Phone keeps disconnecting from data while abroad

I’ve been in France for the last week, and ever since I got here, my phone has been disconnecting from data (5G/LTE) rendering my phone nearly useless as I rely on it for mapping and direction, transportation, and translation. I will still have coverage for calling and texting but no data networks. This will happen several times a day. It seems that if I switch on and off airplane mode, it will reconnect to the data network most of the time. Sometimes I have to do it several times before it will reconnect. This is extremely frustrating to have to put up with. I am on the unlimited ultimate plan, and I know that I have not hit the 15gb threshold for 5G as this began the first day I got here. My data roaming is turned on and network selection is set to automatic. FWIW, my wife is on a different Verizon plan using travel pass and she has not had any issues with service. Her settings are set to the same as mine. I contacted Verizon international support and supposedly they did something to fix the problem but the issue is still occurring every day. What else can I do? I will be going on another international trip next month and I will drop Verizon immediately if this happens again.

Accepted answers

Verizon_Support

Resolution update: By partnering with support, the international network issue was addressed. If others encounter similar problems with not being able to use their services when traveling internationally, common factors can include incorrectly setting up your device and not having an international plan.

For anyone facing a similar issue now, we recommend reviewing the international trip planner here: https://www.verizon.com/plans/international/international-travel/trip-planner-tool/ and our device support page for troubleshooting here: https://www.verizon.com/support/devices/

If you still require assistance or have any questions, please contact us for support.

~Jesse

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SynthpopAddict

Hi, have you tried switching the network to some other provider, assuming more than one available network is showing? It's either that your phone is picking up what it thinks is a "better" signal from someone who doesn't have an interconnection agreement with Verizon and therefore your data won't work with them. The other possibility is you've exhausted all your high-speed data and can now only get 3G data speeds, which are unusable for modern apps. If you regularly keep apps open in the background or maybe there was some kind of software update running... Another thing to consider is modernized texting which uses encryption - any sort of texting which is not SMS or MMS - is data use, not texting usage.

I had not realized the built-in international service with Unlimited Ultimate is pretty similar to the monthly International Service Plan, except that you are capped at 15 gigs of high-speed data vs. 20 gigs if you were paying for the monthly international plan. If you were paying for daily Travel Pass, it's 5 gigs of high-speed data per 24 hour session (guess that $12/day does have a side benefit of getting more data overall so long as you keep paying every day).

the93owner1

Thanks for your reply. Yes, both were connected to the same network, SFR, except when I went to view the options for cellular data in the settings menu, mine would say “F SFR” and my wife’s phone would just say “SFR”. I tried searching online for the difference and couldn’t find anything.

It’s strange that I would have used up all 15gb so soon, I don’t have too many apps using background data (to my knowledge) and my “current period roaming data” was only 6gb. However when I called Verizon and asked how much data I had used, they said all 15 had been used which I found hard to believe. When turning on and off airplane mode, I would get back on 5G most of the time (sometimes I would have to turn it on and off repeatedly, as sometimes it would say “unable to activate cellular data”).

Verizon_Support

We hope your travels overseas are doing great! Are you still currently in France right now? What is the make and model of your device?

-Christopher

the93owner1

I’ve returned to the US but I experienced this issue several times a day for the entire week in France. The phone is an iPhone 16 Pro.

Verizon_Support

~Jesse