IP Address while in Thailand

[omroaming]

Hi! 

I am interested in buying an EE Full Works sim but I would like to understand if the traffic gets proxied in the UK while I am travelling abroad, specifically in Thailand. Basically, would my IP address be in the UK when I am using my SIM card there? 

Thanks 🙏

[Rach_H]

Hi @omroaming,

Welcome to the Community!

If you are in Thailand then your IP address will show as a Thai IP address, as you will be connected to a Thai network. 

Rach

[bristolian]

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@Rach_H wrote:

If you are in Thailand then your IP address will show as a Thai IP address, as you will be connected to a Thai network. 

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I'm not so sure that's necessarily true. You need to differentiate between parts of the network architecture.

You are using the Thai radio-access-network, to provide radio coverage. Your data will very likely be routed through EE's-UK core network, in which case your IP address will be an EE-UK one.

I would certainly be interested in the real-world experience of frequent roamers on this point, if I'm corrected on this point then there may have been changes in the core-network-setup since I last checked.

[omroaming]

Thank you, Bristolian. I’m fairly sure that roaming within Europe uses a UK IP address. Outside Europe, though, I’m not certain. For example, EE might route traffic through a server in another Asian country, like Hong Kong. Many eSIMs work this way for instance, I’ve experienced it myself, where the IP showed as Hong Kong rather than Thailand. Would be interesting to know 🤔

[omroaming]

Hi Rach, thanks for the feedback! Based on your answer it sounds like roaming in Europe would give the IP of the country you’re in, but that’s not actually the case, the traffic is proxied through the UK. I’ve experienced this myself: the IP shows as UK. Do you think Thailand might work differently?

[XRaySpeX]

A corollary of this would be that if you were given a UK IP you would be able to watch UK-limited TV & other UK-Only facilities whereas with a local IP you would be prevented from them but would likely be able to watch local-limited TV & other local-Only facilities 

[bristolian]

Indeed so Xray, this thought crossed my mind before posting the reply.

Billing is based on CDR being passed over, so shouldn't be a requirement 

All reasons why I'd be interested in real-world experiences alongside the theory of network architecture. I specialise more in the RAN than the core!

[XRaySpeX]

@bristolian : CDR? RAN?

It seems highly likely that if you were given a UK IP while in EU, you would also globally.