data roaming not working in mainland europe

[timh0]

Hi,

Just come back from a week in Spain and frustratingly wasn't able to receive any data whilst there despite my phone telling me that o2 roaming was working properly.

Managed to receive and make calls and also sms but nothing else.

Made working abroad nigh on impossible.

Did all the things you're supposed to on my iphone 6s plus to no avail.

Anyone else experienced such problems and solved them?

Cheers

Tim

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

The problem is the wrong data tariff on your account.
You need to call customer services and ask them to enable data for iPhone.
Whilst abroad, you can change your apn to "mobile.o2.co.uk" which will enable data abroad but will be wrong for the UK so with the correct data tariff and an apn of "idata.o2.co.uk" it will work correctly everywhere.

[timh0]

....you were absolutely right, so thanks very much indeed for that.

Mysteriously, only last year I was able to use data roaming with no trouble at all using my iPhone.  When I put this to the helpful O2 lady, she said that this could indeed be the case - sometimes it would work and other times not.  But, she changed the settings whilst we were talking and apparently all should be well now.

I've looked at my apn settings and they look identical so I can only presume that any changes are made at the service provider end.

I've yet to see if it all works and may not be able to for a few months but it sounds encouraging!

Thanks again for your prompt help.

Cheers

Tim

[MI5]

Nothing will change on your phone - it's all done account side.

[daryl111111]

On my phone I needed to change the network name, it was set to "monthly plan". Most of the conversation with the o2 salesperson was about using data abroad and this is a key setting. Also my phone should have been set to manually connect because it keeps auto choosing an un supported network

[pgn]

Good feedback, @daryl111111 - when you say "monthly plan" do you mean this?

The manual selection makes sense, as the strongest signal may not be a roaming partner - manual selection should always be tried, along with switching between 5G, 4G and 3G (no 3G in Germany now though) and manual selection. Glad you got sorted.

[daryl111111]

Yes apn needs to be set correctly. Mine is pay as you go it was set to monthly by o2 salesperson