internet not working abroad

[Anonymous]

Hi im in portugal at the moment and have upgraded to a sim only plan with an iphone x but even though i can make calls and receive txts i cant get internet please help 

[Benj]

Thanks very much for your reply. I did that but nothing seemed to happen. Seems a lot of people have trouble with O2 moving from phone contract to SIM contract.

[MI5]

Yes, unfortunately customer services are either not correctly trained or just don't care.
Give it 24 hours and if not resolved, call them again to check all is OK.
If you restart your phone after midnight it may just update itself.

[Benj]

Ok, thanks very much again for your help!

[PaulKing]

Thank you very much MI5

Have had the same problem here (France) for a few months now, I assumed it was due to the phone not being back in the UK for so long (because of the various lockdowns, its probably not received a 'uk o2' signal for 12 months
The apn I had was

"idata.o2.co,uk"

Changed it to

"mobile.o2.co.uk"

as recommended in you post and like magic (or even 'et voila'!) its working properly again

So very many thanks indeed & thanks to O2 & the community to make resolution of these uncommon (to the majority of UK O2 customers) issues so accessible

[MI5]

You're welcome @PaulKing 

[PaulKing]

@MI5 

I don't suppose you also have a quick fix for "Set Up Personal Hotspot" too?
when I click on the hyperlink on my iPhone settings I am advised to goto a O2 website (iphonehelp/modem) which isnt any help at all!

All I want to know is how to turn my iPhone into a 'hotspot' when my modem/router decides to have a hiccup and I lose wi-fi on my lap-top. (Before losing my O2 internet access, which you fixed for me above, I used to be able to use my iPhone to replace my wifi in those situations. Same iPhone, same lap-top, no longer able to access the 'hotspot' functionality )

Thanks in advance (non urgent request)

[MI5]

@PaulKing 

You need to call O2 and ask them to enable iData on your account.

It may take a few attempts to get someone who knows what they are doing though...........