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Phone not working abroad

Abbywilly
Joining in

Hi, 

I am currently travelling for a year outside of the EU. 
I have been unable to use my phone abroad and cannot call virgin due to this issue to resolve the problems I am having. 
I have set up everything for use of my mobile abroad. I have data roaming on and international call barring off. 
however I am still unable to make any calls or texts. 
I have been using an E sim abroad for data whilst in New Zealand. 
Please can you help asap as I need to make some important calls. 
thank you in advance 

9 REPLIES 9

Matthew_ML
Forum Team
Forum Team

Hey Abbywilly, thank you for reaching out and a warm welcome to the community I am sorry to hear your phone is not working over seas.

Have you tried increasing the spend cap? 

Calls can't be expensive to make in New Zealand and if the spend cap is quite low this could be the issue. Thanks 

Matt - Forum Team


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xbakerbob
On our wavelength

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I was abroad and they had to reset my roaming settings. 

I have tried lots to try and fix this and nothing works. 
Alll my settings are correct on my phone. 
when I get a call I can see it incoming but I am unable to answer. 

Hi @Abbywilly thanks for your reply here.

As a minimum, we do need to ensure the following have been done: 
You have fully activated roaming on your device. You have confirmed this was done but was it done so before you left the UK?
When putting your SIM card in to another device, are things then working or do you have the same issue?
We also need to check if the SIM toolkit as been switched on:
For an Android phone, please can you do the following: Selects Apps from your home screen > Virgin SIM toolkit > Roaming > Mode > Manual > International. Once this has been done you might need to reboot. Let us know if this works for you. 
For an iPhone, please can you do the following: Settings > Phone > SIM Applications > Roaming > Mode > Manual > International. If you’re using a newer iOS, then you it will be under Mobile Data instead of phone. Once this has been done you might need to reboot. Let us know if this works for you. 
It might be worth trying to do a manual network search to see if you can connect to any others and see if that helps. It could be that the network you're connected too maybe doesn't have the best signal where you are. This is out of our control as we don't use our own networks outside of the UK. 
Pop back and let us know so we can help further. 
Thanks, 

Tom_W

Hi, 

I have done all of these things. I have now spoke to someone via whatsapp and it will not work as virgin has no cell towers in New Zealand. 
Virgin will not let me end my contract even though I can use my phone abroad and they advertise I can use it in New Zealand. 
I have spent hours trying to fix this over many nights due to the time difference with no help. 
I have missed important calls and have never had worse service and customer service. 
Very disappointed 

Hi @Abbywilly thanks for your reply here, I can appreciate this is difficult especially given the time difference.

We had previously mentioned the spend cap above, but you didn't really answer if you'd checked your spend cap. If your spend cap is low, this may be one of the first reasons why things aren't working for you as if you've gone above it, it will stop you being able to spend any more.

Can you check this as first port of call please? 
Additionally as part of roam like home, this is only active for 90 days and once the SIM Card has left the country for 90+ days the SIM Card may face being disconnected in the future. Please let us know if you need any further help going forwards here.

Many thanks

Tom_W

This sounds like the issue that many people are experience due to them joining up with O2. I have had issues since September. The main issue being people calling me and can't hear that I reply but I can call them and they can hear.
I have had no internet at times or no phone always when overseas. I have no issues in the UK.
I am on a Facebook group and about 60 plus people have issues with Virgin.
If this is not resolved when I return to Spain I will be contacting BBC Watchdog

I hope you resolve your issue as I know how stressful it is when travelling and not being able to use your phone. I suspect you might need to purchase a local sim. Good luck

enlli
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

Watchdog won't be interested, especially as Virgin Mobile will be closing down this year and customers moved unto O2 and their systems,  which are presently separate to Virgin's.

I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media. Learn more

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Hi Smg, 

Thanks for your post and welcome to our community. 

We do apologise you've recently had issues when travelling outside of the UK and we can assure you it's not the level of service we aim to provide. 

If you do have any issues on your next trip do get in touch and we'll do all we can to help. 

Thanks
 

Emma_C - Forum Team