No service in Singapore

[CarlosMReis]

I have been a monthly paying customer of EE for over 10 years.

My current contract will end on 29th of September and I believe it will be my last due to the poor service I have received in the last month.

I am currently in Singapore for work, and since arriving, my EE phone has not been able to connect to any local network. I did not activate roaming as it is cheaper to get a Singaporean SIM card, but I find it unacceptable that a company like EE cannot provide even basic mobile service.

Normally what happens is, because I have Wifi calling activated, as soon as I get Wifi I can contact customer service by phone to report any problem or text 150 to activate roaming.

Why is there no chat available? Apparently, all other companies have one.  It is very disappointing. 

While I'm in Singapore, is there any way to solve this and connect my phone to a local network?

Thank you for your support

[Schockwave]

Hello @CarlosMReis ,

Welcome to the community,

Did you deactivate roaming on your account when it was previously activated? If you did not, it should still be active. If you have Skype, there is a free number you can ring to get this activated:

+448000798586.

Chat is available when customer service are not dealing with customer service on the phone. Have you logged into the app? You should see it there.

Also you should be able to here:

https://ee.co.uk/contact-ee/account-billing/mobile

[Northerner]

Hi @CarlosMReis 

If you have deactivated roaming then what do you expect. Obvious your service will not work abroad. WiFi calling only works in the UK not abroad. 

Unless your device is locked then a local SIM should work in your device. 

@Schockwave has pointed you in correct direction for live chat and Freephone number over Skype. 

Thanks 

[bristolian]

Using your phone on networks other than your home is called roaming. If the roaming facility is not activated, your phone will not work abroad.

WiFi-calling is a coverage enhancement service intended for use in the UK, and not as a roaming facility.

The symptoms you describe are therefore as expected from your actions.

[CarlosMReis]

Thank you for your reply. 

With all my ignorance, I believe it is 2 different things: Roaming and mobile service.

In all other countries I have travelled in Asia, Europe, Africa and America I have never activated roaming beforehand and on arrival, my phone would connect to a local network and receive a text with all the price information if I would activate roaming. Didn’t happen this time hence my surprise. Inclusively I have a spend cap of £20 for emergencies for receiving texts. 

My wife, she’s on O2. On arrival to Singapore, without activating roaming, she got mobile service and received a text explaining all the details for using the service. 

Apparently EE doesn’t provide that basic service anymore, hence my disappointment and frustration.

Thank you for your time. 

[CarlosMReis]

Thank you for your reply. 

With all my ignorance, I believe it is 2 different things: Roaming and mobile service.

In all other countries I have travelled in Asia, Europe, Africa and America I have never activated roaming beforehand and on arrival, my phone would connect to a local network and receive a text with all the price information if I would activate roaming. Didn’t happen this time hence my surprise. Inclusively I have a spend cap of £20 for emergencies for receiving texts. 

My wife, she’s on O2. On arrival to Singapore, without activating roaming, she got mobile service and received a text explaining all the details for using the service. 

Apparently EE doesn’t provide that basic service anymore, hence my disappointment and frustration.

kind regards. 

Thank you for your time. 

[CarlosMReis]

As soon as I arrived in Singapore I should have had connected to a local network. The screenshot in the app shows that on landing I should be able to purchase data of internet if I wanted and if I receive calls or send texts world pay a fee. 

[CarlosMReis]

Thank you for reply, very useful information.

I did not deactivate/activate roaming status in my account.

When I go to the app and check the roaming costs, the information comes up.

Please check the screenshot. I should have got a local network connection upon landing. As you can see on the top right corner in this screenshot I have no network.

Did try to use the messaging in the app, but due to time zones I haven’t got any concrete answer at the moment. 

Thank you for your time. 

[bristolian]

As per my previous post, using your phone on networks other than your home is called roaming. If the roaming facility is not activated, your phone will not work abroad.

To rephrase this, mobile service when you are abroad is achieved by roaming. This applies to all mobile phones, regardless of their home network operator.

[CarlosMReis · Accepted solution]

Thank you for your reply and clear answer.
I’ll contact EE through the app as I didn’t do anything to my roam status and I need to have network service.

Thank you for your patience.