No signal in France

[nidostar]

I have an iPhone on an O2 monthly contract. I am in France on holiday at a destination I often visit. Previously I have had excellent all bars mobile phone coverage here. I can actually see the Orange telephone mast from the garden. However currently there is no Orange FR service at all. I can receive other services (Free, SFR, Bouygues) but the signals are very weak and occasional. Others at the house who have an Orange FR contract have no problem receiving a good signal. My phone's iOS is up to date. I have tried contacting O2 from here via landline but after 30 minutes in the queue I gave up. Does anyone have any suggestions for solving this, please? 

[MI5]

According to the T&C's it's addition charges, not disconnection.

Using our services in our Europe Zone for more than 63 days in any four-month period is what we consider to be unfair use. If you do this we’ll send you a fair usage notification by text. If you continue to use these services after we’ve notified you, we’ll apply surcharges for further usage that we recognise as overage.

These surcharges are £3.50 per GB for data, 3.3p per minute for calls and 1p per text. The surcharges will appear on your next month’s bill. We’ll stop applying surcharges to your European Zone usage once the majority of your usage over the previous four months has been in the UK.

Roaming Fair Usage | Terms and Conditions | O2

[pgn]

If this is the first time you have used that iPhone in that location, there is a possibility the antenna in the phone is not working correctly, or is defective...

Alas, booking in to an Apple iPhone Repair Bar for an Apple tech to run checks on it might not be so easy...  France and Apple have history: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/right-to-repair-apple-france @nidostar 

[nidostar]

Some good points here. We generally only switch mobile data on when we're away from the house. A couple of times last year we were told that we had exceeded our "fair usage" quota and would be charged. The charges weren't unreasonable actually. I don't think O2 cut you off if you exceed their "fair usage" allowance. On this occasion both my wife and I lost signal in January less than a month since we were last in the UK. Both our phones are affected so I don't think it's an antenna issue. The plot thickens! Thanks for all your input. 

[madasaf1sh]

@nidostar 

Sounds like a local issue with the Orange Mast, I am afraid, if you can maybe worth speaking to people in the village you are in and asking if they use Orange and have any issues..

[nidostar]

Yes I think you're right @madasaf1sh. Though I know Orange FR subscribers locally have no problem getting a signal. I shall continue to pursue.

[MI5]

@nidostar 

It wouldn't be unusual for Orange Fr to block roaming connections if they needed more capacity for their own subscribers.

I've always found SFr to be the best in our region for signal.

[nidostar]

I hadn't though of that @MI5. It could certainly explain things.