Roaming charges in Shetland

[Alice561]

Hi,

I live near Colchester and I’m on holiday in Shetland. EE tell me that I’m outside of their coverage and must pay roaming charges, even though Shetland is in Uk . Can this be right ? 

[bristolian]

---

@Alice561 wrote:

I’m on holiday in Shetland. EE tell me that I’m outside of their coverage and must pay roaming charges, even though Shetland is in Uk .

---

Where exactly have EE said this? I'm going to guess it was a CS agent, in which case perhaps you should have offered them a geography lesson!

You're right - Shetland is as much in the UK as Southampton, and EE cover there. Put any Shetland postcode into the website coverage tool and try for yourself!

[Northerner]

Hi @Alice561 

Yes, you might be picking up Norway . Try turning off roaming on your phone under settings. 

Thanks 

[bristolian]

---

@Northerner wrote:

Yes, you might be picking up Norway . Try turning off roaming on your phone under settings. 

---

If this were true, then the OP would have received a "welcome to Norway" text notification, which they've not explicitly mentioned. It would certainly explain why "EE tells me I'm outside their coverage" if this is the reason, but would also require them to be in an area with no EE coverage.

Roaming is not a phone setting you can toggle on/off, mistaken beliefs over this can often cause users to travel abroad without enabling roaming on their SIM. The only option phones offer in their settings is "data roaming" which isn't the same thing.

[Northerner]

@bristolian 

1. Clearly they are receiving a network signal from abroad hence the OP comments. 

2. I have roaming option on my phone which disables the roaming data. This normally reverts back to the local network. The OP can also select the network manually rather than allowing automatic selection.

Thanks 

[bristolian]

For the benefit of the OP in this thread, disabling data roaming in your phone settings while you are roaming would normally stop data from working but leave voice & text services unaffected as you are still roaming. Some phones may differ, but it certainly isn't a common technique.

The OP has made a comment that "EE tells me I'm outside their coverage" but I don't think it's at all clear what the basis for that is, without further clarification from them.