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I have a Swedish phone provider and use roaming when traveling in EU. I have noticed that it is slow to connect when turning off airplane mode, often without 4G as default.

As I have a budget/low cost operator in Sweden, is there any "priority systems" with the foreign phone providers that allows more "premium providers (in the home country)" better and mor reliable access?

For example I notice other EU nationals when the plane lands with immediate access to 4G etc., While I often have first "emergency calls only", then no 4G. This is only resolved after restarting the phone and toggling airplane mode on an off a few times.

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  • It could be that those "other EU nationals" have an operator that operates across Europe, which might reduce the time needed to connect.
    – Mark Rotteveel
    Commented Dec 17, 2022 at 11:28

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Your phone takes a while to connect to a roaming network because first it tries to scan for all networks, which takes a while. The phones of travelers coming home will immediately find their preferred networks and not need to do the full scan.

If you refrain from restarting your phone, toggling airplane mode, etc. and just have a bit of patience it’ll connect. Alternatively, you can buy a SIM card which is local to the destination country, and pop it in your phone while in-flight.

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    I wonder if maybe the roaming network first needs to talk to the "home operator" to see what services it should offer, and the OPs operator is slow to respond.
    – Mark Rotteveel
    Commented Dec 17, 2022 at 11:27
  • @MarkRotteveel there is a lot of communication between operators when a phone switches network. To begin with, the original operator needs to know that now calls to that number go through the new operator network.
    – SJuan76
    Commented Dec 17, 2022 at 17:41

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