atlasthemonk

It appears my Tescos /02 sim card has been blocked here in Portugal . My PT vodafone is only for PT calls, I thought brexit rules gave both countries a reciprocal arrangement for phone usage (just my thought).
How is everyone coping / adapting to this?

scrubbedexpat142

Butting in from Hungary!

Just checked my Wife's Tesco phone, still working fine. May just be a Portugal thing?

Fredbargate

From Gibraltar my Smarty card works here and in Spain but the 30gb/month data is reduced to 12
https://smarty.co.uk/

Smarty 30gb + texts and calls £10 Gibtelecom 1 gb data only £10

ShazD

For us, we had the unlock pin code given to us from 02. However, you have to unlock the SIM card IN the UK! So even though we own the phones, can't unlock them unless we are in the UK on the 02 network. It seemingly can be done by a phone shop, but phone will need to be sent away for about 4 days.

Loafing Along

Are you sure you have arranged roaming before you left the UK ? Normal settings are UK usage only , to stop people getting caught out by very expensive calls back to UK , so you need to ask for permission from Tesco/O2 to unlock . Reverse situation PT Vodafone . Suggest you give them a call and double check.

Fredbargate

Would it not be possible to post the sim card to the UK for a friend to unlock the card?

ShazD

Yes, we could have done that...and might still, but at the time we had no post box and no P.O. address. Had no choice but to get new phones! I just thought it ridiculous that we own a device and yet couldn't use it the way we wanted.

riv

Can you clarify ? You say ' It appears my tesco card HAS BEEN BLOCKED ( my emphasis ) here in Portugal '

Do you mean that it used to work here in Portugal but you woke up one day and it had stopped working ? If so what day / date was that ?

Or do you mean that it has never ever worked in Portugal since you arrived ?

atlasthemonk

Thank you all so far
Riv...my phone worked here in Portugal for about ten days then stopped. I thought that I had exceeded my call time / text / or data usage (plus buffer), but that was 20 + days ago, past my monthly metering dates and payment dates. Still no connection.

wellinever

On this topic of UK sims, can anyone explain this.
I am now back in UK and using the Superdrug (3) sim with unlimited phones and texts plus data. This is a rolling monthly sim, fully charged until 26th june.
While I was in Portugal, I used this to make calls in Portugal, Calls to UK, and calls to France, all of these included calls to both landlines and Mobiles.
No charges have ever been placed or notification to say that I cannot/should not do that.
Now I am back in the UK, I can only make calls to the UK, any other number including numbers that I spoke with before I left Portugal simply go dead......this is the craziest thing I have heard of

EU.flag

This might sound silly, but you do realize that calling PT number from UK it has to have international code in front, i.e +351 xxxxxxx?

wellinever

No thats not silly but is not the case, of course I have prefixed with Portuguese and French codes but they dont connect.
But UK numbers are fine

chislenko

I have previously experienced same problem. Called restaurants, taxis, friends with Portuguese mobiles whilst in Portugal but tried to ring Portuguese bank when back in UK and had exactly the same as you, phone just not connecting, going dead.

This was a couple of years back (pre brexit) so under what we regarded then as normal circumstances!

I never did find an answer to the issue I'm sorry so can't offer a solution but you are not alone so I don't think it is anything you have done.

This was with 02, who I believe a lot of suppliers use, certainly Sky mobile is 02 and probably a few others.

wellinever

This is not quite the same and seems bizarre to me..
This is a UK sim wth EU roamimg.
While I have had it frm mid 2020 to today it has only been used in Portugal.
So this is a UK sim in an unlocked Android phone being able to phone any number (landline or mobile) in Portugal France and UK which is included within the unlimited usage.
But the minute I have arrived back in the UK, I can not connect to any overseas number.
This would suggest that as long as you are roaming then you can call anyone in UK and the EU, but not when you are actually in the UK.
But the data allowance works in both Portugal and the EU (I used it as hotspot for 9 months without problem.
I would suggest anyone in Portugal just buys a £10 Superdrug monthly sim (cheapest there is), cause you will get 5GB data and unlimited calls and texts to anywhere in UK and EU..as long as you are in Portugal or presume anywhere else in the EU.

RichardHenshall

While in the UK a call or text to a French or Portuguese number is an international call (ie expensive and probably not included). When in Portugal a call to your phone from a Portuguese phone is also an international call, so getting calls or texts returned can be difficult.