Roaming

[Lhsby]

We’re in Spain and my children’s phones won’t work unless connected to the WiFi. Never had this problem last year in Greece. I’ve tried setting to 4G, turning on and off again, texted roaming to 150 to check it’s connected, any ideas?

Thanks 

[bristolian]

Did your children's phones receive welcome text messages when they first arrived in Spain? Do they show a connection to any local networks?

The text message to 150 isn't necessary - if you have roaming enabled, then self-evidently it doesn't need enabling again. If it's not enabled, your phone won't have a network connection and thus won't be able to text or call.

On the basis that your children's phones have previously been used within the EU, try a manual network search and attempt a connection to each local network in turn. Does this resolve?

[XRaySpeX]

Did they receive a Welcome text upon arrival?

Are they on contract or PAYG? Had they used that SIM for making calls or texts in UK before leaving to go abroad?

If they are on contract, did they activate roaming on your EE a/c before leaving UK by texting ROAMING to 150? Having a roaming billing add-on doesn't of itself activate roaming on your a/c. Having roaming activated on your EE a/c, not just on your device, is crucial to using your contract SIM abroad.

Often just rebooting the phone is the simple remedy. Also try selecting a network manually rather than auto.

Otherwise if you they on contract you need to call CS to get your roaming activated. Try calling CS on the Freephone no. in my sig. using a web-calling app over WiFi.