Help - SMART SIM not working in UK :(

[MarBell379]

Ive just returned form Philippines and my prepaid SMART SIM which worked fine in roaming mode here before I went, and fine in Phils with roaming turned off, no longer picks up any mobile network at all.

Has anyone experienced this and has any advice how to get it working again?

[Northerner]

Think you might need to speak with smart customer services - or get someone to call them for you. I'd imagine when you went to the phils and activated the sim on "home soil" they have somehow switched off roaming

[Tawi2]

You re-activate "Roaming" before you leave Pinas,I did it in the airport before I left.

[MarBell379]

Thanks Tawi. it WAS working there, but I was under the misapprehension that if I left it on, I could call from Korea (my stop off) if I didnt reactivate roaming. Unfortunately, neither of the phones I have had any signal whatsoever in Korea :(

I don't get any signal whatsoever picked up though. I'd have thought i t would still pick up a network, but not allow calls if that was the case.
Does anyone know if I can reactivate online to see if it makes a difference?

[JimOttley]

Thanks Tawi. it WAS working there, but I was under the misapprehension that if I left it on, I could call from Korea (my stop off) if I didnt reactivate roaming. Unfortunately, neither of the phones I have had any signal whatsoever in Korea :(

I don't get any signal whatsoever picked up though. I'd have thought i t would still pick up a network, but not allow calls if that was the case.
Does anyone know if I can reactivate online to see if it makes a difference?

http://smart.com.ph/Account/Default....t/Default.aspx

Register yourself here.

Then go to

http://smart.com.ph/Connect/

Where you should have

Service Activation/Deactivation
International Roaming
Voicemail Activation
MMS/GPRS/3G Activation

I've not tried it but I think it should work.

The majority of international cellphones do not work in Korea we found that out to our cost before Ana left to got there 6 months ago, you have to have a compatible 3G phone GSM is not supported in Korea at all!

Even the Korean 3G networks can be a bit ropey for foreign roaming phones!


Jim

[darren-b]

Have you got any load left on it? We have had problems with some SIMs turning roaming on when the load left on the phone is less than 100 pesos.

[JimOttley]

Have you got any load left on it? We have had problems with some SIMs turning roaming on when the load left on the phone is less than 100 pesos.

Simple solutions are always the best, Darren is very likely correct you probably have too little load.

I just realised a problem with my suggestion which is that the registration process sends u txt with a code that you need to use to set up your account, it's best to do this in the phils before you leave.


Jim

[Ana_may365]

i have smart roaming here with my other phone,i bought it in sm clarck b4 we come back here and put a 100p load on it.my kids always tx me and reply for them,i have no loads on it for more than 2 years now but still working

[darren-b]

i have smart roaming here with my other phone,i bought it in sm clarck b4 we come back here and put a 100p load on it.my kids always tx me and reply for them,i have no loads on it for more than 2 years now but still working

Smart SIMs we've had in the past seemed to roam without load for a long while, though the Smart SIM we bought this year won't roam at all once the load drops beneath 100 pesos. It's not a problem for us as we can use it in the Plug N' Talk device instead.

[abby]

it happened to me before try to select the network to manual.....

[MarBell379]

Thanks Abby - I tried that but it still wont let me cionnect to any of the networks available :(
It finds Orange, O2, TMobile and Vodafone, but wont connect :(
Just get a 'No Network Access' message.

Not such a problem now as Del will be here in 2.5weeks

[gWaPito]

get your partner to send another sim card frm the Phil. Make sure they load it and set it to 'roaming'.
What my wife did is scotched taped the sim card inside a 'greeting card'. I received it the usual 6 days later.


Oh Also I sent the other smart sim back it had 200 peso's on it. Waste not, want not

[MarBell379]

Thanks guys,.
JimOttley - I tried that, but it wants to text me a code which I cant get.
Theres 300 pesos load on it so that wont be it.
I guess it just needs activating before you leave.

Lesson learned.
Del will be bringing one for herself when she comes and we'll make sure shes signed up on the net in case of any future problems.

[JimOttley]

Thanks guys,.
JimOttley - I tried that, but it wants to text me a code which I cant get.
Theres 300 pesos load on it so that wont be it.
I guess it just needs activating before you leave.

Lesson learned.
Del will be bringing one for herself when she comes and we'll make sure shes signed up on the net in case of any future problems.

Yeah I remembered about the code after I made the suggestion, it's a shame they don't offer the option of emailing the code instead, it's their loss as there must be a lot of folk in your position and they make a lot of money out of you if you are roaming.


Jim

[MarBell379]

Yeah I remembered about the code after I made the suggestion, it's a shame they don't offer the option of emailing the code instead, it's their loss as there must be a lot of folk in your position and they make a lot of money out of you if you are roaming.Jim

Typical Philippines business model it seems. Too busy trying to make quick money to worry about long term sustainable business. I guess other in my position would buy another card, making them more cash, but they'd probably only do so once before moving to another provider, so the short term gain is more than outweighed by lost long term business.
Its a huge shame, but this sort of model seems fairly common.

[JimOttley]

Typical Philippines business model it seems. Too busy trying to make quick money to worry about long term sustainable business. I guess other in my position would buy another card, making them more cash, but they'd probably only do so once before moving to another provider, so the short term gain is more than outweighed by lost long term business.
Its a huge shame, but this sort of model seems fairly common.

The choices are Globe or Smart, in my opinion Smart is better, Smart for the most part is pretty "Smart" they have some good products, they are just dumb in this one particular area.

They will lose more in lost revenue from not having a SIM roaming overseas than they will gain from an additional SIM card purchase.

Best to get a couple of Smart SIMS registered on the online system and get them over to the UK, at least you then have internet control of the SIMS and you should be fine well into the future.


Jim