Immpossible to speak ot EE whilst abroad - please help, any ideas?

[romprob]

I have a romaing pass but my phone will not take incoming calls or allow outgoing calls.

I have tried texting ROAM and ROAMING to 150 but the text does not get delivered

I have called 150, but they no longer take calls, they have to call you back, and guess what?  They can't because my phone can't take incoming calls

I have turned roaming on in my settings, turned off wifi calling as per the website, reset my phone many times, bought a new roaming pass every day, yet still I can't make or recievd calls or send texts.

[Northerner]

Hi @romprob are you on EE PAYG or pay monthly contract.

Over wifi download Skype and contact EE using the number in my signature. 

Call during UK office hours. 

Thanks 

[bristolian]

Regardless of any billing add-on, your ability to get coverage abroad (which calls, texts & mobile data rely on) is dependent on roaming being activated - which allows your phone to connect to foreign networks. Roaming is not a phone setting you can alter, but an account-level one. You may be looking at "data roaming" which allows mobile data use when already roaming.

Have you used your phone abroad previously, did you receive a welcome text message on first arrival abroad? These are good evidence of roaming being enabled if so. In these cases, manually cycling through all available local networks often resolves issues - toggling flight mode can have the same effect.

If not...On PAYG, roaming is auto-enabled once your phone is used in the UK first. On pay-monthly, this needs to be enabled manually - usually by texting ROAMING to 150 before leaving the UK. Did you do this?

If you are on pay-monthly and now find yourself abroad without having enabled roaming, your only recourse will be to contact CS to request it activated. You can either contact +44 7953 966150 from another working phone, or +44 800 9566000 using a web-calling app such as Skype over WiFi.

[XRaySpeX]

As  you are on contract, did you activate roaming on your EE a/c before you left 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.

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

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. on Skype over WiFi. It should be free.

[romprob]

Thanks, the problem is the new system will not put you through to an operator - a real person - when you say you want to speak to someone (option 1 from mmeory)  it texts you a link then hangs up.  When you click on the link, you type in "I can't recieve calls abroad" they then message saying they'll call you back.

Clearly that they can't do it as I can't recieve incoming calls.  I then get a missed call text.

I can receive texts, but not send them

[romprob]

I am on a contract, I did get a welcome text, and I have used my phone abroad before.

I do not however text ROAM before I left - my bad - but I did not do this on my last trip either and roaming worked.

The problem is, I can't send texts or speak to anyone at EE

I have access to another phone to call EE, but like I have said above, they will not take your call, they direct you to a link and get you to put the problem onto an online system (I even type "I can't recievd calls" into this) and say they will call you back, but they can't call me.

I've gone round in circles so many times on this, it's crazy.  If they actually had a number you could call to speak to a human without being bounces to an online link, that woudl work, but they don't

[romprob]

Thanks, but customer service doesn't exist anymore, they direct your call to an online link to log your issue, then they text to say they will call you back, but they can't call me, the circle continues.

[bristolian]

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@romprob wrote:

I am on a contract, I did get a welcome text, and I have used my phone abroad before.

I do not however text ROAM before I left - my bad - but I did not do this on my last trip either and roaming worked.

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If you've used your phone abroad before, then unless you've explicitly requested the free roaming ability was removed, it will still be active. Indeed if you can receive texts, then you are connected to a foreign network and are roaming.

Try manually connecting to alternative local networks in your host country - check the symptoms are the same on each.

Out of interest, which country are you in? And are you using an Apple or Android phone?

[romprob]

Thanks, I'll try another network (there are only 2!)

I'm Apple iPhone 16  in Antigua (Caribbean)