Using S23 Ultra in USA

[Bp89]

EE is useless in USA. I just got back from USA, was there 3 weeks with 8 others. 4 of us had EE and none of us were able to receive SMS or calls ( using a variety of phones, 2 were s23 ultra). Data did work for 3 of us, albeit on and off, for 1 of us even data didn't work. He had to resort to turning on/off flight mode every time he wanted to use the internet and it briefly worked. Called EE and no solutions were provided. Lesson learned don't use EE if you want to roam abroad. 

[bristolian]

Did you try using alternative local networks, to see if this was a US-end problem? Did you try SIM-swapping between the working & non-working phones, to see if this was a SIM/account, or phone-problem? That would have been interesting.

Not being able to use any mobile-based services (calls, texts or data) would suggest roaming not having been enabled - many users wrongly presume that billing add-ons are all that's required, and travel abroad without the free roaming facility being active. This prevents access to foreign networks and causes a catch-22 situation.

[Bp89]

Yes we tried sim swapping, ruling out issues with phones. only the EE sims had the issues. Those on Vodafone and Three didn't face any issues. 

Like I said from 4 of us, 3 were never able to send/receive SMS or receive/make direct calls for 3 weeks. Data did work.

1 of us was not able to send/receive calls or texts AND data wasn't working properly, network coverage showed full bars but no internet, only solution was to turn on/off aeroplane mode every time they wanted to use the internet, it briefly worked doing that everytime. Roaming was enabled and i contacted EE several times which out me through various troubleshooting. Nothing worked. 

[bristolian]

Did you try using alternative local networks, to see if this was a US-end problem?

It would be interesting to know the specifics of what CS troubleshooting consisted of.

[Bp89]

Yes we did try to manually change carriers but wasn't successful. 

CS Troubleshooting we went through was some of what the OP mentioned although we even went above and beyond and done literally everything the OP also tried. 

[bristolian]

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@Bp89 wrote:

CS Troubleshooting we went through was some of what the OP mentioned although we even went above and beyond and done literally everything the OP also tried. 

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Your post has been moved to its own thread, you are now the OP.

Specifics are always more useful than the very common "I've tried everything"

[klee_butler]

The same happened to me last month when I was travelling in Texas and Louisiana, USA.

I turned the ROAM Further pass on and paid the £25 for the privilege. When in the USA, I got the "you have arrived" messages from EE, but then couldn't receive any other SMS messages during my time there. I know as there were numerous times we were trying to get 2FA messages or confirm parking charges and couldn't get the security codes needed. 

The data kept failing to connect. I changed my phone (Google Pixel 7) from automatically selecting networks, to trying any other network I could manually select - none of those worked. To get data to work I'd have to turn the phone to airplane mode, wait a few minutes, then it would briefly connect to data before dropping off again & I'd need to repeat this every time.

I'll likely look into an e-sim next time as £25 is too much to spend for a service that doesn't work for me.

[Bp89]

Yeah so it seems that the problem is still persistent.  The model of the phone is ruled out as you're using a Pixel and we used different Samsung phones, only common factor was using the EE sim/network. 

Short answer is dont use EE when going abroad. Using an ESIM will not resolve your issues as one of my friends had an EE ESIM and still struggled. I would suggest using Vodafone or Three whilst abroad instead. Over the last 10+ years I used to be on Vodafone or Three and never faced any issues travelling to USA or any places abroad. Last 3 years being on EE has been problem after problems. 

[step_hen]

My wife and I are  in the US at the moment using an EE roaming pass. We've  had no problem using data or making calls. I'm using an iPhone  16 and my wife an iPhone 15