Roaming Abroad, using your phone while Abroad: A Comprehensive Guide (2024)

Bubblesthefish6 said:

Three has 5G on WIND, shame your SMARTY sim was out of credit.

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At the time, I was on the 50GB for £8 offer, and still had about 15GB left, so in theory it should have worked. However, when I contacted support, they said that only the base 16GB could be used for roaming, and I'd need an add-on to use the rest. Can't find anything about that in the T&C though .

Anyway, I bought the add-on in the end, because I had another couple of days in Italy, despite my plan renewing just 2 days later (changing to the 40GB for £5 offer, half price from £10).

hassaanhc said:

At the time, I was on the 50GB for £8 offer, and still had about 15GB left, so in theory it should have worked.

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yes it will have been fine upto 12GB data.

Just make sure you have the correct apn.

Bubblesthefish6 said:

yes it will have been fine upto 12GB data.

Just make sure you have the correct apn.

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This is what the support team said

hassaanhc said:

This is what the support team said

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So they'rer saying you've already used 12GB data roaming?
If not I'm not quite sure what they're on about.

Bubblesthefish6 said:

So they'rer saying you've already used 12GB data roaming?
If not I'm not quite sure what they're on about.

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I had the offer that gave 50GB data instead of 16GB for £8. They were saying that only data within the first 16GB could be used for inclusive roaming. However, I can't find mention of it in the T&C, unless I've looked in the wrong place. Maybe I should have pushed them on it? After I got the add-on, data started working.

hassaanhc said:

I had the offer that gave 50GB data instead of 16GB for £8. They were saying that only data within the first 16GB could be used for inclusive roaming. However, I can't find mention of it in the T&C, unless I've looked in the wrong place. Maybe I should have pushed them on it? After I got the add-on, data started working.

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That’s super odd, genuinely never head of that before.

Did the data work better than O2 tho?
O2 claim 5G in Italy and if the only network you could connect to was TIM that’s weird.

hassaanhc said:

At the time, I was on the 50GB for £8 offer, and still had about 15GB left, so in theory it should have worked. However, when I contacted support, they said that only the base 16GB could be used for roaming, and I'd need an add-on to use the rest. Can't find anything about that in the T&C though .

Anyway, I bought the add-on in the end, because I had another couple of days in Italy, despite my plan renewing just 2 days later (changing to the 40GB for £5 offer, half price from £10).

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I've heard some weird claims like this from SMARTY before but I have no idea why that would be the behaviour. But equally only a small number so it can't be some massive issue (can it?)

I'd be tempted to make a more formal complaint as it's not made clear anywhere I can see that's the behaviour. If anything the agent seems to be making it up, so it would be good to get some official confirmation from higher up...

Interested to hear about it though as roaming is very important for me and I've almost switched to SMARTY a few times. If it doesn't behave as expected it would be very good to know...

tre3 said:

Interested to hear about it though as roaming is very important for me and I've almost switched to SMARTY a few times. If it doesn't behave as expected it would be very good to know...

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Three/iD/Smarty/Superdrug all have identical roaming services.
5G where you’d expect it etc.
however. They do have a weird habit of lightly preferring ‘cheap’ networks in other countries.
e.g. Free in France and MasMovil’s YOIGO in Spain. However this can be solved with a simple network switch to Bouygues (FR) or Movistar (ES) in both the examples given.

Bubblesthefish6 said:

That’s super odd, genuinely never head of that before.

Did the data work better than O2 tho?
O2 claim 5G in Italy and if the only network you could connect to was TIM that’s weird.

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Yeah the data was much better via the Smarty SIM, with Wind 5G preferred but TIM and Iliad also worked. The O2 SIM never saw more than 4G+ in Italy and massively preferred TIM, with Iliad eventually managing to work after multiple attempts. Wind never connected on the O2 SIM. As soon as I crossed into Switzerland, 5G was back on the O2 SIM (via Swisscom), which was just as well because Smarty don't have inclusive roaming in Switzerland.

tre3 said:

I've heard some weird claims like this from SMARTY before but I have no idea why that would be the behaviour. But equally only a small number so it can't be some massive issue (can it?)

I'd be tempted to make a more formal complaint as it's not made clear anywhere I can see that's the behaviour. If anything the agent seems to be making it up, so it would be good to get some official confirmation from higher up...

Interested to hear about it though as roaming is very important for me and I've almost switched to SMARTY a few times. If it doesn't behave as expected it would be very good to know...

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Back in December, I went to Madrid and data randomly stopped working one evening, despite having used less than 1GB while there. It was the day before plan renewal, and there was a plan change as part of that, so I put it down to something weird going on, but maybe it was linked to this recent issue? May well be worth messaging them about it actually.

Wind 5G vs TIM 4G around Lake Como in Italy

Bubblesthefish6 said:

Three/iD/Smarty/Superdrug all have identical roaming services.
5G where you’d expect it etc.
however. They do have a weird habit of lightly preferring ‘cheap’ networks in other countries.
e.g. Free in France and MasMovil’s YOIGO in Spain. However this can be solved with a simple network switch to Bouygues (FR) or Movistar (ES) in both the examples given.

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I'm aware, I'm just thinking about cheap service, SMARTY have had some good offers lately

Beyond the nerd factor and testing purposes, practically (and personally) I'm not bothered about who the local roaming partners are as long as it's included and the service actually works (ie can't be having these issues like "no allowance left" on SMARTY).

Indeed my normal line is currently Lebara, and Vodafone pretty much never offer a wide choice of roaming partners - but this has never been enough to cause an issue for me, the fact it's included is far more important. I have small amounts of data on emergency eSIM options (DENT and Firsty) if I am really really struggling for signal on a particular roaming partner.

Wind 5G Vs TIM 4G+ in the centre of Pisa

hassaanhc said:

Yeah the data was much better via the Smarty SIM, with Wind 5G preferred but TIM and Iliad also worked. The O2 SIM never saw more than 4G+ in Italy and massively preferred TIM, with Iliad eventually managing to work after multiple attempts. Wind never connected on the O2 SIM. As soon as I crossed into Switzerland, 5G was back on the O2 SIM (via Swisscom), which was just as well because Smarty don't have inclusive roaming in Switzerland.

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My parents have announced they're taking a surprise trip to Switzerland so likely going move their providers... currently Lebara and iD...

For the iD one probably going to flip to a 1 month Three PAYG SIM from eBay at £4, currently the iD plan is a old and bad £6 5GB one, and they need more UK data anyway as they keep running out. For whatever reason the iD upgrades section won't offer anything better (despite £6 now getting you 15GB), so after the month will probably switch back to iD on the £6 15GB offer or whatever SMARTY is offering.

For the Lebara one tempted to try Spusu on the £1 intro offer - that Lebara SIMs on £4.90 5GB, so 3 months at £1 then £4.50 is 40p less than Lebara, and we can always return to Lebara if it isn't good in the UK.

Does Spusu still propogate as a Tele2 SIM when roaming? Has anyone given the service a bit of a test lately? - there's been a few complaints in the HotUKDeals threads about roaming not working very well (dropping etc) with them...

Bubblesthefish6 said:

My spreadsheet already has various roaming features, but It’d just become a mess if I tried to include operator access (it would be hard to source the data for that too in some regards).

There was a roaming only spreadsheet made a while back (@ewanmclean2005 i think made it) so that might prove helpful?

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On a related note, is it worth mentioning Switzerland (and Isle of Man/Channel Islands/Monaco/Ukraine) on the network spec spreadsheet?

By my understanding all these are:

• Switzerland: Three PAYG, O2 PAYM, TalkMobile, Superdrug, Coop, UW/1p, CMLink, Popit, Spusu, Tesco, (Honest) - also formerly included on Lyca and Talk Home - I used Talk Home there AFTER it was removed from the list in August 2023 and my data worked, but not calls/SMS. No idea the current situation.
• Isle of Man: Vodafone, VOXI, TalkMobile, Three (all customers), O2 PAYM, Sky, ASDA, Superdrug, iD, Coop, UW/1p, CMLink, Popit, Tesco, (Honest)
• Channel Islands: Three PAYG, O2 PAYM, Sky, Superdrug, iD, Coop, UW/1p, ASDA, CMLink, Popit, Tesco, (Honest)
• Monaco: O2 PAYM, TalkMobile, iD, UW/1p, CMLink, Tesco, (Honest)
• Ukraine: TalkMobile, Talk Home, Giffgaff, iD (not listed on their roaming rates pages, but they have said the "temporary" free rated roaming offer is ongoing until stated otherwise), Sky (not listed as free on their main site, but all services are 0 rated in their price guide).

(Honest Mobile - only 5 days free before £2/day)
Vodafone/VOXI include Isle of Man, Ireland, Norway and Iceland still at no charge. VOXI European roaming passes also appear to have had a stealth price increase, now starting at £2.45 a day...

Bonus countries as I've now gone hunting lol:

• Azerbaijan, North Macedonia, Belarus, Kazakhstan: iD Mobile (anyone ever tried these?)
• India: Lebara (Vi), Lyca (Airtel)
• Turkey: CMLink (plus AloTurk bundles on Lyca)
• China/Hong Kong: CMLink
• Faroe Islands: Coop Mobile (Also Vodafone/VOXI are the only network to consider it "Europe" in their roaming passes) Plusnet Mobile also did...
• Ascension Island (love for someone to test that, given local data prices there...): Sky
• Australia: Talk Home, Three PAYG
• Sint Maarten: Coop Mobile? (listed in their EU zone, the Dutch part was never part of EU/EEA roaming regs...)
• Andorra: Plusnet Mobile does, but RIP
• Plus everything on Three PAYG Go Roam

The other quirky one is Gibraltar - a couple of networks have sneakily removed it from their lists - ASDA and Lyca. Also NOW and Talk Home only show it in certain lists on their site. Lyca doesn't list the outer EEA regions like Reunion either, and incoming calls show as chargeable on their rates page.

Then there's the Republic of Ireland - I think Ecotalk, UW Essential (from September) and Honest Mobile (after 5 days) are the only networks to charge there (in theory). Worth also mentioning that Three specifically exclude Ireland from their 12GB fair use policy.

Final thing is free EU-EU calls/texts while roaming - I think the only networks to have stopped this are Honest Mobile (7p/min 7p/SMS), Sky (including for local calls while in Ireland) and CMLink. Also Lebara deducts EU-EU calls from international minutes, and SMS is chargeable.

tre3 said:

Turkey: CMLink (plus AloTurk bundles on Lyca)

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Friend bought one to try in Turkey, was setup in the UK and just didn’t work in turkey: no service all networks… support useless ofcourse

jon1 said:

Friend bought one to try in Turkey, was setup in the UK and just didn’t work in turkey: no service all networks… support useless ofcourse

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Interesting... wonder if @Koda knows any more, as the resident CMLink user...

CMLink looks like they've just redone their website (still very much Chinese quality, mind...), including rejigging the format of the roaming list and Turkey is definitely still listed there.

I'm surprised given that CMLink is pretty much full fat EE (including roaming services, afaik?) it should just roam like EE - given Turkey is a popular destination from the UK I would expect it's not an EE-level issue.

Whereas some of these very niche destinations I would almost doubt roaming even works. Belarus on iD anyone? Ascension Island on Sky? (given O2 only have 2G roaming even if it works it'll be extra-painful, beyond the satelite delivered service...)

Maybe one day I'll manage a niche roaming world tour, haha. Faroe Islands is on my list to visit soon to be fair... I may have to get a Coop SIM.

tre3 said:

Interesting... wonder if @Koda knows any more, as the resident CMLink user...

CMLink looks like they've just redone their website (still very much Chinese quality, mind...), including rejigging the format of the roaming list and Turkey is definitely still listed there.

I'm surprised given that CMLink is pretty much full fat EE (including roaming services, afaik?) it should just roam like EE - given Turkey is a popular destination from the UK I would expect it's not an EE-level issue.

Whereas some of these very niche destinations I would almost doubt roaming even works. Belarus on iD anyone? Ascension Island on Sky? (given O2 only have 2G roaming even if it works it'll be extra-painful, beyond the satelite delivered service...)

Maybe one day I'll manage a niche roaming world tour, haha. Faroe Islands is on my list to visit soon to be fair... I may have to get a Coop SIM.

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Good thing you tagged me as this is a thread I don't tend to read the new posts on!

For Turkey, both CMLink UK SIMs and CMLink Global Data SIMs/eSIMs should work fine there but only exclusively on the Turkcell network, no others.

For the CML UK SIM you just need the standard EE 'Everywhere' APN set, or for the global one you'd need 'internet.proximus.be' as the APN for working data.

You're correct to assume it uses the standard EE setup, everywhere except for China and Hong Kong where they apparently hijack the SIM and route everything locally directly via China Mobile's network when it sees you connect there - I'm not entirely sure how they do that.

Everything should just work. I've seen the CMLink UK SIMs roam without any intervention required before, and I just bought a CMLink global eSIM for someone who is using it in Egypt right now which is again roaming without any issue as we speak.

The most surprising thing to read about the post is that support was useless. They go above and beyond in my experience. It makes me wonder, since the reply was to a post that mentioned Lycamobile if they were actually talking about trying a Lyca AloTurka bundle? That sounds more like a company with useless customer service who failed to advise or fix the problem.

Koda said:

You're correct to assume it uses the standard EE setup, everywhere except for China and Hong Kong where they apparently hijack the SIM and route everything locally directly via China Mobile's network when it sees you connect there - I'm not entirely sure how they do that.

Everything should just work. I've seen the CMLink UK SIMs roam without any intervention required before, and I just bought a CMLink global eSIM for someone who is using it in Egypt right now which is again roaming without any issue as we speak.

The most surprising thing to read about the post is that support was useless. They go above and beyond in my experience. It makes me wonder, since the reply was to a post that mentioned Lycamobile if they were actually talking about trying a Lyca AloTurka bundle? That sounds more like a company with useless customer service who failed to advise or fix the problem.

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To be fair it is ambiguous on second reading - they may well be talking about Lyca... However I've heard in several places that Lyca AloTurk does work in Turkey fine so I still suspect it was an APN issue (the customer service being bad is no surprise of course).

I'd still be wary of CMLink UK in Turkey as I don't think I've read even 1 single evidence of how well it works anywhere. I'd certainly have some backup option lined up!

Interesting about how it works in China... does it still avoid the Great Firewall as most roaming SIMs do?

tre3 said:

To be fair it is ambiguous on second reading - they may well be talking about Lyca... However I've heard in several places that Lyca AloTurk does work in Turkey fine so I still suspect it was an APN issue (the customer service being bad is no surprise of course).

I'd still be wary of CMLink UK in Turkey as I don't think I've read even 1 single evidence of how well it works anywhere. I'd certainly have some backup option lined up!

Interesting about how it works in China... does it still avoid the Great Firewall as most roaming SIMs do?

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I can't speak about Turkey specifically as neither I nor anyone in my CMLink circle has been out there, but can confidently say that roaming in general seems to work just fine on their network. Just asked and got sent the following from Egypt showing the welcome text from the CMLink UK (EE) SIM which has connected just fine there too, though with rather steep rates hence me buying them a CM Global eSIM for this trip:

As for how it works in China this is just from what I have been told about how it works. I have no first hand experience and never been to China at all. But if they are somehow taking over the SIM once it connects to their local network, and specifically mention that you need to use the APN 'cmhk' there it sounds like you're totally separated from the EE side of things and will pesumably have your network traffic processed like any native CM SIM would be.

Koda said:

As for how it works in China this is just from what I have been told about how it works. I have no first hand experience and never been to China at all. But if they are somehow taking over the SIM once it connects to their local network, and specifically mention that you need to use the APN 'cmhk' there it sounds like you're totally separated from the EE side of things and will pesumably have your network traffic processed like any native CM SIM would be.

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Interesting stuff, thanks. 'cmhk' sounds like China Mobile Hong Kong so suggests data would route via Hong Kong and leave you outside the Great Firewall even when in the mainland, which is somewhat important for a visitor. Obviously without first hand experience we don't know for sure.