Weird roaming messaged

[Peter274]

I keep getting texts from EE telling me that I am roaming in Jersey when I am at Nolton Haven in West Wales. The linear distance between these places is 350 miles, so can anyone explain how this happens? Has anyone else had a similar experience?

[XRaySpeX]

@Peter274 : It's more likely to think you are roaming in Eire on a clear day 😉 .

[bristolian]

When you're in a location where foreign networks are visible and your home operator is not available, your phone will roam by design, if the facility is enabled.

The notification texts serve a dual-purpose, one of those is to warn you when this scenario occurs.

As mentioned though, I'm surprised you got Channel Islands networks from west-Wales, that's some unique RF conditions!!

[Peter274]

Quite correct, but if the Jersey transmitter is that powerful, surely all who live in the South and West of England would have the same experience, but they don’t. Hence my question - why does this happen to me here when 350 miles from Jersey?

[bristolian]

You need to have no coverage from your home network and usable service from a foreign network, to roam.

It just so happened that those criteria were fulfilled by a Jersey network where you were.

If at any intervening point between the Jersey site and your location, either EE had service or (if not) another foreign network (Eire most likely but France or Manx not impossible) was stronger, your scenario would not have been replicated.

[Peter274]

Thanks, but I still find it hard to understand why I get these messages when the local masts are all approximately 2 miles away, and Jersey is 350 miles as the crow flies. Can transmissions in the 800Mhz to 2.6 GHz range travel that distance and still be detected by a mobile phone? Plus there are a few large obstacles in the way, such as the Brecon Beacons. There must be another explanation.

[bristolian]

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@Peter274 wrote:
There must be another explanation.

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Why? The only other explanation is that a site close to your location was configured to identify as Jersey Telecom. Highly unlikely, and what would the motivation be?

What were the RSRP, RSRQ & SNR values of the signal you received from Jersey/Guernsey Telecom.

[Peter274]

Thanks - I’ll check next time it happens.

[JoPembs]

This has happened to me this week and I did pass through Nolton Haven on that day, Tuesday 16/4/24. Very weird!

[Plymouthbloke1]

How odd. I always thought that although you could theoretically receive mobile mast signals from potentially hundreds of miles away, your phone wouldn’t register if the distance between phone and mast was over approx 35km, due to time-coding on the radio signal? In other words, the two go slightly out-of-sync due to distance and won’t register? I get that all the time at Seaton in Cornwall. Phone will pick up Channel Islands and French networks, but won’t register on any of them….. where the OP is points to a freak anomaly on the EE network most likely…