Mobile Phone Calls From Croatia

[Broughton]

Was on the Majesty last summer on the Adriatic Explorer itinerary. I called back to the UK just before we left Venice. I was using a Samsung Galaxy S3 on the O2 network, Pay-As-You-Go). However the following two days we were in Croatia (Dubrovnik and Zadar) and any time I tried to phone home it failed. I tried switching to pick up a local network (Tele2) but couldn't get a connection. I did manage to get some text messages through but definitely no phone calls. Next day we were in Montenegro and all was working fine again.

 

Has anyone experienced similar issues ? Was there something simple I could have done on the phone to circumvent the problem ? We are not people who usually phone home frequently from abroad but last year my father-in-law had fallen and broken his hip two days before we departed. So we were keeping as closely in touch as possible. Therefore it was not ideal. We are on the Celebration this summer and are in Croatia again (flying to Dubrovnik). So it would be good to know before we go if there is an issue.

[CRUISIN LINDA]

When we went to Croatia a few years ago (Cavtat, near Dubrovnik) we couldn't get any signal with Orange, but in subsequent holidays we could.

 

Strangely we had the opposite problem a couple of years back when we went to Montenegro for a holiday, 6 out of 7 of us couldn't get any signal and the one who could had SMS (whatever that is :o) We had flown into Dubrovnik, so had to go back over the border to get our flight home and as soon as we crossed the border in the coach, everyone's phones started bleeping!

[gillhalfpint]

We find it easier to keep in touch with friends and family using free wifi in a bar or café in a port as we can send and receive e-mails ok, and also chat on facebook without worrying about phone connections.

[CRUISIN LINDA]

We find it easier to keep in touch with friends and family using free wifi in a bar or café in a port as we can send and receive e-mails ok, and also chat on facebook without worrying about phone connections.

That's what we did in Montenegro Gill. Luckily the hotel wifi was very cheap. It was €1 for 2 hours or something :)

[jenny wren]

We were in Dubrovnik on Christmas Eve 2013 and couldn't make a phone call home or connect to wifi...so ended up using ships wifi just to wish the kids a good Christmas!

 

Will be there again in June so will try again then and see what happens....on our recent trip to Caribbean it was not always possible to send texts on Orange (EE) although we always received them. I asked in the EE shop on our return and they said it was probably because there wasn't a compatible phone company. :)

[gillhalfpint]

I have never paid for wifi when ashore. We can be sat at a bar having drinks for quite some time people watching and catching up loading photos and chatting on wifi so will happily leave a tip

[Broughton]

Thanks for replies. It definitely seems to be a bit hit and miss. Will ensure OH has her mobile with her this year as it is on Vodaphone. Unfortunately using Wi-Fi to communicate with my mother-in-law (82) is a no go. She is a complete technophobe. We have tried to get her to use a mobile but even that has failed :-)

[Tiggertastic]

We found it was down to our network. I am on 3 and my husband O2. I was picking up a different local network and could make a call but he could only send a text

 

No matter how many times he switched network he still could not get a call to work. So it wasn't just you - that was september 14

[Broughton]

Thanks for that. We were on in late July and are again this year. Hopefully will not have to call the UK but will have mobiles on different networks in case.

[two sheds]

Some older phones will not work in Croatia it appears:

 

"It’s not so much of a concern these days what with all these ultra-modern phones, but if you have a slightly older phone make sure it works on the 900 or 1800 MHz GSM frequencies that are utilised in Croatia"

 

 

 

http://www.visit-croatia.co.uk/index.php/information-on-croatia/telephones-mobile-phones-in-croatia/

Edited April 24, 2015 by two sheds

[Little Nell]

We were meeting friends in Santa Cruz recently who were arriving on a P&O ship and they couldn't use their phone to txt or call and hadn't received any of the voicemails or messages we had left them and they couldn't contact us. Thankfully we bumped into them by chance at the port. They use EE too.

 

Our neighbours are just back from Spain and couldn't use their phone either. Also EE.