How to fix no network service when roaming

[CormacL5992]

Just had a pointless chat with 48 support due to a coverage issue my wife and son were having after flying to Germany. They were giving me APN settings to change to fix network coverage which is not correct at all. Network and data are two diferent things

I got it to work for them myself and here are the steps we used.

What is going on with your 48 SIM when roaming:

If you are taking your 48 SIM abroad, you may get no network coverage when first turned on in the foreign location.

These are MVNO SIMs and for roaming they use a dual-IMSI SIM to literally have you acting as one of two different mobile subscribers within the one SIM card. They do this to get cheaper roaming rates for both calls and data. They can't charge you for those costs in the EU, so they have to get the cheapest deal for them directly. Hence the SIM is configured so it can operate as a Belgacom-Proximus subscriber when you are roaming.

When you roam, you possibly need to manually switch that identity depending on where you are roaming to.

Switching MVNO IMSI Identity

On your phone there should be an app called "SIM Toolkit" or something in that ballpark. It may also appear as a settings option in your SIM/Mobile network section (the same place where roaming can be turned on/off). I'm speaking from an Android perspective here but something similar should apply for iPhones.

Launch that App and navigate through the menus as follows using either approach. Try the other if the first makes no difference. It lists all kinds of options but at the bottom there should be an option called "When Abroad". 

Then select the options as follows:

When Abroad -> Network Selection -> Automatic  (usually the best one to use)

or.. 

When Abroad -> Network Selection -> Manual -> International Roaming Profile 

When you bo back on the SIM Toolkit menus and navigate forward again, you should see an asterix (*) alongside the selected option confirming it has been changed to what you requested.

Then when you exit back to the home screen, you should hopefully start seeing the phone getting a network connection... and by that we mean coverage on some carrier and not the emergency calls only. The network coverage symbol should not show an "X" or "?". You should see coverage bars etc.

If that is not working, put the phone in airplane mode for about 20 seconds and then turn that mode off again to see if it can now attach to a roaming network. 

If that will not work, try alternating the SIM Toolkit menus again between automatic and manual as shown above and try again. 

Once you get that coverage sorted, the phone should be able to make and receive calls. Go no further until you can get that working.

APN Settings for Internet

Then you can check data services (Internet etc). For data, on the settings -> SIM section, make sure the data roaming is turned on and then check the APNs or Access Point Names.

So when you get into that APNs section, select the 48 profile if present and exit out and test internet (with wifi turned off).

If you see no APNs or just Belgacom/Proximus profiles, then use the "+" option to add a new profile. Set the name to 48 and APN to 48months.liffeytelecom.com. Leave all other options as-is. then on the top-right dot menu select the save option. When you get back to the APNs selection screen, select the newly created 48 profile to be sure its the one that is active. you can also edit the existing 48 profile to confirm that the APN field is set to 48months.liffeytelecom.com if need be.

then exit out of all menus etc, make sure WiFi is off and launch a browser and say go to rte.ie or something like that to confirm the phone is getting data services.

[dermotx]

Hi. Has anybody had any luck getting data to work in the Canaries? I'm in Purto Rico Gran Canaria.

I've been trying to get it to work for the last 3 YEARS on my visits here. I've followed all the guides and had loads of fruitless conversations on CHAT and still not getting data.

I've a Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo but I doubt it's a fault with the phone.

After this holiday I'm throwing in the towel and moving to another operator. This situation is ridiculous. 48months should just tell us that data connections abroad are unreliable or don't work.

Regards

Dermot

[23ru]

Hi! Same problem from the day before yesterday in Alicante Spain. The Internet is gone, but it shows a 3G network. I do not know what to do.Until this day, everything worked well. I checked the roaming, there are still more than 2 GB of unused.

Regards,Edward

[GaryB9966]

Did you ever sort this?..if not did you move and any recommendations? thanks

Same problem here, think i'll jusp ship

[laurac2540]

I’m over in Lanzarote data wouldn’t work changed the settings got it working now it’s down again any ideas

[ProinsiasC5332]

I've just arrived in Austria. I'm able to make calls and texts but no internet connection. Tried pretty much everything I could like manually switching networks, using auto networks, adding APNs, deleting APNs.

Anything else I'm missing?

[frisby]

I have no service I’m abroad in cyprus I’m iPhone 6

[RobertH9325]

Not working for me in Belgium either! I’ve tried the above, and also spent : hours on and off chat support (who have been useless). Sick of this problem when I travel abroad.

[williamoc]

I have had the same problem before in Belgium - Could get service but unable to get data working with various APN configurations

I am now in Italy and I cannot get Service for calls working or data. I believe it is due to the fact when selecting 'International Roaming profile' the phone networks here only make available LTE and 5G for iPhone 12 Pro and 13 Pro (as they are 5G handsets)

Roaming only works with 3G and this option is not available

[SilviaB5438]

Thanks, I tried this but unfortunately it didn't work. I have coverage for about 30secs and the it goes again. When selecting the network manually they all come out as "forbidden". I was in Milan where coverage is normally excellent, this is unacceptable. I was completely unreachable and I had to work. No phone reception or data.

[LetiziaM1118]

The same is happening to me in Italy. It won't connect to any network if left to automatic selection so I tried to manually connect to all the networks available (Wind, Tim, 3 ITA, even vodafone) but none of them works and now they're all "forbidden".

I'm also considering switching provider at this stage, given it's such a widespread issue