaySpeX]

@Dotty1955 : Can you make calls & texts?

Are you on contract or PAYG? Did you use 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.

Often just rebooting the phone is the simple remedy. Also try selecting a network manually rather than auto. Otherwise 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. 

[BaroldG]

There are 2 phones on our account. We have been in the US for a week and each have a roaming pass. My wife has been unable to access calls or data and the rare time I have managed to access data has been abysmal. I have found it impossible to resolve. I phoned to find the service was out of hours. When I did manage to connect it remained in a queue so I gave up. I managed to connect to online chat but wait time was estimated to be 40 minutes. In effect we have paid for service that is next to none existent with no support, no means to communicate. I expect a full refund but would have preferred access to calls and data. Incidentally this is being posted using WiFi at the house I am in. 

[Northerner]

Hi @BaroldG 

If you haven't activated roaming on your accounts then roaming will not work. 

You'll need to speak to EE CS to activate this service. You can use live chat as you know or via Skype on the number in my signature. You can contact EE via UK working hours.

Thanks 

[BaroldG]

Hi Northerner, yes roaming is activated on both our phones. I can connect to a very limited extent, dependant on location, but my wife gets no connection whatsoever. I seem to be linked to t-mobile but when searching on my wife's, t-mobile 2g and 4g are shown as "forbidden"

I have tried both ringing with no success due to volumes of calls and when I managed to get on live chat, the delay was going to be around 40 minutes. 

[BaroldG]

Hi, this is BaroldG partner of Dotty. We have done all as you have suggested. She gets absolutely no means of using her phone, ie calls, text, sms and can only communicate via WiFi in our accommodation, whereas I can achieve a connection sporadically, albeit very weak data speed. I  finding it impossible to communicate with EE. I accept the solution may be something simple, but it is escaping me! PS. I have also reset APN or whatever its called...

[Katie_B]

Hi @BaroldG. 

Where abouts in the United States are you?

Have you tried connecting to other local networks or is it only T-Mobile that is showing as available?

Katie

[bristolian]

I can sse you've posted in two separate threads, and are therefore getting two sets of responses. Those are now in this one thread.

It may be helpful to clarify some terminology here. Roaming means using your phone on foreign networks, and needs the roaming facility enabled on your account - this is usually done by texting ROAMING to 150 from the UK. Did you do this? If not, that will explain your symptoms as your phone is unable to connect to any American networks.

Data roaming just means using data over a mobile network - you could refer to voice calls as "voice roaming" by the same token. If roaming isn't active, then your phone won't connect to a local network abroad, and you won't be able to data-roam, voice-roam or text-roam. Changing APN is only telling your phone how to make a mobile data connection. If it doesn't have a network connection over which to use mobile data, this is futile.

If roaming is not enabled, you will need to contact EE CS from another phone or potentially a Skype connection, to enable it.

[BaroldG]

Thankyou for merging the threads - apologies for any confusion. I wish I had access to my PC. I am next to useless on a phone! Both phones texted Roaming to 150 and both received confirmation by SMS of activation. What I don't understand is why my wife's phone says t-mobile is forbidden. I suspect this may be relevant to the issue, but am unsure. I can make calls, my wife can't. I can occasionally connect for data, albeit weak, my wife can't. When we first landed at Dallas Fort Worth, neither of us had connection, although we did receive sporadic random e-mails...