Data roaming abroad

[Dad007]

My son went to the USA 10 days ago, and updated his O2 contract to include data roaming abroad specifically for USA. Since he’s arrived in America he’s had no data and no signal. Any suggestions please?

[Cleoriff · Accepted solution]

Hi @Dad007 

Some things to tell him to try:

1. Make sure data roaming and mobile data is turned on in his phone settings.
2. Manually search for another network
3. Reboot the phone
4. If you have an iPhone change your data APN to "mobile.o2.co.uk"
5. Try toggling Airplane mode on/off (it often helps kickstart things)
6. Drop down to 3G and see if that helps.
7. Contact O2 to see if there are any roaming bars on the account

If you message O2 on Facebook ( https://o2uk.co/O2CFB) , Twitter ( https://o2uk.co/O2CTW) or Instagram ( https://o2uk.co/O2CIG) , they should be able to help you with this.

[Dad007]

Many thanks for your prompt and informative response Cleoriff 👍. Hopefully one of them will do the trick. I have contacted O2 myself but they wouldn’t have anything to do with me as I’m not the named user on the account. 

Will keep you posted. 🙏

[Cleoriff]

Best of luck @Dad007 

I'll just add, if your son has an iPhone, the APN change is the most important thing to try.

[Bambino]

@Dad007 To add to the good advice from @Cleoriff, you should let your son know that even if he does get up and running with his O2 sim, the signal strength he gets will be poor. O2 have admitted that they throttle data speeds down to 0.5MB when customers are in the US. If your son is going to be there for any length of time, he'd be better off getting a local sim from AT&T or T-Mobile, and also use WiFi as much as possible using WhatsApp to call or text to the UK, which is free over WiFi. If he uses the many public WiFi areas he should also consider using a VPN.

[Dad007]

Thanks Bambino, more sound stuff. I think my son took out a contract on this & so far not good. 

[Bambino]

@Dad007 Have your son look at this: O2 | Mobile Terms and Conditions - O2 Travel Terms and Conditions

Number 8 under the subheading 'O2 Travel Daily Allowances' explains it all.