Roaming is dead for me

[fromwithin]

I'm in Egypt and my phone won't connect to any local network. On attempted automatic connection to the network it just says failed. On selecting any manual network, it says "Disconnected". When I landed at the airport, I didn't get a text message saying "Welcome to Egypt". There's just no connection at all and I switched on roaming on my account 

I also have a Lycamobile SIM and that connects fine to the local networks. 

Anybody got any ideas?

[Schockwave]

Hello @fromwithin ,

Welcome to the community,

Looks like you are on a monthly contract. Did you remember to activate roaming on your account? If not, you will have to do so by ringing customer service.

Did you make a chargeable call or text on your SIM card whilst in the UK? This is especially necessary to activate the SIM card, otherwise you will not be able to use it until you return to the UK.

The same for contract  SIM cards, they first have to be activated in the UK.

[fromwithin]

My SIM has been activated for a long time. I had similar problems before in Tunisia and made sure roaming was enabled months ago when I returned. See attached. 

[bristolian]

In that screenshot, did you follow-up that message with "GOING" and receive confirmation that roaming was enabled?

Your symptoms are consistent with not having done that, roaming not being enabled, and thus your SIM not being unlocked for use on foreign networks.

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.

[fromwithin]

> Did you follow-up that message with "GOING" and receive confirmation that roaming was enabled?

No. I've seen nothing anywhere to suggest that doing so is necessary. 

> your only recourse will be to contact CS to request it activated

I did that when I was in Tunisia and they said it wasn't possible to activate it from outside the UK and that I had had to go home and send the ROAMING text.

[bristolian]

"If you'd like to understand...roaming settings, reply GOING".

The advice you were given by CS is partly correct for PAYG lines, in the sense that roaming cannot be remotely activated. It is untrue, in that pay-monthly roaming can be enabled by a CS agent on request.