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Three roaming in the UK???
canvey
25-10-2014
Hi,

Have put a three PAYG sim into my phone.

I do not get good signal here on any network (despite apparently being in a large town with supposedly good signal) - but on Three I am seeing R come up above bars (I do not get this on Vodafone)

I also get a message to say that Roaming is disabled, which it is.

Two questions therefore....

1) Why am I seeing roaming in the UK? (I am nowhere near the coast or foreign land)
2) If I enable roaming might I be charged for roaming data / calls?

Am a bit confused!

Thanks.
Jack_Wilson2
25-10-2014
Originally Posted by canvey:
“Hi,

Have put a three PAYG sim into my phone.

I do not get good signal here on any network (despite apparently being in a large town with supposedly good signal) - but on Three I am seeing R come up above bars (I do not get this on Vodafone)

I also get a message to say that Roaming is disabled, which it is.

Two questions therefore....

1) Why am I seeing roaming in the UK? (I am nowhere near the coast or foreign land)
2) If I enable roaming might I be charged for roaming data / calls?

Am a bit confused!

Thanks.”

It's probably roaming to Orange as Three UK still have a agreement with Orange to provide services for Calls/Texts, but to make sure do a manual network scan and see what you pick up and see if you can manually connect to 3.

Your questions ;-

1) Why am I seeing roaming in the UK? (I am nowhere near the coast or foreign land)
2) If I enable roaming might I be charged for roaming data / calls?

No one can answer that unless you provide information of the site your connected to using software which will tell you. No user here has any idea of which Cell Site you're connected to.
Thine Wonk
25-10-2014
Originally Posted by canvey:
“Hi,

Have put a three PAYG sim into my phone.

I do not get good signal here on any network (despite apparently being in a large town with supposedly good signal) - but on Three I am seeing R come up above bars (I do not get this on Vodafone)

I also get a message to say that Roaming is disabled, which it is.

Two questions therefore....

1) Why am I seeing roaming in the UK? (I am nowhere near the coast or foreign land)
2) If I enable roaming might I be charged for roaming data / calls?

Am a bit confused!

Thanks.”

I might be able to guess where you are based on your username Canvey Island? might be wrong though!

Three roams on to Orange in some places, you can enable data roaming, but it would be pointless as the Orange 2G backup for Three doesn't allow data roaming, but it is fine for calls and texts. Hopefully you have wifi for data at home and you'll get mobile data when you're out and about.

I hope that answers the question.
canvey
25-10-2014
Thanks.

I see

3 WCDMA
3 GSM
vodafone UK GSM
vodafone UK WCDMA
EE GSM
EE WCDMA
O2 - UK GSM

apparently the cell is 11529 (short) or 1649929 (long)
canvey
25-10-2014
Originally Posted by Thine Wonk:
“I might be able to guess where you are based on your username Canvey Island? might be wrong though!

Three roams on to Orange in some places, you can enable data roaming, but it would be pointless as the Orange 2G backup for Three doesn't allow data roaming, but it is fine for calls and texts. Hopefully you have wifi for data at home and you'll get mobile data when you're out and about.

I hope that answers the question.”

Thanks - no in Lancashire. used to be Canvey many years ago LOL

I am using three's software over wifi to get calls. Was concerned if I enable roaming I would get billed. I do pick up three sometimes, depending on where I am in the house.
Thine Wonk
25-10-2014
Originally Posted by canvey:
“Thanks - no in Lancashire. used to be Canvey many years ago LOL

I am using three's software over wifi to get calls. Was concerned if I enable roaming I would get billed. I do pick up three sometimes, depending on where I am in the house.”

You won't be billed for roaming in the UK, if you're worried just login to "my three" and you'll find and international roaming toggle for on and off.

The only way you could get charged for roaming in the UK is if you were in a coastal areas and happened to get a French network, that is fairly rare and you would get a text message welcoming you to France! + the operator wouldn't show as Three.

If it shows Three it's free (well, included)
Richard_T
26-10-2014
Originally Posted by Thine Wonk:
“You won't be billed for roaming in the UK, if you're worried just login to "my three" and you'll find and international roaming toggle for on and off.

The only way you could get charged for roaming in the UK is if you were in a coastal areas and happened to get a French network, that is fairly rare and you would get a text message welcoming you to France! + the operator wouldn't show as Three.

If it shows Three it's free (well, included)”

Ive had the welcome to France roaming message followed by a feel at home country message in several spots on the Kent coast, anywhere between Dungeness and Deal most notably at Dover and St Margrets Bay. So far no charges yet, just annoying messages.
Daveoc64
27-10-2014
... and of course, if you're on Three you probably won't see any roaming charges when picking up a French signal - because of Feel at Home*


*Unless you did something that wouldn't be included in Feel at Home (e.g. premium rate number).
moox
27-10-2014
Originally Posted by Thine Wonk:
“The only way you could get charged for roaming in the UK is if you were in a coastal areas and happened to get a French network, that is fairly rare and you would get a text message welcoming you to France! + the operator wouldn't show as Three.”

Slight nitpick but you could also be picking up an Irish or Isle of Man network (don't know how well the signal travels). I guess Ireland would be included as a feel at home country, but I would guess that the IoM and Manx Telecom wouldn't be.

Or even the Channel Islands?

(I wonder why the other networks didn't do what 3 is doing in respect of Irish roaming, years ago, it sounds really unfair for people on the border that they risk roaming charges. Especially where the network operator owns both a UK and Irish network)
Redcoat
28-10-2014
Originally Posted by moox:
“(I wonder why the other networks didn't do what 3 is doing in respect of Irish roaming, years ago, it sounds really unfair for people on the border that they risk roaming charges. Especially where the network operator owns both a UK and Irish network)”

O2 contract customers who buy in-store in Northern Ireland can have free roaming on to O2's southern Irish network and have done so for years - not sure what will happen with Hutchinson buying out O2 Ireland. They did have a PAYG bolt-on that cost £2 a month a few years ago that allowed for free roaming, at least for answering calls anyway. Not sure if they still do it. Not sure what the exact figures are now, but I do know that a few years ago O2 had an 80% market share in border areas as they were the network regarded as the most "roaming friendly".

Vodafone have a similar scheme for their retail outlets as well in NI for contract customers.
Daveoc64
28-10-2014
Originally Posted by moox:
“(I wonder why the other networks didn't do what 3 is doing in respect of Irish roaming, years ago, it sounds really unfair for people on the border that they risk roaming charges. Especially where the network operator owns both a UK and Irish network)”

££££££££/€€€€€€€€!

Why would they want to close down any source of income?
Mark C
28-10-2014
Originally Posted by Daveoc64:
“££££££££/€€€€€€€€!

Why would they want to close down any source of income?”


Indeed, in fact it's more of a surprise that they do allow free roaming !!!
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