It is not uncommon within the UK to land in a situation where you may have full bars (or even a single bar) or signal but your 4G/5G Data Connection does not work. In these cases. Automatic Network Switching will not trigger (as your device is designed to only switch networks when it completely loses signal, and not when your Data connection is not working). Fortunately, the solution to this problem is very simple and under 2 minutes, you can be back online!
There are several reasons for this, but in over 90% of the cases we see the issue is with the connected carrier (for example, you may be connected onto O2 or Three but your Data connection is either does not work at all or is slow (or connected to 2G/3G).
Before starting the troubleshooting process, please ensure that you have sufficient remaining data allowance as well as have set up the APN, enabled Data Roaming and Restarted your device. Please check the setup instructions here if not already done.
=> The solution to this is to trigger a "network re-registration", which means that you would go into your device settings and manually select another network from the list, and re-enable automatic network switching. Here is a guide below:
📱 Manual Network Switching
If your device is stuck on a particular network, or you want to see if another network performs better, then you can manually switch to another network, by following the below steps:
On iOS, navigate to to Settings > Mobile Data > Network Selection, and on Android navigate to Connections > Mobile Networks > Network Operators.
Disable Automatic Network Selection switch and wait for a moment (approx. 2-3 minutes)
Choose the network you want your FlexiFone SIM to connect to.
Re-enable Automatic Network Selection
📺 Tutorial Videos
iOS Devices: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhdL-p2xMHI
Android Devices: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tLd9cyuRkE
WiFi Routers & Other Devices: Refer to the setup guide from the device's manufacturer/vendor.
This is useful if you want to force your SIM onto a particular carrier for better data speeds or reliability.
🔄 Enable Automatic Network Switching
Your device will automatically switch between networks whenever it completely looses signal.
👉 Note: Automatic network switching performance also depends on your device type. Based on user feedback:
Works best on Apple devices (iPhone/iPad)
Performs well on newer Android phones (Samsung Galaxy S24, etc.)
It is important to note that Automatic Network Switching is device-dependent, and your device's firmware is designed to latch onto one specific network because a new "network search" and "network re-registration" consumes a significant amount of battery and processing power.
There is no 'Multi-Network SIM' or 'Smart SIM' that automatically switches between networks. There are some companies that do promise true automatic switching but it's all smoke and mirrors.
💡 Insights & Long-Term Solution
This specific issue is not uncommon in the UK, and you may never experience this whilst Roaming abroad, due to the underinvestment and poor state of UK infrastructure.
For the long term, we recommend you to write to your local MP about patchy coverage from a particular network, who would then be able to request the Shared Rural Network (SRN) team to direct funds towards building new infrastructure in the affected areas.
For now whilst using FlexiFone or any other Multi-Network SIM, it may just be an additional step for you in the UK (once every couple of weeks) that you need to manually select a particular network.
Always remember, with FlexiFone if even one out of the four networks has fairly good coverage, you can always manually select that network and experience better coverage. It is a shame that we are a UK National Roaming SIM operator, but customers experience better coverage whilst roaming abroad.