iPhone 5s - 4G doesn't work in roaming

[sedfeis]

I have an iPhone 5S, bought from Romania, the model is A1457.

The problem is that it doesn't connect on the 4G network in France (neither SFR or Orange, although both of them have 4G coverage in the area where I am).

This happened starting with December 2014. I have tried various solutions found across the Internet, but nothing worked until now.

While I was back in Romania for holiday, the phone connected to 4G network, but while in roaming it simply doesn't want to go higher than 3G.

My subscription to the Romanian operator is ok, verified multiple times. I tried my SIM card in another phone (samsung) and it instantly connected.

Any advices on this problem?


Thanks

 

[bluedukies8]

I have an iPhone 5S, bought from Romania, the model is A1457.

The problem is that it doesn't connect on the 4G network in France (neither SFR or Orange, although both of them have 4G coverage in the area where I am).

This happened starting with December 2014. I have tried various solutions found across the Internet, but nothing worked until now.

While I was back in Romania for holiday, the phone connected to 4G network, but while in roaming it simply doesn't want to go higher than 3G.

My subscription to the Romanian operator is ok, verified multiple times. I tried my SIM card in another phone (samsung) and it instantly connected.

Any advices on this problem?


Thanks

Not knowing what was all tried "I have tried various solutions found across the Internet"....my first suggestion is have you gone into Settings -> Cellular -> and flipped the switch for Data Roaming? To turn it on?

 

[sedfeis]

Not knowing what was all tried "I have tried various solutions found across the Internet"....my first suggestion is have you gone into Settings -> Cellular -> and flipped the switch for Data Roaming? To turn it on?

Hi and thank you for answering.

Data roaming is on, of course, and 4G is selected in the list, but my phone still shows 3G in an area where I should have 4G. As far as I read on the apple website, my iPhone 5S A1457 supports the 4G network here in France.

I have tried resetting the network settings, reinserting sim, flipping airplane mode on and off, still nothing.

Any suggestions?

 

[Martin81]

Does your local provider support 4G on roaming?

 

[sedfeis]

Yes, I checked with them. My friend has a Samsung with the same subscription in roaming and he has 4G. My SIM card works on 4G on his phone, but not on my iPhone 5S.

 

[Martin81]

Okay. My first thought after reading your last post: maybe it's the phone. Meaning that the provider uses a LTE band that isn't supported by your iPhone. With a iPhone 5 it would have been a fair bet, but the 5S supports a lot of LTE bands. Although your version has "limited" LTE support, that should not be a problem. I've checked the LTE bands in France here and SFR and Orange use LTE band 7 and 20. Both are supported by your iPhone. Have you checked out Bouygues? They additionally support LTE band 3.

 

[0007776]

Okay. My first thought after reading your last post: maybe it's the phone. Meaning that the provider uses a LTE band that isn't supported by your iPhone. With a iPhone 5 it would have been a fair bet, but the 5S supports a lot of LTE bands. Although your version has "limited" LTE support, that should not be a problem. I've checked the LTE bands in France here and SFR and Orange use LTE band 7 and 20. Both are supported by your iPhone. Have you checked out Bouygues? They additionally support LTE band 3.

I checked with Apple's page and Romania and France both used the same model of 5S and the OP's model number is the correct one for both countries so it should work fine.

The only thought that I have is is it possible for the phone to start to go bad and only have some LTE bands not working without the whole cellular chip failing?

 

[sedfeis]

I've tried Bouygues yesterday and got 4G, finally.

In my opinion, judging by the facts, this means that my iPhone connects only on this band. The other bands are also supported by the phone and it should connect. What's happening isn't normal. What should I do about this?

 

[Martin81]

Use Bouygues. There should be no difference in the roaming costs.

But strange it is. If you had not checked with another phone I would have said, that there is no LTE signal in that location.
My last advice would have been a carrier update for iOS.

I checked that link in my post again. Seems like all carriers with LTE in Romania use band 3 (Vodafone additionally Band 20 and Orange band 7). So maybe there really is a problem with your iPhone in excessing some LTE bands. But I have no clue how to check that out.

 

[chambone]

I've tried Bouygues yesterday and got 4G, finally.

In my opinion, judging by the facts, this means that my iPhone connects only on this band. The other bands are also supported by the phone and it should connect. What's happening isn't normal. What should I do about this?

Does it fetch the settings in cellular>cellular data network automatically? Maybe you can check your carriers site for the exact settings for 4g, and input them manually if not correct.

 

[sedfeis]

Does it fetch the settings in cellular>cellular data network automatically? Maybe you can check your carriers site for the exact settings for 4g, and input them manually if not correct.

Hi,

Yes, it fetches the settings automatically. I have verified them with the operator and they are all ok, but the problem still persists.