Roaming abroad (add-on) not working

[ascrivener]

I’m currently on holiday in Sicily and have EE iPhone and iPad SIM cards with EU roaming turned on. The iPad has a limited data plan but is working well but the iPhone won’t connect to any provider despite toggling all settings numerous times. I’m having to use my 12 year old son’s basic O2 contract for our SatNav and other phone use and paying for extra data bolt ons for my iPad as my iPhone is currently a brick. Really unimpressed with EE for the amount this has cost for no service.

[Chris_B]

@ascrivener   Did you enable roaming on your EE account for the phone ?  Did you text ROAMING to 150 before you left the UK ?    Have you tried just restarting the device?  

[bristolian]

Regardless of any billing add-on, your ability to get coverage abroad (which calls, texts & mobile data rely on) is dependent on roaming being activated - which allows your phone to connect to foreign networks.

On PAYG, this is auto-enabled once your phone is used in the UK first.
On pay-monthly, this needs to be enabled manually - usually by texting ROAMING to 150 before leaving the UK. Did you do this?

If you are on pay-monthly and now find yourself abroad without having enabled roaming, your only recourse will be to contact CS to request it activated. You can either contact +44 7953 966150 from another working phone, or +44 800 0798586 using a web-calling app such as Skype over WiFi.

[ascrivener]

Hi Chris, 

Thanks for your response. Yes I texted ROAM EU for both the iPhone and iPad before I left the U.K and received confirmation messages for both that they were active. For the iPhone I’ve tried;

• resetting Network Settings a couple of times
• toggling Airplane mode
• manually selecting a provider rather than using the auto setting
• Turning the device off and on again
• tried various options for 5G, 4G and turning VoLTE off
• Turned off “Limit IP Tracking” 

All without any luck.

[bristolian]

Can you post a screenshot of the messages you exchanged with 150?

Your symptoms are consistent with roaming not being active.

[ascrivener]

[bristolian]

Was that a screenshot from the device that is able to roam? Or the one that's not?

Swapping SIMs between the two devices would be the next step - prove whether the problem is device-related or SIM/account-side.

[ascrivener]

Good morning,

It’s a screenshot from my iPhone that is not able to roam. The iPad has the same message on but is working. They’re both using digital SIMS and I’m heading back to the UK tomorrow.

Thanks for your help.