Mobile network not available.

[BarnabyC]

If I try to make a phone call from my mobile, I get the message: Mobile network not available.

If it matters, I was on holiday in North Wales when this occurred, and I thought it might be down to poor coverage. But now I'm back home and the problem persists.

[caesarome]

@BarnabyC 

Does your mobile show as being connected to the Sky network, can you use mobile data on it ?

[BarnabyC]

No, it doesn't show as connected. No, I can't get data on it (says 'No internet').

[caesarome]

@BarnabyC 

Prior to doing to Wales had you come back from abroad ?

[BarnabyC]

No, I hadn't.

[caesarome]

Have you tried seeing if your mobile will search for all available mobile networks to see if it then finds and will connect to the Sky one ?

[BarnabyC]

No, I haven't tried that. I will give it a go.

<sometime later>

Thank you for the tip! I was able to turn off the "Choose [network] automatically" and my phone detected ten available networks from companies like '3', 'O2' and 'EE'. Only one available one from Sky, though, which was 'Sky 2G'. I tried connecting to that but it said it was "unable to connect to this network now. Please try again later." I tried connecting to some of the others (e.g. 'O2 - UK 4G', '3 - 4G') but got the same message.   

[caesarome]

Does any mast issues show here for you:

https://www.sky.com/help/servicestatus/mobile

If not then you will have to contact Sky, perhaps via social media as there are links at the bottom to their sites as they might want to send you (or perhaps you could suggest it) a replacement sim to try incase yours is faulty.

[BarnabyC]

No - no mast issues appear to be present in my area.

Thank you for your help with this, @caesarome 🙏

Incidentally, while I was exploring my SIM settings, I noticed that my APN was "internet.tele2.se". Is this correct? Seems a bit weird to have something with a Swedish domain. Also, searching on this APN leads to some results from Sky Mobile Ireland. I wonder is it's worth experimenting with the APN. I've seen some posts suggesting it should be "mobile.sky".

As for requesting a SIM, I've found a page on 'My Sky' where I can do that.   

[caesarome · Accepted solution]

@BarnabyC 

That APN setting doesn't seem right to me so firstly I would try requesting that the setting is sent to your phone from the website here:

Go to sky.com/networksettings (My Account > Mobile > Settings) and sign in with your Sky iD.
Select the mobile number or SIM name you're having trouble with.
Scroll to 'Resend network settings' and select Request settings.
Save the settings when your receive them and reboot your phone.

[BarnabyC]

Thanks, @caesarome.

I did see this option when I was exploring the Sky website earlier this afternoon, and I clicked on 'Request Network Settings'. The confirmation screen said "We'll send a notification with your network settings straight to this SIM." I thought this would be useless though, since my SIM couldn't connect to the network (and therefore couldn't receive any settings).

But wait! On reading your latest message, I tried again, and I got two texts:

"SkyMobileUK will send handset configuration for the following services: MMS GPRS and Internet Browsing GPRS. Please accept any settings. If asked for a PIN, please use 1111"

"Temporary error. Please try again later. /SkyMobileUK"

And, magically, I am back on the network! Amazing! I wonder what happened.

Interestingly, I checked the APN settings, and these have changed (I now have three relating to mobile.sky (instead of the one relating to tele2.se)). I wonder… During my trip to Wales, could my phone have somehow picked up settings for Sky Mobile Ireland, all the way across the Irish Sea?   

[caesarome]

I guess that could be a possibility but glad you have it working again @BarnabyC 

[BarnabyC]

Definitely a possibility, according to this article!

I'd like to 'Mark as Answer' one of your posts, but I'm not sure what fixed the problem. Was is something you did behind the scenes, @caesarome – or perhaps technical people read these messages? 

[caesarome]

Lol, no it is nothing I did as I am just a customer like you, it does look like you sending the APN settings did the trick !