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Roaming in Portugal - Three/Smarty

Roaming in Portugal - Three/Smarty

Old Apr 1st 2021, 7:44 am
  #46  
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Default Re: Roaming in Portugal - Three/Smarty

no signal at all..definitely been stopped,,,,so no calls in or out. and no data.
Going to ask superdrug today, why it is that their website, even today simply says Roaming in EU is all included.
I have been here for some time but my account with Superdrug does mention anything about being out of UK too long, and indeed one of their assistants looked and said your account is up o date and shows as live (well it may be in the UK)
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Old Apr 1st 2021, 7:56 am
  #47  
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Default Re: Roaming in Portugal - Three/Smarty

You can see why perhaps the service is down if using any 3rd party sim to 3 themselves.
My unlimited text/calls +5GB data, pay monthly no contract...... costs £10 a month with Superdrug (use 3)
But the best that 3 themselves off is £16.00/month for 4gb of data and unlimited calls/texts.
Makes no sense, other than superdrug dont have a lot to play with, or indeed 3 dont make enough dosh out of 3rd parties
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Old Apr 1st 2021, 9:43 am
  #48  
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Default Re: Roaming in Portugal - Three/Smarty

Originally Posted by wellinever
I have been here for some time but my account with Superdrug does mention anything about being out of UK too long, and indeed one of their assistants looked and said your account is up o date and shows as live (well it may be in the UK)
I was notified in December by Vodafone UK that as I had spent so much time out of UK that my usage will be monitored and if over a 4 month period I was not in UK 50% of the time and my usage was not at least 50% in UK then I would be billed for the usage separately as it would no longer be covered by roaming.

Shocked by this I warned other expat friends only to find that O2 Three etc already have that rule in t&Cs but don't enforce it if you don't exploit it.
(they showed me the online pdf document saying so)
So I would guess if smarty/superdrug/etc use Three then you auto abide by their T&Cs

Maybe due brexit etc all the UK providers have used it as a trigger to clamp down?

My monitoring warning covered Jan-April and I've used less than 1% of my allowance so I'll let you know the outcome.
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Old Apr 1st 2021, 10:19 am
  #49  
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Default Re: Roaming in Portugal - Three/Smarty

Ok, I worked it out. So on Android at least go into network setting find the setting that says Automatically Select Network. Turn this off and it'll search for all available networks. Here Meo will probably show as forbidden. Select it anyway. It will let you connect. Give it a few minutes to update, then go back and turn Automatically Select Network back on again.

Meo have much better coverage than Voda pt so good news for once. Smarty confirmed to me they've no plans to cut anyone off for being out of the UK for too long too. As long as you use less than 20GB per month they are happy.
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Old Apr 1st 2021, 11:07 am
  #50  
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Default Re: Roaming in Portugal - Three/Smarty

Thanks that’s worked for me 👍.
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Old Apr 1st 2021, 12:30 pm
  #51  
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Default Re: Roaming in Portugal - Three/Smarty

Now connects to NOS as well as Meo. All good 👍
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Old Apr 1st 2021, 7:34 pm
  #52  
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Default Re: Roaming in Portugal - Three/Smarty

Originally Posted by Pilotabroad
I was notified in December by Vodafone UK that as I had spent so much time out of UK that my usage will be monitored and if over a 4 month period I was not in UK 50% of the time and my usage was not at least 50% in UK then I would be billed for the usage separately as it would no longer be covered by roaming.

Shocked by this I warned other expat friends only to find that O2 Three etc already have that rule in t&Cs but don't enforce it if you don't exploit it.
(they showed me the online pdf document saying so)
So I would guess if smarty/superdrug/etc use Three then you auto abide by their T&Cs

Maybe due brexit etc all the UK providers have used it as a trigger to clamp down?

My monitoring warning covered Jan-April and I've used less than 1% of my allowance so I'll let you know the outcome.
Actually that rule has been in force since 2016 or whenever roaming was in the domestic allowance.

The last contract I had in the UK was a bargain for £5-6pcm for 4GB net + close to unlimited minutes.

But there were restrictions in force and after being in Porrugal for more than 3 months I was better off getting a local sim, as expensive as they might be 😬
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Old Apr 9th 2021, 6:42 pm
  #53  
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Default Re: Roaming in Portugal - Three/Smarty

My 3 sim is now picking up Meo 4g by preference, having been locked on Voda since Dec 31.

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Old Apr 9th 2021, 7:24 pm
  #54  
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Default Re: Roaming in Portugal - Three/Smarty

Superdrug piggy back on the 3 network in UK (Like Tesco mobile piggy backs on O2).
But still my superdrug sim is totally useless, all Portuguese carriers are Forbidden.
And yet the web site still says that roaming in Portugal as Band1 area is included.
Was a monthly contract which I have now stopped.
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Old Apr 9th 2021, 7:55 pm
  #55  
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Default Re: Roaming in Portugal - Three/Smarty

Originally Posted by wellinever
Superdrug piggy back on the 3 network in UK (Like Tesco mobile piggy backs on O2).
But still my superdrug sim is totally useless, all Portuguese carriers are Forbidden.
And yet the web site still says that roaming in Portugal as Band1 area is included.
Was a monthly contract which I have now stopped.
Force it to Meo even though it says forbidden, it'll work.
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Old Apr 10th 2021, 7:36 am
  #56  
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Default Re: Roaming in Portugal - Three/Smarty

Originally Posted by Score76
Force it to Meo even though it says forbidden, it'll work.
Never thought to do that after seeing forbidden.
Yes it will register on meo......prob is I now cancelled subscription.......lol.
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Old Apr 10th 2021, 8:27 am
  #57  
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Default Re: Roaming in Portugal - Three/Smarty

Has anyone tried NÓS KANGURU lately ? It used to offer unlimited data for 15 days for €15, but I don't know whether calls or texts were there as well as I used it only for internet, including film streaming, which worked well, to my surprise.
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Old Apr 10th 2021, 12:28 pm
  #58  
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Default Re: Roaming in Portugal - Three/Smarty

Restarted my Superdrug mobile sim and forced it to open MEO 4G...........which it did, and now oddly ALL carriers come up without the word forbidden.
So changed it to NOS and its a better signal than MEO where I am.
Meo signal at my house always used to be Band 20 which was just about acceptable, but over last month, its always showing Band 1 or 3 and occasionally Band 7. None of those are aof any use at all, so usually turn on Airplane mode for a few seconds and then it resents to Band 20 but signal strength never higher than 102 which means its pretty poor signal
(That is using Network Cell Lite app on Playstore)
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