Roaming in Isle of Man not working

[PRG2]

Dear Virgin Mobile,

I've just arrived in the Isle of Man and have no phone service at all. When I found these help pages I find that this is a problem that has been going on for years with numerous posts.

I find it amazing that you've not managed to fix this problem after all of this time and that customers keep having the same issue!

[philguk]

Quick update for anyone else following this thread

All is now working. I’d hit my spending cap, which caused calls/texts to stop working. My wife’s number had no cap, so kept working!

Thanks to Lee for helping me understand what was going on

[wilber_force]

I'm pleased you got sorted.

Sadly my trip over to the island has been scrapped for this year which has left a sour taste but that is not Virgin's fault.

Last time I was over, I had no connection with any one, not even the resident Manx telecom provider. I never discovered why. Hey ho, and enjoy your trip. 

[Chris_W1]

Hi wilber_force, thanks for the message. 

I am happy to hear that this has now been resolved and let us know if you need any further assistance? 

Chris. 

[wilber_force]

I'm just catching up with old replies

The issue I have is NOT resolved. I won't know until I go again and as the trip this year is cancelled/scrapped, I won't know. Virgin media staff really need to actually read posts.

[enlli]

It should be resolved for those who have moved fully to O2

I know the reason for the problem. Virgin won't admit it but it can't be resolved due to their convoluted roaming system

O2 is straight forward and as a bonus IOM is included in Roam Like Home

[Gareth_L]

Hello wilber_force.

Thanks for replying and sorry if we caused you any confusion. 

As you are not going till next year the roaming option will be fixed.

You will have been migrated to O2 as per the statement below.

In February 2023, we'll start contacting Virgin Mobile customers who'll be the first to move over to O2 mobile plans, and the switch will happen in March 2023. 

We'll continue to move customers over to O2 mobile plans throughout the year, and by the end of 2023 all existing and newly joined Virgin Mobile customers will have been moved to O2 plans.

Gareth_L
 

[IoMvisitor]

Too late for me. After literally years of communication with Virgin over this issue, I finally gave up and switched to iDmobile. Guess what, it works no problem.

Virgin could and should have been honest. If you had (or have) an old Virgin sim card them roaming in the IoM is never going to work. They knew this all along and yet refused to be honest and up front about it. Well, they have lost me as a customer.

[Gareth_L]

Hello IoMvisitor.

Thanks for your open and honest feedback.

We will make sure you comments are passed to the right team to improve the service going forward

We are very sorry to hear you have left us and wish you all the best with your current provider.

Gareth_L 

[philguk]

Absolutely. I've lost count of the number of conversations I have had and the number of times I've had to jump through hoops to prove "it's not me" - just to find that notning got done anyway

Is the Isle of Man truly a "roam like home" country? I was under the impression it wasn't

AND, perhaps more importantly, if the "roam like home" depends on whether I have a  "Virgin SIM" or an "O2 SIM" how do I know whether I'm going to be hit with roaming charges??

OR do I just assume that if my phone roams correctly I won't be charged roaming rates?? That certainly was NOT the case back in March....

[Gareth_L]

Hello Philguk.

Thank you as well for your post.

You can check what countries are included right here for O2

I am going to check in a bit more detail and get a definte answer regarding the option with Virgin Mobile. 

As soon as I do I will update you on here.

Gareth_L