Roaming in Germany - What is the current situation?

[Theo77]

When I went to Germany before Covid, my phone always connected to the telekom.de network. I always got a great signal which was really fast (30 MBPS +).   

Since 2021, this has changed for the worse. My phone now connects to o2-de, which often says 4G but gives me 2-3 MBPS on average. Once I had 4 bars but only about 0.05 MBPS, not even enough for Google Maps. I often find myself moved over to vodafone.de, which I have learned to be EE's backup. This seems a lot more reliable, though I am limited to Edge data. This problem seems specific to Germany, I can roam in other EU countries without issue. 

I'm going to be going through Germany in a couple of weeks, so I would like to clarify the following:

1. Is manually connecting to telekom.de currently possible?

2. Does EE have any plans to let us use 4/5G on vodafone? If Telekom can't be done this would be almost as good.

3. If not what's the best way to stay connected in Germany with the current situation. 

4. Are EE and Telekom.de still partners and is there a plan to re-enable this in future? They are still listed as such and Deutsch Telekom owns part of BT. 

[Chris_B]

@Theo77  Have you tried a manual network search instead of letting the device just connect to a network? 

[mailjackhorrey · Accepted solution]

I’m in Germany now and the default is o2-de which isn’t very good, but I’m pleased to say that Vodafone (edge) which was no help at all (3 or 4G would have been ok) has been dropped and Telekom.de is now reinstated with 5G which is very good. 

I found my phone wouldn’t let me have it straight away so you will need to leave it on no service for about 10 mins. Leave it on manual otherwise it may default back to o2. 

Now Germany offers two providers with internet like they do in every other country. 

i was in Spain last week and they offered good coverage in Orange and Movistar.

I really hope EE don’t mess things up again in Germany. I was about to leave and go to another provider as I’m in Germany a lot but if this stays as it is I’ll be happy as I’m sure others will be as so many people have complained about the roaming service in Germany. 

[Theo77]

Hi @mailjackhorrey, Thank you for your reply. I'll mark this topic as solved and fingers crossed this will work for me when I go. 

[Theo77]

I'm in Germany now. As soon as I arrived my phone connected me to o2-de, but I tried a manual search and I managed to connect to Telekom.de after about 10 minutes of no service. Thank you @mailjackhorrey for the suggestion as I now have great phone signal. 

[mailjackhorrey]

I’m so glad it works for you @Theo77  I found that this made all the difference to me! It would make more sense if Telekom was first choice as it was mostly pre 2019 but I’ll happily live with this! Hopefully enough people will know about it. 

[mailjackhorrey]

@Theo77  Regrettably I have to take it all back as I’ve just arrived in Germany 🇩🇪 to find that Telekom has been removed and it is impossible to connect to. 

o2 is the default provider with the usual limitations and Vodafone has been reinstated giving only ‘Edge’. What on earth is wrong with EE, they are very unreliable and just can’t find it within themselves to fix a problem and give customers a reliable roaming service. 

Luckily I’ve got my spare O2-UK card which allows connection to Telekom but I shouldn’t have to go to these lengths. I went to see if I can end my contact but the sneakily extended it by a year when they had to correct a mistake they made on my tariff. 

I’m definitely leaving as soon as I can and I’m taking my other two lines with me to O2. They don’t charge for roaming and provide a much more stable service. I’ve also been getting loads of call drops lately in the UK so this has been the final nail in the coffin !

[Jimbo150]

@mailjackhorreyor anyone, do you know what the current situation is with roaming in Germany?

I will be going soon, and am trying to decide whether I should bite the bullet and use my secondary Three account at cost. While I have inclusive roaming on EE, I would rather have decent connectivity...

[XRaySpeX]

@Jimbo150 : You may use your usual UK allowances in the EU with up to 50 GB (contract) or 25 GB (PAYG) data per billing month if you have more. If on contract & your contract started after 07/07/2021 there'll be a £2.29 / day charge for using your UK allowances in EU or alternatively you may buy the Roam Abroad Pass for £25 / month.

On PAYG there are charges for using your pack allowances in the EU of either £2.50 / day or £10 / week, to be taken only from your PAYG credit, not your recurring card payment. If you opt for neither you will be paying standard rates for calls & texts & need to buy a PAYG add-on for data.

If you are on contract, remember to text ROAMING to 150 before you leave UK to ensure the roaming ability is enabled on your account.

If you are on PAYG, make sure you have used your PAYG SIM to make a call or text in the UK.

[Jimbo150]

Thanks for confirming @XRaySpeX. I have roamed many times, and do have the free 'Roam in EU' add-in (not Roam Abroad Pass which extends inclusive roaming to an extra five countries) so I am certain things are working correctly.

I am back from Germany, and sadly I had the same issues as noted by @mailjackhorrey and others. No signal at all for 30 mins, then O2 DE with intermittent 'No Service', only 2.5G EDGE on vodafone DE, and finally it appears that Telekom has been removed again as I could not connect to this network at any time.

I had to buy an eSIM which roamed immediately and perfectly on Telekom...it's surprising, as I have never had previous issues on EE, with recent and perfectly stable inclusive 5G roaming in Poland, France, Spain and Belgium.

I wouldn't move away from EE just because of what appears to be an issue with roaming in Germany, but it was still an annoying problem to have.