Roaming in France - keeping being connected to “Free” instead of Orange FR

[martin2345uk]

Orange has far and away the best coverage around Paris from my experience; my work phone is on EE and only roams on Orange while I’m here. But my personal phone on a £48 SIM only full works plan keeps connecting to Free, often on 3G only! Very frustrating when my work phone right next to it is enjoying 5G on Orange!

Sometimes my phone will just lose signal altogether over here!

Why might this be? Both are set to automatic network selection…

[XRaySpeX]

Have you tried manually to connect your personal phone to Orange FR?

[martin2345uk]

I tried to set network selection to manual but it just gave me the little spinning circle for ages and eventually it just gave up!

[Lesley_W]

Hi @martin2345uk 

Thanks for coming to our community.

What model of phone are you using?

Lesley

[martin2345uk]

Hi, it’s an iPhone 14, thanks. 

[Lesley_W]

Thanks @martin2345uk 

Do you just use your personal EE SIM in that phone or do you have another SIM in use too?

Lesley

[martin2345uk]

Hello, no it’s just my personal SIM in the phone. I’m going back to France on the 2nd, I’ll see what it does then. 
Does EE have “preferred networks” for roaming?

[Peter_W]

Hey there @martin2345uk, your phone will aim to automatically connect to the best available, but like @XRaySpeX mentioned you can switch manually if you find yourself struggling. 

We usually have a number of roaming partners in a given destination, and like with any mobile network it's possible to encounter localised issues, so it's worth giving each available network a try.

Peter