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Unable to access 4G services whilst roaming

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jimmie
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Unable to access 4G services whilst roaming

On the last 3 trips I have made since being a Plusnet customer I have not been able to access 4G services whilst roaming in in Europe, specifically France, Austria or Spain, only 3G services have been available which has caused issues due to slowness.

I called Plusnet from France and was advised that you could not guarantee availability of local masts, but the masts do not appear to be the issue as no 4G was available from Calais down to Nice, or anywhere in between a distance of over 1200KMs.

I tried everything that was suggested, turning phone off and on, toggling airplane mode, taking out and reinserting SIM, tried all the different networks, reset the network settings on the iPhone, factory reset the iPhone using iTunes, everything.

I have recorded as requested 3 separate instances where it wasn't working and called up to give you these, only to be told the person who asked me to do this was wrong and wasted my time as this can only be used for issues in the UK.

I was sent a new SIM card which was activated back in the UK, but on subsequent trips I still have the same issue.

I have had my roaming services turned on and off by Plusnet, my premium services turned on and off, my voicemail turned on and off.

I have purchased a new handset (iPhone 13 pro) since the last trip and yet it still does not work.

I have been able to use a Vodafone SIM in the phone and have no problem connecting to 4G networks straight away.

I believe that there is either an issue with my account, or perhaps Plusnet do not actually offer 4G when roaming?

The only suggestion that Plusnet have given me after seemingly exhausting all avenues is to buy a local SIM card whilst aboard or to move to a different network back in the UK.

Surely someone at Plusnet must be aware of this issue and know a way to resolve it?

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dvorak
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Re: Unable to access 4G services whilst roaming

Can't talk about your account, but in general our PN sims have had 4g in the Canaries, Belgium, Greece and Austria. All were iPhones
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jimmie
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Re: Unable to access 4G services whilst roaming

Thanks for the reply, I certainly didn’t have any luck in Austria.. you haven’t mentioned France, can you confirm if it should work there.

I am off to the canaries (Tenerife) on Friday, if it doesn’t work there what is the best course of action to resolve? (apart from buying a local sim as one of the PN customer services reps advised earlier when he was out of ideas!)
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tamarin64
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Re: Unable to access 4G services whilst roaming

Hi, I am also having the same issues and have posted about them before: https://community.plus.net/t5/Mobile/2g-only-when-roaming/m-p/1846988#M20700

Other people seem to have similar issues.

My own experience is that I cannot get 4G in Austria and Slovakia. In Czech Republic I couldn’t even get 3G, only EDGE.

I spoke to customer support over Christmas, and I got some money off for that month. But no actual resolution…

Please let me know if you’ve had any luck, it is incredibly annoying as one of the reasons I’ve switched is to have free EU roaming.
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soledad
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Re: Unable to access 4G services whilst roaming

Hi,

Ive only just joined Plusnet to try it with the view to move my main number from Vodafone, but it’s not looking good. I’m in Poland currently and can’t get 4G on roaming, it’s stuck on slow 3G. Reading other posts on this forum looks like it’s a common occurrence, shall I bin the SIM or do you guys got that sorted?

Thanks for helping.

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tamarin64
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Re: Unable to access 4G services whilst roaming

Unfortunately not, but I do plan to complain to them about it again and see if I get anywhere

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jimmie
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Re: Unable to access 4G services whilst roaming

A new sim hasn’t helped me, I have just got back from Tenerife and still unable to access any 4G services. I don’t know if Plusnet don’t have agreements to provide 4G service & they won’t admit or if there is something not setup correctly on my account.

I called before I went and the only suggestion was to get a local Spanish SIM and not to use Plusnet! I didn’t bother calling when I was there, as from my experience and wasting hours on the phone to them, they don’t seem to know what the problem is and there is nothing they can do to help or resolve it.

They do eventually hide behind their T&Cs that state that they do not guarantee service whilst roaming out of the UK so the have covered their butts on that one.

Putting in a complaint in my instance didn’t manage to get the issue resolved, but I did get a months free line rental for all of the run around and wrong information they gave me.
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tamarin64
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Re: Unable to access 4G services whilst roaming

It appears that there is an issue with multiple peoples accounts, as I’m aware that some accounts have access to 4G.

I don’t think that this wash of responsibility would fly, as the T&Cs say:

14.2. When using our service outside of the UK, we can’t be responsible for the quality and coverage of the service as it’ll be provided via someone else. You’re also responsible for using the service in accordance with all applicable local laws.

This term infers that they are beholden to local conditions, which is fine. However, given that this issue spans multiple network providers, users and geographies there is clearly an issue with their roaming service and I don’t believe that if this issue is escalated this would be a fair defence.

@Gandalf would you be able to please comment on whether Plusnet are aware of this issue and if any investigations are taking place? Thanks.

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Emsorc
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Re: Unable to access 4G services whilst roaming

My husband and I are both with Plusnet. My husband can't get 4G in Germany only 2G which basically means he can't get any internet.
My coverage is fine.
We travel frequently to Germany and everytime we have the same issue.
We've swapped Sims in case it's a phone issue. My SIM performs perfectly in his phone. His SIM in my phone still doesn't work.
He's had replacement SIMs but hasn't fixed it. It's like his account has been throttled.
My husband travels to France frequently too. His phone works fine in France and Belgium.
Plusnet have not made any real effort to investigate why he has this continuing issue.
One thing we have noticed, our connections to the local provider are different. When we try to manually change my husband's to what I'm on its greyed out.
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jimmie
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Re: Unable to access 4G services whilst roaming

I am not sure Plusnet are interested in fixing this & this has incorrectly been marked as fixed, is there any way to mark this as still an issue and for someone at Plusnet to actually take notice?
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jimmie
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Re: Unable to access 4G services whilst roaming

I am not sure Plusnet are interested in fixing this & this has incorrectly been marked as fixed, is there any way to mark this as still an issue and for someone at Plusnet to actually take notice?
tamarin64
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Re: Unable to access 4G services whilst roaming

I also have some technical information available that I gathered while diagnosing the issue:

According to the iPhone field test app, the LTE NAS reports a “EPS_STATUS_ROAMING_NOT_ALLOWED” under the “update_status” field. This has been reported consistently for me in Czech Republic (where not even 3G was working), Slovakia and Austria. This was for the Vodafone and O2 networks in Czechia, the Orange network in Slovakia and the A1 and Magenta-T- in Austria.

I have tested this with an alternative handset too, which also was not able to connect to 4G. 

I have some screenshots I can send over that show further values in the field test app, if required, but I believe the above is the most relevant information.

tamarin64
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Re: Unable to access 4G services whilst roaming

Also - apologies for the double post (not sure where I can edit my previous post) - however:

Obviously we are now aware that this is a wider issue and I have been looking through some older posts (if you search “4G roaming” you get a few…) such as this one

@ZK mentioned there that the reason why there is only 2G available in Germany & Czech Republic is because 3G has been shutdown in those countries… and since 4G is not working you get stuck with 2G.

@LukeBrocks @ZK were you able to arrive at a solution to this problem?

soledad
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Re: Unable to access 4G services whilst roaming

Thank you,

I’m glad I haven’t moved my main number. I will give the month notice to Plusnet and get rid of it.

you can’t not have a data roaming working properly in the 21st century.

Emsorc
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Re: Unable to access 4G services whilst roaming

I can definitely confirm Germany has 4G as it works for me. I believe I am always connected to O2 DE. My husband is always connected to a LTE version, I think EE. If we manually try and change his connection to O2 the option is greyed out.
He's only offered LTE. Plusnet when we've called them from Germany have been mystified about the problem.