This topic

Mobile in Switzerland

msmobile — Thu, 21 May 2026 20:03:47 GMT

My wife and I arrived in Switzerland today

neither of us can make or receive network calls

we have date and can receive texts inc from BT telling us we can make calls as usual

we have been here many times before on the same mobile plan without hitch

Re: Mobile in Switzerland

Kimberlin — Thu, 21 May 2026 22:00:53 GMT

Notwithstanding the fact that you’ve visited Switzerland many times before, but you have made sure that roaming is enabled on your handsets?

https://www.bt.com/help/mobile/going-abroad/using-bt-mobile-abroad/bt-mobile--what-do-i-need-to-do-before-i-go-abroad-

Re: Mobile in Switzerland

msmobile — Tue, 26 May 2026 15:56:14 GMT

Yes
We crossed the border to Italy for a day and our phones were fine
Then back to Switzerland and same problem~
My wife could make occasional calls
I couldn't make or receive calls
Swisscom told us they switched off 3G this year and this might be something to do with the problem, but not obvious since our phones were showing 4G and 5G

Re: Mobile in Switzerland

Katie_B — Wed, 27 May 2026 06:55:49 GMT

Hello @msmobile.

Thanks for confirming.

Have you tried selecting another available network?

When you arrived back in Switzerland did you reboot your phone?

Speak soon,

Katie

Re: Mobile in Switzerland

msmobile — Wed, 27 May 2026 07:17:55 GMT

Thank you

Yes we tried Salt and Sunrise, the other 2 Swiss networks. The reception was very poor - 1 bar - whereas in the past they were fully accessible, and if we tried to make a call on these networks they immediately defaulted to no reception available

rebooted the phones lots of times

Re: Mobile in Switzerland

Katie_B — Wed, 27 May 2026 15:14:59 GMT

That's strange @msmobile.

I'm unsure what could be causing this.

Do you have access to another working phone?

Our technical care team can be contacted by calling +44 150 174 7714.

Katie

Re: Mobile in Switzerland

msmobile — Wed, 27 May 2026 15:25:48 GMT

Thank you
We're back in the UK now
I dialled 150 yesterday and spoke to someone, but they had no useful suggestions
We travel to Switzerland regularly though and so if this recurs we'll have to change mobile providers

Re: Mobile in Switzerland

Colin_London — Wed, 27 May 2026 16:20:46 GMT

Maybe BT have reduced their roaming agreements? Several countries now there is only one network that will work with BT, and this might not be one that provides universal coverage.

Re: Mobile in Switzerland

Colin_London — Fri, 29 May 2026 14:23:14 GMT

So I have been experiencing problems making calls in Denmark. Calling another BT mobile on TDC network results in one ring tone, followed by silence. The call continues according to the phone timer, but the called mobile hasn’t registered an incoming call or missed call at all.

Yesterday it rang properly and got through after three attempts. Today didn’t work after 4 attempts so rebooted the phone. It then worked the next time.

So unknown whether it is a problem with iPhones, TDC or BTs ‘roam like home’ solution, but definitely flakey.

Re: Mobile in Switzerland

msmobile — Fri, 29 May 2026 15:30:18 GMT

That's interesting - I think we had some failed call attempts like that too, but re-booting the phone didn't help

So the common features are iphone + BT roam like home + the other country has shut off its 3G network (Switzerland this year, Denmark a few years ago)

Re: Mobile in Switzerland

Kimberlin — Fri, 29 May 2026 16:48:51 GMT

I might be wrong and happy to be corrected, but I'm assuming that BT Mobile effectively operates as an MVNO using the EE Network?

I use a EE based MVNO and I don't have any issues using the roaming facility within Europe, though to be fair, I haven't used it in Switzerland, indeed I've not been to Switzerland since around 1972 when I believe there were no such things as mobile phones 😂

It is correct that many countries are abandoning the use of older network technologies, though my own MVNO still lists 2g, 3g, 4g and 5g as possible network choices in my mobile netowork menu. I'm fortunate enough that 5G seems to be fairly reliable almost everywhere I go, especially in the UK and Spain. EE has many partner networks spread throughout Europe. Where I live, I even get EE French partner telecom providers pop up on my list of available networks.

For info, I have a iPhone 17 and I've used it successfully a number of times in Europe using EE partner networks so far in 2026.

Worth having a look at the following article if you're unsure of what is happening:

https://whereversim.com/en/3g-sunset

Re: Mobile in Switzerland

msmobile — Fri, 29 May 2026 16:57:14 GMT

Thank you

Our phones were saying they were on 4G and 5G, and we have been using them in Switzerland for a few years without problem. The only thing I am aware of is that has changed since we were last there in January is that Switzerland has dropped 3G. I spoke to someone at Swisscom who thought the 3G point might be relevant, but I have no idea why

Re: Mobile in Switzerland

Colin_London — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 07:52:43 GMT

Just because EE has a roaming partner in a country doesn’t mean that BT mobile will as well. I have found BT mobile choices to be much more restrictive than EE with only one network available, and it is not always the most extensive one.

if you want premium roaming you need to go with a premium operator.

Re: Mobile in Switzerland

msmobile — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 08:10:48 GMT

Thank you

We have been using BT mobile for several years and have never before had a problem in Switzerland (probably over 20 visits). So something must have changed since we were last there in January this year

Family members on the same BT sim plan have used them in Italy, Czech Republic and Greece this year without problem

Re: Mobile in Switzerland

Kimberlin — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 08:29:31 GMT

@Colin_London What's premium these days? I'm with Spusu, a Austrian MVNO that operates by piggybacking off EE in the UK and I don't have any issues connecting anywhere where there's a signal or clearly, a roaming partner. If there isn't, I just use free WiFi through a VPN if it's available.

There could be a number of reasons why particular phones even, don't connect to various networks. I use a iPhone 17 that's fully up to date on O/S. There are people out there who just don't bother updating, so network carrier settings don't get updated, so for instance, on Apple phones, network carrier settings are now on v.70. Keeping network carrier settings updated is important, for the reasons outlined in the following link:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/109324

Although I do own a Android phone, I rarely use it, but I assume it would be a similar situation.