Outgoing calls barred

[BadMiker]

Hi, I am abroad (France) and am unable to make calls. Cannot text or call customer support to change either, no solution on the app. 

What can I do? 

[bristolian]

Have you been able to make or receive calls abroad before? Can you send & receive texts? Does your phone show a connection to any French networks?

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.

[BadMiker]

I did the thing in the app before going, it told me it was all good, can use minutes and data abroad. I'm using data, my phone has no call barring active, but network is barring outgoing calls. 

If I cannot email or message EE, or do it via the app but have to use another mobile to sort this out then that's pretty poor service from EE. 

[bristolian]

What was "the thing" you did in the app? I suspect it was adding a billing add-on to reduce the cost of roaming. This doesn't enable the free roaming facility in the first place - this is what unlocks the ability to use your phone on foreign networks. It would certainly be easier if you could enable roaming via the app or website, but this was removed a few years ago.

It can now only be enabled either by calling CS or texting ROAMING to 150 before leaving the UK - all this advice presumes you're on pay-monthly. Are you?

Does your phone show a connection to a local network, and did you receive a welcome text message on first arrival? Those tests are good evidence of roaming being active. If not, then unfortunately you're at the wrong end of a catch-22 situation.

[Schockwave]

@BadMiker , just to add, you can call customer service by using something like Skype and ring for free, see my signature.

[BadMiker]

I'm on a contract, checked for roaming add on in the app, it asked what country and how long then told me it was all set up.

Received an SMS when I arrived, I have a network connection, I'm getting data.  

No matter what I do, still can't make calls! 

[bristolian]

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@BadMiker wrote:

Received an SMS when I arrived, I have a network connection, I'm getting data.  

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This proves that roaming is active, thus the problem lies elsewhere. The next most common issue is a spend-cap being active.

Are you roaming in the EU or beyond? There needs to be sufficient headroom in any spend cap to allow for either the daily charge (if in the EU and not using a Roam Abroad pass) or usage charges (if elsewhere) to be incurred. Edited to add - I appreciate you're in the EU, but I will leave this paragraph as-is, for the benefit of others reading this thread.

Details of how to check - https://ee.co.uk/help/mobile/manage-use/pay-monthly/set-up-and-manage-spend-cap 

[BadMiker]

No spend cap. 

[bristolian]

Does that mean you have no spend cap active, and thus unrestricted spend? Or that a spend-cap is in-place? There's no limit on the length of replies on this forum, if it avoids misunderstandings.

Have you tried using alternative local networks, by using your phone's manual network search and cycling through each one in turn?