Why is 4g not available while in Spain

[Anonymous]

Why is it that I can't get 4g while roaming in Spain? I'm here with a mate and he is on Vodafone back in the U.K. he has got constant 4g. I've not seen it once, we pay £1.99 a day, l believe one of the more expensive roaming charges, so why is it O2 cannot provide the best service for this!? What was also amusing was that while trying to write this out on my iPhone on 3G I seemed to use all my daily allowance and then get blocked from getting on the forum!

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

O2 has no 4g roaming agreements anywhere in the world as yet.
Their business decision!

[Anonymous]

Just to add my experience while I'm here in Menorca for the past week. Data download and upload speeds are appalling and by that I mean on Speedtest Im getting 0.02 mbps download and about the same upload. That's not a misprint it really is almost zero.
Roaming ok Movistar with a full 3G or HSDPA signal. Tried restarts, swapping to Orange etc etc with the same results.
I contacted O2 who blatantly refused to help citing they don't guarantee service abroad. They wouldn't deal with it, investigate or even try to help. Shocking service from a lazy inept team who simply couldn't be bothered.
My work mobile is working fine by comparison, 4G on Vodafone ES ( it's a Vodafone mobile).
Very disappointed overall, I've been with O2 for years and it's a shame that they obviously don't care.
Will be terminating the contract on my return to the UK.

[MI5]

See elsewhere on the forum - that's typical of the excuse O2 try to pass as data roaming.

[Anonymous]

Cheers - seeing as it's poor speed on both Movistar and Orange while roaming this suggests the problem is at the o2 end.
Oh well....

[MI5]

They get what they pay for, which is next to nothing then charge us £2 a day for it!

[Anonymous]

Lol nice one 😊

[Cleoriff]

Funny thing is when I am in Southern Spain the phone shops you see dotted everywhere are Vodafone ES and Orange ES (along with Movistar of course) Before I had WiFi in my apartment I used to top up my netbook using a local Orange ES sim. It was fine. Sadly, the answer appears to be to use a local sim. You would get 4G then.....

[MI5]

A local sim is the answer everywhere, providing you can go through the rigmarole of getting one.

[Cleoriff]

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@MI5 wrote:
A local sim is the answer everywhere, providing you can go through the rigmarole of getting one.

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When I got mine it was a 2 hr job. Passport required and forms filled in triplicate. Then I had to go back later that day to see if I had been accepted. Topping up wasn't easy either. I was on PAYG. This process required a passport ID and then to activate it, a call by the store staff to head office in Barcelona. Now this was the official route. If I had spoken Spanish I could have activated it myself...but it would still have needed a call to Orange ES. Easy enough if you are local. No idea if this has changed at all. I have had Wifi for 3 years so it may be different now.