topic Re: 4G roaming in Portugal and the United States in Pay Monthly

4G roaming in Portugal and the United States

Scooty997 — Tue, 15 May 2018 11:06:03 GMT

Hi there, I am going to Portugal and the USA in a couple of months. Will I be able to use 4G in both countries and what network will I roam on? Just curious as I know which foreign networks have coverage where others don’t. I have the inclusive travel bolt on with my iPhone X so won’t have to worry about charges in the US which is nice. Thanks

Re: 4G roaming in Portugal and the United States

Cleoriff — Tue, 15 May 2018 11:12:22 GMT

Hi @Scooty997 Yes you will be able to get 4G in both countries...

Check this guide

https://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Discussions-and-Feedback/4G-Roaming-Spain/m-p/1124501/highlight/true#M100344

As for networks in Portugal...

Portugal (including the Azores and Madeira Islands) has three network providers operating in the country:

MEO (formerly tmn)
Vodafone (formerly telecel)
NOS (formerly Optimus)

And in the US

Top 10 Best Mobile SIM Networks in USA

Verizon Logo. Verizon Wireless. Verizon Wireless is the biggest and most widespread cell phone carrier in America. ...
T-Mobile Logo. T – Mobile. ...
AT&T Logo. AT&T. ...
sprint-logo. Sprint. ...
us cellular logo. U.S. Cellular. ...
Cricket wireless. Cricket Wireless. ...
MetroPCS Logo. MetoPCS. ...
Ting GSM. Ting.

Re: 4G roaming in Portugal and the United States

MI5 — Tue, 15 May 2018 11:16:09 GMT

Have a look here too for some help and advice https://www.o2.co.uk/international/travel-inclusive-zone

https://community.o2.co.uk/t5/How-to-Guides/O2-Contract-with-O2-Travel-Inclusive-75-Free-Countries-and-33-x/ba-p/1115664

Re: 4G roaming in Portugal and the United States

Scooty997 — Tue, 15 May 2018 11:18:25 GMT

Thanks for the reply. I’m guessing in the US T-Mobile and AT&T probably both have a 4g agreement with O2 as they are the only 2 carriers that use GSM (Not including MVNOs). Not sure about Portugal though. Would hope it’s Vodafone Portugal as it’s the best network, or MEO as it isn’t far behind. NOS is just terrible coverage and data speed wise, i used their 4G out there when I used to have EE and it was shocking but MEO was good, EE don’t have a 4G roaming agreement with Vodafone Portugal, but I have used a local sim before and it was great

Re: 4G roaming in Portugal and the United States

MI5 — Tue, 15 May 2018 11:22:28 GMT

Optimus, TMN and Vodafone are the preferred O2 carriers in Portugal.

Re: 4G roaming in Portugal and the United States

Cleoriff — Tue, 15 May 2018 11:25:24 GMT

@Scooty997You are right about the AT&T and T Mobile in the US....Portugal have a4G agreement with O2 so it's just a question of finding the one that gives you the best coverage . Have a wonderful time. A bit jealous if honest.:smileywink: Welcome to the forum by the way

Re: 4G roaming in Portugal and the United States

iphone4sir — Tue, 15 May 2018 16:00:39 GMT

I used “4g” on AT&T last month - Speeds are throttled though - I managed to get by with Facebook etc but maps and Imessage was a struggle at times - be interesting to see your experience - I was in Las Vegas btw.

Re: 4G roaming in Portugal and the United States

jonsie — Tue, 15 May 2018 16:05:14 GMT

It's only recently that O2 have removed throttling within the EU but in the USA data speeds are still restricted I believe so wifi is really the way to go.

Re: 4G roaming in Portugal and the United States

packages — Tue, 15 May 2018 19:43:16 GMT

@Scooty997 wrote:
Thanks for the reply. I’m guessing in the US T-Mobile and AT&T probably both have a 4g agreement with O2 as they are the only 2 carriers that use GSM (Not including MVNOs). Not sure about Portugal though. Would hope it’s Vodafone Portugal as it’s the best network, or MEO as it isn’t far behind. NOS is just terrible coverage and data speed wise, i used their 4G out there when I used to have EE and it was shocking but MEO was good, EE don’t have a 4G roaming agreement with Vodafone Portugal, but I have used a local sim before and it was great

From what I can remember from my visit last year, O2s roaming partner is MEO.

Re: 4G roaming in Portugal and the United States

jrhop123 — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 06:34:15 GMT

Over in Portugal at the moment and getting 4G with MEO, Speedtests showing ~27Mbps down and ~9Mbps up, so not throttled! Good stuff o2, how it should be!

Re: 4G roaming in Portugal and the United States

Cleoriff — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 07:10:19 GMT

Great to hear that @jrhop123

My grandson was in Portugal for two weeks with O2 and had 4G all the time. He reckoned there was no problem with throttling at all. (From 4th -18th August)

Re: 4G roaming in Portugal and the United States

jrhop123 — Sun, 26 Aug 2018 18:53:06 GMT

Spoke to soon, apart from a few hours of 4G, still in the same place, on the same network (MEO) and stuck with 3G! 😞