EE Sim Not Connecting to Local Saudi Arabia mobile network?

[Hepialid]

Hi, I recently went to Greece on holiday and had a roaming pack switched on, but not sure if it ever was switched off after we got home? I have now travelled to the Middle East with work and my EE Sim in not connecting to any of the local networks, as it usually does. I tried the online help, which is near to useless and asking me to call 150, when I have no network connection is futile. I can't manage to chat to anyone but a bit which doesn't understand the situation at all. Can anyone please suggest what is wrong and how I can go about fixing it please. I need access to my UK number whilst working abroad, but I don't need data or roaming switched on while here. Thanks in advance.

[XRaySpeX]

@Hepialid : You do need roaming activated on your a/c if you are to use your no. abroad at all.

Often just rebooting the phone is the simple remedy. Also try selecting a network manually rather than auto.

Did you receive a Welcome text upon arrival?

Are you on contract or PAYG? Had you used that SIM for making calls or texts in UK before leaving to go abroad?

If you are on contract, did you activate roaming on your EE a/c before leaving UK by texting ROAMING to 150? Having a roaming billing add-on doesn't of itself activate roaming on your a/c. Having roaming activated on your EE a/c, not just on your device, is crucial to using your contract SIM abroad. It's conceivable that while in Greece you had roaming activated for EU only & now you need it activated worldwide.

Otherwise if you are on contract you need to call CS to get your roaming activated. Try calling CS on the Freephone no. in my sig. using a web-calling app over WiFi.

[Hepialid]

Thanks for the thoughts and reply XRaySpeX,

To clarify, I use my local eSIM for data and my local number here. I never have roaming switched on my EE physical sim here and the number / texts have worked just fine for the last 3 years or so.

I am on a Contract with EE.

I rebooted my phone and eventually got a welcome message, which had been missed originally. The phone seemed to be working ok, until it switched itself off again today. Back to square one. I have tried rebooting again, but I don't have a signal and can't seem to connect to a local network here, as I always have done. 

I activated EU Roaming before heading to Greece and that was working ok there. I didn't switch it off after we got back as the messages we received from 150 seemed to indicate EE would stop it automatically. We were in the Uk for a few days before heading to Saudi.

Thanks again for your help. Do you have any further thoughts / ideas?

[bristolian]

Roaming means using your phone on networks other than your home network, it sounds as though you're a little bit confused with "data roaming" (which means using mobile data whilst roaming) or maybe text roaming/voice-call roaming.

The free roaming facility is a one-off activation that is only ever disabled if you explicitly request it so, this is unlike billing add-ons which reduce the cost of using that facility,

Roaming can be enabled on either an EU-only basis, or a full global one. From the reads of your symptoms, I suspect you have EU-only roaming enabled. A lack of coverage in non-EU countries is a natural consequence of that.

The only way of being sure would be to make contact with EE-CS via alternative means. You have a natural catch-22 situation if you want to make contact via a phone that doesn't have coverage.