Pokemon Go doesn't login on roaming data

[Anonymous]

I'm posting this a bit late, as I'm back home now, but I had a problem/bug when visiting France over Christmas.

No matter what I tried, PokémonGo wouldn't login over roaming 3G, and even if I got it logged in on a Wifi connection, it was generally poor on 3G.

I tried 3 different French mobile providers (Bouygues, SFR & Orange FR), all of them with a decent 3G signal, but it would never login. The progress bar just stopped at about the 80% mark.

Everything else worked (Safari, App Store, even bloody Candy Crush).

At home it works fine on mobile data (3G/4G) as well as on Wifi of course.

What would have stopped it working on roaming data?

We're both on O2, so I don't know if it's a provider issue or not. Though I'm considering changing provider to give us some provider redundancy.

I basically paid for several days of roaming, just to spend that time googling why the hell it didnt' work. 😞

I tried on my phone, and my wife's phone with the same result (both iPhones).

[MI5]

So sounds like it doesn't work for anyone on any network if roaming then.

[darrengf]

Pokemon Go works ok on a three sim, but I think the other networks block it.  

Pokemon go is Data needy, so can you imagine you using all your Data up while using the app. 

O2 do offer unlimited data, however it's restricted and slowed down, so the game would not load due to the fact of the speeds and restrictions in place. Also if you abuse o2 Travel by using too much data Limit is 150+ Mbps then you will be removed from the service or restricted even more. Not that you can ever use 150Mbps on the speeds they restrict it at.

As three offer roam like at home on Payg and most contract tariffs, you won't run up a massive bill.  I can confirm it works as well, it's slow, but works fine.  I know I was with friends and we went all Round Dublin looking for them,  there were even on the Airport Tarmac boarding the plane. Lol

regarding the other 2 carriers, I can only assume they also restrict it as not everyone has a data bundle and could end up with a lot of angry customers with hi Data Charges

However from June 2017 things change as all EU roaming charges are abolished and Also restrictions can't be in place to stop what you do,  the only restrictions that can be in place if you in fact could abuse the roaming that much you could damage the networks.

and even though we may have started the Brexit process etc, it still takes time and what we join after still may allow U.K. Networks to follow the rule.

but know doubt some how they may get round it. 

who knows

[Cleoriff]

I was actually quite pleased none of my family members, who tried 3 of the networks couldn't get it. I can only imagine the next cry would have been 'I have run out of data'...

[jonsie]

Not for me either but some people enjoy and are addicted to the game. I have in-laws here who think nothing of going out sometimes near midnight. Mama, papa and 6 year old son bonkers about the game.

[Cleoriff]

Yes but they, like my friends who live in Spain, are using local sims and have no problem connecting to it at all...

[jonsie]

Just want to make the point that people want to play the game even on holiday. I go on holiday to relax....

[darrengf]

I think I'm getting old. But I dint understand it anyway. So it's def not on my phone or tablet.

ill stick with Snakes and Ladders and Ludo lol.

[jonsie]

I only have Solitaire. ...

[Cleoriff]

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@jonsie wrote:

I only have Solitaire. ...

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I have no games at all....(Waste of time for me as I don't play them)

[Anonymous]

I have had the same problem overseas for the last 3 months, and it isn't O2's problem, it is a PokémonGo problem: they are blocking paying customers to block cheaters. Let me explain (there's a workaround at the bottom):

Niantic, the dudes who built/run PokemonGo, had a lot of problems with people cheating by spoofing where they were in the world by running a GPS hack on their smartphones. So to stop the cheaters, about 3-odd months ago, Niantic changed their software to check which country a smartphone's internet connection was from, to make sure it matched the GPS location of the phone.

That's why when you're on WIFI in Spain the app works, because that WIFI's internet connection is in Spain. You can swap Spain for any country outside of the UK.

But when you're on your 3G/4G in Spain, your phone's internet connection shows up as being in the UK: your phone's internet traffic, from whatever international phone network you are on, is being funnelled through an O2 proxy server in the UK. This is why you're international phone data is never as fast as it is at home in London, that YouTube video you're watching on the beach in Tahiti is getting delivered via the UK.

If you want to test this yourself, when you're overseas try googling "what is my IP" and then enter that IP address on https://www.iplocation.net and it will say it is in the U.K.

Now there is a work around, which ironically enough is to use a tool the cheaters use: install a VPN tool. I found a VPN service that allows me to appear in about 50 different countries around the world. There are lots of different providers, but I've used SurfEasy successfully in the USA/Romania/France/Holland. It didn't work when I was in the Canary Islands (1st world problem...).

So when you're on that canal boat in Amsterdam, you connect to the VPN. You use the VPN's smartphone app to connect to the internet from "Holland". You then open the pokemonGo app and bish, bash, bosh, the game works.

This should also affect EE/VodaPhone/T-Mobile/etc Networks.