Why does my sim card not work in Ukraine when it works in all other countries I visit?

latvia800

When I visit Ukraine, my phone does not connect to a local network. Does giff gaff have a problem with this country?

exmember-2018-356361

latvia800 wrote:

When I visit Ukraine, my phone does not connect to a local network. Does giff gaff have a problem with this country?

Depends where in Ukraine. Kyiv or Lviv you'll be fine. Out in the sticks no. If you have a 4g phone you need to turn 4g off as there's no 4g roaming agreements in place (nor is the 4g really existant in Ukraine)

Do a manual roam and search for Kyivstar, MTS or Life 🙂 You'll more than likely connect to Kyivstar or MTS and then you can use credit to make calls.

customer23678

Have you tried connecting manually to see if any networks shows up as available at all?

Here is a guide how: https://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Tips-Guides/Manual-Roam/td-p/3345471

Also is it possible that your phone is set to only connect to 3G or 4G networks rather than no preffered or chosen setting which maybe prevents to connect to 2G?

lynda1962

Hi, you will need airtime credit to use phone abroad and your phone will connect automatically to the local network, goodybags only work in the uk, use free wifi wherever possible to save you money

dips18

@latvia800 The phone should automatically connect to a network to that area once you turn the phone on but in some cases it may not do this, in that case you'll need to manually connect to a network by going to your network settings.

Also it could be the phone your using, as it may not be compatible to use in that country.

aaamer

@latvia800

Hi.use airtime credit to call or messages abroad,when u use airtime credit, you can get local network.goodybags are only for use to UK.

jess4455

You may not be in a strong signal area therefore it cannot connect.

andrewbergstrom

You do need to have airtime credit to use your phone in the Ukraine. As the goodybag allowances are for use in the UK only.

bigdaveuk

maybe the signal in ukraine is poor