Roaming is using another network

In the UK, it is not possible to roam onto networks other than the one you have a contract with, not for technical reasons, but because the networks do not have agreements with one another to allow it. Your handset will try to do this for an emergency call, but the networks won't accept such a call, and the attempt will fail.

As ever, there is one exception: users of 3, the Hutchison 3G network, can use 0₂'s network when their network has no coverage. This was a facility that came with the 3G licence that 3's owners bought.

PAYG and roaming

In the past, you couldn't roam with a PAYG phone. The networks had no way to check your credit when you made a call, so they didn't allow it. A new system, called CAMEL, allows the networks to exchange billing data in real time. This is being rolled out across all the mobile phone companies, and allows PAYG customers to enjoy the benefits of roaming.

Virgin Mobile allows roaming, but you first have to pay £15 to set up monthly payment by Direct Debit. This does not prevent you from paying in advance if you prefer, of course.

Roaming abroad

When you take your GSM mobile phone outside the area of your mobile network, the handset looks for networks it could use.

It searches for all the networks, and chooses the network on the basis of that network's place in the "preferred networks" list stored in the sim card and of the signal strength from that network. Note that this normally gives you access to all GSM networks in that country: a significant advantage over domestic users' situation.

The handset then attempts to register on the network (for details of how, see the Roaming page of the How It Works section.

Once registered, the mobile works as if it were on the home network, but for the cost!

If registration is refused...

If there is a problem with the roaming status of your account, or the network doesn't yet have a roaming agreement with your home network, the handset won't be able to log on to the network, and will try another network. It will remember being refused, and the reason for the refusal, and won't try to register with it again, unless you force it to retry by manually selecting that network. So when you've had the problem resolved, or when you go back next year, try a manual network search and selections.

What is the cost?

There are additional charges to pay when you are roaming: see this section's Costs page for an overview.

Before you go...

Before you go abroad with your mobile, go through the checklist on the Before You Go page.

Roaming in America

America is a special case for roaming. See the USA page for details.

Roaming in Japan

You can't. Sorry. Japan uses a completely different mobile phone system, which is not compatible with GSM

Answerphone

Make sure you understand the cost, technical issues and the implications of your answerphone when you are roaming. See this section's Answerphone page for more information.

Calling Line Identity

Normally, when you make an international call, your number is not released to the caller, and is marked "unavailable" and/or "international".

If you make a call to a number in the country you are roaming in, this is not an international call. Your mobile number is passed to the destination, even though it is a "foreign" number - the call has not passed an international border, so the number is available.

Similarly, if you call home, your number is not passed to the recipient, because it is an international call.

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