That's very poor if true, and my experience would back that up. It's definitely not a phone issue, I had an android and iphone refuse to connect to anything other than O2-UK 3G. I worked for years for a large red mobile operator too so know very well...
I was in the north yesterday with another 48 user and can confirm that both of us could only connect to O2-uk 3G or 2G. Trying the o2 4G failed as did all other uk metworks including 3 which surprised me. Is it normal for 48 to restrict data roaming ...