Significant Issues in the US for Roaming

[RG76]

I thought it might be worth alerting people to significant ongoing issues in the States with roaming. I returned from the States earlier in May after a business trip.

My personal mobile worked fine, but I could not use my work device at all. Both are on EE. Significant amounts of time wasted, serious inconvenience caused off the back of it, and a great deal of money spent on my personal device as a result (which EE won't refund...). 

EE has admitted it is having significant ongoing issues with roaming in the States as a result of the 5G roll out. I may as well not have taken my work phone.

If you are going to need roaming in the States any time soon I'd strongly suggest you don't use them and buy a local SIM. Sounds like the issues won't be fixed for a while yet...

Good luck... you may need it...

[Katie_B]

Good Afternoon @RG76. 

Welcome to the EE Community. 

I am sorry to hear you experienced issues when Roaming in the USA. 

Are you aware if both Roaming and Calling Abroad were showing as active within My EE?

Did your business phone pick up a local network at all?

Katie 🙂

[RG76]

Thanks for the response.

I liaised with EE constantly while abroad, and tried everything to fix it. It is not fixable (this has been acknowledged by EE) and presents as a serious issue for corporate customers. I am therefore raising it here to ensure others are aware and are not left stranded - as I was.

EE is having serious roaming issues with the US carriers for corporate customers, which is bizarre because it works fine for personal ones. Sounds eminently fixable, but has not been, and looks likely to be an issue for some time to come. 

US business travellers beware!

[timmyg2001]

Hi, this is still an issue. EE telling us to use T-Mobile for calls and texts and At&T for data but clearly, this is not a viable solution. @EE when will this be resolved? As a US firm, our UK personnel travel to the US every week and need seamless communication. If no fix we have to move provider. When can we expect a fix? 

[James_B]

Hi @timmyg2001,

Welcome to the EE Community. 🙂

You can now make calls on AT&T if you are using a 4G Calling (also known as VoLTE) capable device.

Hope this helps.

James

[timmyg2001]

Sadly not, 2 users landed today. iPhone12's and neither can get any voice and data. One in New York, one in Dallas. I seem to get a different answer every time I call EE. Is this affecting other providers or just EE corporate? 

Is there a setting to be amended on the devices? 

[James_B]

Hi @timmyg2001,

AT&T has turned off 3G coverage to free up spectrum for the expansion of 4G and 5G services. This change is happening across network providers as the 2G/3G networks are being withdrawn around the world.

4G Calling should be turned on by default on iPhones, but you can check in Settings > Mobile Data > Mobile Data Options > Enable 4G.

Is international roaming activated at an account level for those particular users? Your Business Customer Care Team or Account Manager will be happy to check if you get in touch.

James

[timmyg2001]

All users are on a 5G contract with devices no older than iPhone 12's. We were informed the issue was resolved by ensuring the IOS was 15.6.1 or above but this is not the case. 2 users today alone who are on that ios are getting no service. We have spoken to the corporate helpdesk maybe 15 times about this. The account manager is also looking into it. One user who landed in Dallas today has service. It's sporadic and super frustrating. If this is specific to EE we will have to migrate all lines to an alternative provider, unfortunately. 

[James_B]

Hi @timmyg2001,

Has anyone checked that roaming has been activated for the affected users on your EE account?

Have they been able check the iPhone settings I mentioned in my previous post?

They'll also need to check data roaming is activated in Settings > Mobile Data > Mobile Data Options.

James