Making Calls from USA to UK

[HelenGiles58]

I have seen previous posts on this but the solutions don’t work. I am blocked from connecting to UK numbers from my EE monthly package and the solution offered is to phone ee on a UK number which, obviously, I can’t do.

[HelenGiles58]

I have not being able to make or take calls at any time on this trip. 
I cannot buy that thing about the other providers since it happens with all of them. T-Mobile and AT&T are partner providers so of course it should be possible for EE to work with them to ensure EE customers have a seamless customer service abroad, especially since many users have experienced the same issues as I am having.  I don’t think the Ombudsman for Communications will buy it either when I take it up with them.  


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[HelenGiles58]

Yes I have tried that. There are only 4 choices, one does not accept my SIM and the other three don’t work.


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[bristolian]

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@HelenGiles58 wrote:
I have not being able to make or take calls at any time on this trip. 

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In which case I think you have one of two issues.

1: An international call bar. Testing calling local "in-country" numbers would prove this either way. This was suggested in some previous posts, but I don't recall an answer.

2: A VoLTE/4G-calling issue. Entirely possible, but confirmation of what exactly happens when you try making  a call, would help.

[HelenGiles58]

I just saw your latest email but when I press 'reply' I get 'null'in the address line. In response to your latest question and suggestion, I can't make or take calls in country or abroad. When I call a number it displays the number and says 'Calling' but after 30 seconds it says 'couldn't connect' and cuts out. I don't know what a 4G or VOLTE issue is or how to solve it. I have tried 4G and  5G.  

[bristolian]

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@HelenGiles58 wrote:

I just saw your latest email but when I press 'reply' I get 'null'in the address line.

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I'm posting my replies on the forum website, you're getting email notifications and trying to reply via the email back-door method. Clicking on the subject line bit of the email should link you directly to the website where you can reply - I presume this is how you've managed.

You've otherwise perfectly described the symptoms of a VoLTE issue. By means of some background, this is the technology that allows voice calls to be carried over 4G rather than falling back to older 2G networks as happened when 4G first launched. VoLTE-roaming is in relative infancy and still being rolled out, but the USA is one of the first countries to switch off 2G, meaning the fallback position isn't in-place. VoLTE-roaming was enabled a fair while ago, but (in simple terms) if there's a gremlin somewhere between your phone & the US network, then what you've described is what generally happens.

This is (one of many reasons) why swapping between local networks is fairly standard advice in-case of roaming call issues, and is often a good fix. Reboting your phone can sometimes help, in doing broadly the same thing.

[HelenGiles58]

Thanks for your help. At the end of the day, it seems that since none of the 4 US networks that come up as choices on my phone work, I just have to accept that I can't make any calls within or outside USA for as long as I'm here.

[Peter_W]

Out of interest here @HelenGiles58, when you look at your lock screen and using an automatic connection, what network are you showing as connected to, and is it 4G, 5G, or something else?

It's worth going into your settings and selecting Mobile Service > Mobile Data Options > Voice and Data, then switching this to 4G only.

Peter

[HelenGiles58]

Hi Peter, thanks so much for this. I’m tried this before and it didn’t work but at your suggestion I tried again today and it worked. Just before I am about to fly back to Europe, so too late but EE’s complaints department called me this morning and that was awful. Claiming they do have a human live chat when they don’t. 
I am genuinely grateful to you and all the other EE Community members who have tried to help me in this nightmare situation.

[Linzi_H]

Thanks for getting back to us, @HelenGiles58.

I'm sorry that you were only able to get it working just before you came home, and I appreciate how difficult this must be for you. 

Linzi

[HelenGiles58]

Thanks Linzi. Unfortunately I had a terrible time.  3 days into a 16 day holiday, we hear that my partner’s mother had died in France and I find we can’t make any phone calls to,sort,out everything that needs doing in these circumstances. could not get a flight until today and every day I have spent at least 2 hours trying to deal with the phone problem. All of this was avoidable if EE had dealt with this known problem previously and had a human staffed we chat function. Perhaps then they could have diagnosed the problem and came up with the answer Peter offered

This has been the worst holiday ever, made twice as bad by EE’s penny-pinching by completely robotising the web help function. And to be patronised and put up intolerable rudeness from the complaints person when she called this morning was the last straw. And being silenced by the threat that the totally derisory compensation offer of a refund of the £25 for the roaming pass I’d paid for and not been able to use would be withdrawn unless I stated I would forfeit  my right to go to the Comms Ombudsman amounts to malpractice in my book. It should be absolutely a given that if a company has charged for something that it cannot deliver on then the customer should receive a refund without any questions or conditions. This is a basic consumer right. 

I am very very angry about all of this and won’t let it rest.