u/sucker210

I’m moving permanently from India to London soon and wanted to understand what exactly caused this issue.

During a recent UK trip, I used my OnePlus 11R 5G (India variant) and none of the local physical SIM cards worked properly on it. I tried multiple UK carriers/SIMs but the phone basically had no usable network most of the time.

I’m now planning to buy a new phone before moving, but I want to avoid repeating the same mistake.

What exactly should I be checking before buying a phone in India for proper UK compatibility?

• LTE bands?
• 5G bands?
• Carrier support?
• India vs EU variants?
• eSIM support?

Would also appreciate if someone can explain why the OnePlus 11R had this issue despite being a relatively recent 5G phone.

I’m moving from India to London for work soon and I want to avoid repeating a bad experience I had earlier.

During a recent 2-week UK trip, I used my OnePlus 11R 5G (India variant) and literally none of the local physical SIM cards worked properly. I tried multiple carriers/SIMs and the phone basically got no usable signal.

Now I need to buy a new phone before moving.

What exactly should I check while buying a phone in India so it works properly in the UK long term?

Is checking LTE/5G bands enough?
Are there certain brands/models/India variants that people should avoid for UK usage?

I’m currently thinking of buying a temporary android phone for a few months and later upgrading to the next iPhone launch cycle.

Would appreciate advice from people who moved from India to the UK and faced similar issues.