Forum Discussion
Roaming - issues setting up Android
Let me try get an odd-on and see if I can receive a text message from the UK. This is literally the only scenario I need to make happen - for my day-to-day data needs I've got a local Cambodian SIM. It's just these pesky OTP messages for a few key apps registered on my SMARTY number . The strange thing is - I'm positive I never bought a roaming add-on before, and I received texts sent from the UK while abroad here (or perhaps I simply forgot!) I'll get back with the results.
EDIT
I bought a £5 out-of-plan addon and I'm still getting 'No Service - Emergency calls only' and zero bars on the network interface 😞 I tried turning Airplane mode on/off to give it a chance to reconnect - still no results.
That is most likely down to the network coverage in Cambodia - Try manually selecting a network rather than letting your phone automatically select a network - Your phone could be latching on to a signal from a network with which Smarty doesn’t have a roaming agreement. EDIT - Just read you are getting zero bars of coverage.
What is your back up phone ? Just wondering if it’s an old 2G feature phone, that may not be helping.
I'm testing on 2 phones:
Cheapo backup Doogee S41 (no networks available at all/no bars)
Pixel 6 Pro (networks available/no bars?)
None of the networks connects - it either says Disconnected or No service
I'm in central location in the capital so connectivity shouldn't be an issue, especially that everything worked on Pixel 4XL just fine in the same spot.
Btw. Is this default configuration here correct? The SMARTY tutorial doesn't mention this segment so I left it 'as is'.
Have you enabled roaming in the settings ?
From Smarty’s own help pages, here are advised settings for Android. Worth leaving the APN type blank as advised below, to see if that makes a difference.
Never heard of a “Doogee” phone to be honest. Is it 4G or 5G capable ?
https://help.smarty.co.uk/en/articles/1155220-using-the-internet-after-you-ve-joined-smarty
Thank you for all your input, it's really appreciated and it makes me hopeful that there's a solution on the horizon.
Doogee is one of those cheap no-name Chinese android phones, it's a rugged brick with 6000mAh battery that I carried as a backup with me - while it is 4G capable, I'm disregarding it in this experiment. I'm doing everything on Pixel 6 Pro now just to be sure.
I rejigged that APN Type field 👍
I noticed that in my old texts I've got 20+ welcome messages from a network called SMART. These must've been instances when my old (now deceased) Pixel 4XL connected and registered on this network automatically. Maybe that's how I was able to receive text messages in the past (I checked and I've got a bunch of NHS appointment reminders, dentist stuff etc. during the period when I was already in Cambodia, so it must've worked in the past). I'll try to drive around and see if I can find that network on the Pixel 6.
