Xperia XZ no network coverage abroad

[SGFGee]

Hi there.

I have a brand new Xperia XZ, not even had it 2 weeks yet. I went away the weekend just gone (I live in the UK) to Italy for four days. My XZ did not receive a network signal the whole time I was away. I tried every trouble shooting option possible. I also

tested my SIM card in my wife's phone and it received a signal instantly. This is very frustrating. I run my own business and need to be in constant contact with my clients. I was left without a usable phone for the whole time I was away. Once I landed back in the UK I switched the phone back on and it instantly received a mobile network signal. I have had several different types of mobile phone (all the way back to a simple Nokia before smartphones) and never had an issue receiving a signal while abroad. For the last 8-9 years I have had an Apple iPhone and never once not had a signal abroad (and I have travelled extensively). I am starting to regret my decision to move away from Apple and try my luck with a Sony. Please respond with answers/solutions/options asap as if I am not happy with the explanation and I receive no reassurance I need to return the phone within the cooling off period asap and go back to Apple.

Thanks

[UGLYDOLL]

Did you go to "more" in settings, then internet settings and then press "download settings for internet and MMS" via wifi? You need to do that and then restart once or twice before receiving a signal with Xperia phones.

[UGLYDOLL]

In addition to that it really helps too change to the exact connection you would receive in your new location such as 3G, Wcdma , etcetera. This helps tremendously if my previous statement does not help

[Rickard]

Hi,

I'm very sorry to hear that you were unable to use your phone during your trip:(

I'm afraid it will be hard to say for sure what caused this without doing some testing when the phone is in that state.

When this happened, do you know if your phone displayed any message such as "Emergency calls only", "SIM not provisioned" or MM#x where x is a number?

Did you by any chance try doing a manual network scan under Settings -> More -> Mobile networks -> Network operators? If so, can you remember if it detected any mobile networks?

Did you try another SIM-card in your phone?

To the best of my knowledge, UK and Italy uses the same network standards and frequencies so i would not suspect there's something wrong with the phone itself if it works fine in the UK. But one thing i've seen before and also experienced myself is what @UglyD mentions, that the operator and SIM will not always allowing roaming on all networks (GSM/3G/LTE) in another country. In that case you may need to set the phone to for example WCDMA only under Settings -> More -> Mobile networks -> Network mode.

[SGFGee]

Thanks for your response. No I did not do that. But how would it connect to the internet without any signal and my roaming and mobile data switched off while abroad? Having said that I did switch on my roaming and mobile data several time while away and this didn't work either.

Thanks!

[SGFGee]

Thanks for this response too. Yes. I changed the settings to WCDMA and WCDMA/GSM several times too while away none of which worked.

Cheers

[SGFGee]

Thanks for this response. However, would I really need to ungo software repair when the phone is less than 2 weeks old? Also, if I try this process now that I am back in the UK, how do I know that the phone will work next time that I am abroad? I do not want a phone that is useless to me when travelling?

Thanks

[Lord_viridis]

Vodafone by any chance?

[Jarmila]

Dear sir/madam,

Unfortunately, I am encountering the same problem. In contrast to @SGFGee his situation, I am still abroad so can tell you a bit more. I have a Sony Xperia Z5 compact, and never had a problem with mobile network connections. I have a Czech phone number and recently had the phone with me during trips to Germany and Austria. A little longer ago I even used it in remote areas in New Zealand without any problems. As you can see, I travel quite a lot and mostly for work. Since I often work in remote and hard to reach areas, the phone is also very important for safety reasons.

Right now I am in south Finland and will soon travel to the far north. Not at any moment did my phone connect to a network here. So I am limited to wifi connections to communicate. 
- a few restarts did not help
- it says that networks are not available and only emergency calls are possible
- it does find a whole list of networks but it has a no acces sign and does not connect
- changing preferred network type did not help
- no roaming options are blocked or 'barred' 

I have never encountered, or even heard of, such a problem. After a little bit of web research it seems that this problem mainly occurs with Sony Xperia phones. This website even has multiple threads about it. A friend of mine also has an Sony Xperia Z5 compact and told me today that she encountered the same problem in London last week. She does not have the same provider as I do, and a friend with me right now does have the same provider but a different phone and is experiencing no problems.

Could this be a Sony problem?

I hope you can solve this for me since I really need to be able to contact people for my own safety. It would be a bit much to have to buy an extra phone just for this one trip...

Thank you in advance!

[Jarmila]

Can I please add to the previous message.... Of course I now can not access my bank account since the security to that is also linked to my phone through sms authorisation. 

Please respond soon.

Kind regards,

Sharina