One again EE fails to work abroad - this time indonesia

[EJT2109]

Once again, EE fails to work abroad. I landed in Indonesia  and received no welcome message. No details about being able to add on roaming. It is absolutely impossible to get through to anybody. They insist on you calling and if I can’t use my phone I’m not able to call and Wi-Fi calling does not work. I was told over an hour ago that somebody would help me on the chat within 15 minutes and that hasn’t happened.

I’d like any help or guidance as to why my phone isn’t working and fixes. My husbands phone - also with EE has identical settings to me and he has received his message and he is able to text and receive calls. Rebooted my phone, checked the settings and still it doesn’t work. Last time this happened, I was in Laos and I was fobbed off for days on end and it never worked.

[Chris_B]

@EJT2109  Are you on contract or PAYG ?  If on contract did you text ROAMING to 150 to enable roaming on your account before you left the UK ?     Your device has to connect to a roaming network in order to receive texts and that’s only possible if roaming is enabled on your account.   Have you tried just restarting the device if you have done the above?       If on PAYG again have you just tried restarting the device? As roaming is automatically enabled for PAYG customers.  

[Schockwave]

@EJT2109 , just to add, if on contract, you can ring customer service using Skype for free, see my signature, same if needed, for pay as you go, using wifi.

[bristolian]

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@EJT2109 wrote:

It is absolutely impossible to get through to anybody. They insist on you calling and if I can’t use my phone I’m not able to call and Wi-Fi calling does not work

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Travelling abroad without enabling roaming does indeed cause this catch-22 situation. Enabling roaming before travelling avoids it.

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@EJT2109 wrote:

My husbands phone - also with EE has identical settings to me

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Your husband has roaming enabled on his SIM, you don't. That is the only setting that matters, and must be different.

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.

On PAYG, this 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.