Mystery over mobile roaming on north Norfolk coast

Mark Oakland said when his phone connected to Maritime, he had to restart it as it did not disconnect

People on the north Norfolk coast have been all at sea after their phones suddenly switched to expensive roaming networks, despite not leaving the county.

From Cromer to Sea Palling, mobile users have become disconnected from their usual provider and hooked up to Maritime, as if they had travelled offshore.

While being confused as to the cause, residents and visitors are concerned about charges they may incur simply for "roaming" near the North Sea.

North Norfolk MP Steff Aquarone, said: "This is not good enough. People need the clarity and reassurance they are not going to get charged an international fee just for using their phone on the cliffs of our beautiful county."

Mark Oakland, of Cromer, said he recently received a notification he would be charged £13 a minute for data while using the BBC Sports app on the promenade.

"I thought this is absolutely crazy, I'm definitely not using that," he added.

"It was a major concern, and it didn't disconnect [from Maritime]; I walked all the way back to Overstrand Road and in the end I had to restart my phone.

"Thousands of people must be being charged enormous amounts of money for no reason at all.

"There's no data on the beach or promenade at all, it's effectively not in the UK."

Mr Oakland posted on social media and received dozens of replies from people with similar experiences - some of whom claimed they had been charged for using the network, he said.

Nigel Hogg said the roaming charges could be a "big problem" for holidaymakers vising the seaside town

Nigel Hogg, the musical director for Cromer Pier, said texts from EE suggested a roaming charge of £3.35 a minute for calls, which would "cost a fortune".

He said: "I could unsuspectingly make a business call for several minutes and I could be £30 or £40 in debt to EE without knowing it. Any holidaymakers who are this far down the pier and also don't realise phoning home, it could be a big problem.

"It's a complete surprise, I'm not on a ship... when you do go on Maritime roaming, you do expect it but I thought, not today, I'm at work."

Mr Aquarone said he had been in the same situation when visiting Overstrand and said it could be "alarming".

"The fastest way to fix this problem of Maritime networks appearing on your phone is to improve signal coverage on our coastlines for the main home networks and that means your phone won't be looking for a signal anywhere else," he said.

Network provider EE said devices automatically connected to the strongest signal available

An EE spokesperson said: "Depending on location, sometimes handsets can connect to a foreign network which may be temporarily stronger than the signal.

"When this happens, customers are aware by our network as they receive a landing message that informs them of this change and any associated costs. In the event of any customers being charged incorrectly, we would refund them where appropriate."

It said it can happen as devices are designed to automatically connect to the strongest signal available including resulting in a device connecting to a nearby maritime facility.

The phone company has advised customers to turn off roaming in their device settings or apply a roaming bar.