4G suddenly not available to me in France

[LesleyC_1438579]

I use an iPhone 11, as does my husband, exactly the same Smarty plan each, we’ve been using these successfully with Smarty in and out of UK and France for about 18 months. We have identical settings, both have Mobile Data settings changed for Roaming to mob.asm.net , I’ve just checked and confirmed everything in Settings on both phones is identical, mobile Data Options Roaming is On, Voice and Data is set to 4G on both 4G Voice & Data.
BUT today on arrival in France I can only get 3G, he has 4G. We are currently side by side, so it’s not geography or signal strength. I have powered my phone down, turned it off and back on.
WHY? And what can I do to get mine back? Can anybody help please?

[MSF · Accepted solution]

Hello @LesleyC_1438579 . I think it is just one of those things that cannot be easily explained. I have experienced the same today while roaming in the EU. My wife had 4G on her Smarty connection sitting next to me with an E connection crawling. Right now, I have 4G but it did drop back to E for a while.

 I am guessing that the EU networks give priority to their own customers- that’s what I would expect certainly if I were their customer! Being philosophical, I suppose we should perhaps be thankful that we still get to roam without charge!😏

[MSF · Accepted solution]

Hello @LesleyC_1438579 . I think it is just one of those things that cannot be easily explained. I have experienced the same today while roaming in the EU. My wife had 4G on her Smarty connection sitting next to me with an E connection crawling. Right now, I have 4G but it did drop back to E for a while.

 I am guessing that the EU networks give priority to their own customers- that’s what I would expect certainly if I were their customer! Being philosophical, I suppose we should perhaps be thankful that we still get to roam without charge!😏

[LesleyC_1438579]

Ah, that sounds like a reason, thank you very much. A pain, but a reason! And I am certainly really grateful that Smarty still gives us roaming, I keep recommending them to friends for that reason alone. 

[PeterBr_1027994]

No, that’s not good enough. Smarty do t say that they provide a 2nd class service in France. Other networks provide a full 4G service and full roaming. So, No. it’s not good enough, Smarty. 

[JJP2RidesAgain]

It’s not Smarty though !

It’s foreign networks de-prioritising people roaming on their networks from overseas.

All networks, be they French, German, American, Czech, whatever, will prioritise their own paying customers over people roaming from overseas. 

Would you, as a Smarty customer, be happy if 3 / Smarty gave French or American customers priority or even equal access to their network as you ? You wouldn’t ! 

Bouyges Telecom in France, T-Mobile in the Czech Republic, Verizon in the USA and all other networks will always prioritise their own paying customers over people roaming from foreign networks, especially during busy times, at events etc. That’s just the way things are !

[MSF]

@PeterBr_1027994 Sorry, but I think that you are missing the point.

Smarty don't actually provide the service - the foreign network does. Nobody says that the service will definitely be 2nd class - in fact I have had some very good service while roaming. It is just that networks (quite rightly IMHO) treat their own customers as a priority.

[JJP2 · Accepted solution]

As @MSF has said, this is almost certainly due to what is known as “de-prioritisation” - At busy times, networks reduce the speed of people roaming on their network, it’s just “luck” or “chance” that you have been bumped down to 3G whilst your husband is still on 4G.

This enables networks to offer a good quality of service to their own customers. 

[PeterBr_1027994]

Not good enough, Smarty. A second class service is not good enough for your customers, is it?

or is it?

[AmandaL_1301753]

I had exact he same problem. The solution is to take your SIM out for a few minutes. Upon returning to phone give it a few minutes and voila! 

[JJP2RidesAgain]

If that works for all, all good, but there is an easier way - Just switch your phone off or even put it in airplane mode, easier and quicker than removing your SIM card, and no risk of losing that little tiny plastic chip 😉