Phone won’t connect to a network in the USA

[Naina2]

I'm having similar problems 3 years later after this post. You'd think in 2024 this would be easier but it's not. 

The only thing that works for me here is WiFi. But I'm not getting any data connection outside of that. Its frustrating. 

[Katie_B]

Hi @Naina2. 

Welcome to the community. 

Before leaving the UK did you activate roaming?

Could I please also confirm are you a pay as you go or pay monthly customer?

Speak soon,

Katie

[XRaySpeX]

@Naina2 : Are you on contract or PAYG? Had you used 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. Having roaming activated on your EE a/c, not just on your device, is crucial to using your contract SIM abroad.

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. 

[JeffreyCG]

Hi Katie

I too am in the USA and have tried all the suggestions from the community. I have lived and worked abroad over the last 5 years and used my phone all over the world and most recently in September visited Canada and /Alaska and it worked fine.

I am a pay monthly customer and took out the Roam Abroad option before leaving the UK last week. Roaming has been activated on my phone which I double checked. Data Roaming is switched on and I have increased the Spend limit from £10 to £50. I have switched my phone off and on. I have tried switching off the automatic network selection and tried manually connecting to TMobile and Verizon and that doesnt work.

This is seriously impacting on my holiday as I cant use my phone unless I have access to WiFi so when I am out and about I am totally cut off.

Any suggestions on how to resolve this?

[XRaySpeX]

@JeffreyCG : NM the settings on your phone. They don't play much part in it. Did you text ROAMING to 150 before you left UK? If not then my previous post tells you how to call CS.