Roaming limited to 3G?

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

i have a weird problem, but it’s been going on ever since I can remember...

I am ex-O2 customer and while I have no problem with 4G in Ireland, for some reason while abroad I can never get anything better than 3G. Regardless of country or the network.

I did phone restarts, network settings resets. I noticed that my APN is still set to the old O2 (APN: internet), so I tried to change it manually to the “official” Three’s one (3ireland.ie) but if I do that, phone can’t activate data connection at all. Yes, the 4G is enabled in my roaming settings.

i wonder if I’m the only one who’s not getting 4G abroad and if not, is there anything I can do?

i just want to point out as well that my Vodafone phone has no problem picking up 4G abroad, even when roaming with the same network as my Three phone.

[Anonymous]

3internet is what I have, try that one or open.internet.public  

I get 4G when I'm roaming as in it shows on my phone but I stick to 3G because it works better. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks, the open.internet.public works, but again just with 3G. 3ireland.ie results in “cannot activate cellular data”.

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous  What about the 3Internet ? Is your sim really old or anything?

[Anonymous]

sim isn’t old, I replaced it last year. But the “default” network settings are still O2, I’m assuming this somehows keeps “travelling” with my number on the three’s systems (I was o2 customer until they merge us in).

Setting up 3ireland.ie as APN throws out error that it can not activate data connection.

I also want to point out 4G works perfectly fine at home, just not abroad.

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous But what about 3Internet as apn not 3ireland.ie 

[Three_Deborah]

Hi @Anonymous you should be able to connect to 4G when abroad where services are available depending on the location and roaming partner. @Anonymous has been very helpful (thank you) but sometimes the account settings need to be changed so I can do that for you if you PM me your number, address and date of birth.

[Rudie_32276]

I'm having exactly the same problem. I'm from Dublin and have 5G data no problem back home in RepublicofIreland. Currently in the UK on holiday and as person above my phone number only want to connect to the O2 UK network on 2G or a bit of 3G. No issues on my wife's and mom's Three numbers they been having 4G/5G connection roaming without issues.  Called Three many times emailed and chatted no help whatsoever.

I'm experiencing the exact same issue. I'm from Dublin and have no problems accessing 5G data back home in the Republic of Ireland. Currently, I'm on holiday in the UK, and just like the person above, my phone is only connecting to the O2 UK network on 2G or, at best, a bit of 3G.

What's particularly frustrating is that all three of us—my wife, my mom, and I—are using Samsung S24 devices. They both have physical SIM cards, while I’m using an eSIM. Despite having identical settings across all our phones, they’re enjoying fast 4G/5G roaming connections with no issues, while I can barely send an email.

I’ve contacted Three multiple times—via phone, email, and chat—but haven’t received any useful support. I'm at my wits' end trying to figure out why my connection is so poor compared to theirs.

[Three_Niall]

Hey @Rudie_32276 , thanks for posting here, I would recommend manually selecting a network while you are in the UK and you can switch between the available networks to see which one is giving you the best connection.

Here is a step by step guide on how to do this on the S24 - Samsung S24 Device Support 

[Rudie_32276]

I’ve tried manually selecting every available network, but none of them work—except O2 UK. Unfortunately, even when I connect to O2 UK, I only get 3G, and even then, there's either no internet access or extremely limited connectivity.

Meanwhile, my wife and mother, who are also on Three, have their phones automatically connecting to 3UK with full 4G/5G support, and everything works perfectly for them on roaming.