topic Re: Cannot make calls in Australia in Pay Monthly

Cannot make calls in Australia

IainFlynn — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 05:17:04 GMT

I'm in Australia and have a UK O2 pay monthly SIM with the all inclusive travel add on. All was well until recently (Dec 24) but now I cannot make any calls including to O2 helplines. Nor can I find a way to report the fault on their annoying website. At first I thought it was only wifi calls that had stopped but now I note that when I switch roaming on even ordinary calls are not working. However the phone still picks up texts and data, and can I can make calls on wifi with WhatsApp. What should I do?

Re: Cannot make calls in Australia

TallTrees — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 08:33:18 GMT

Hi @IainFlynn

There have been a number of o2 customers experiencing problems roaming in Australia.

This is down to a new policy by the Australian Government.

The link below explains. It also includes a checker so you can find out if your phone is compatible and how you can get more information.

Hopes this helps

https://www.getnomad.app/blog/will-my-phone-still-work-in-australia-3g-shutdown

Re: Cannot make calls in Australia

pgn — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 09:06:48 GMT

See if enabling Volte or 4G calling on your handset helps, @IainFlynn - as pointed out by @TallTrees above, lots of things are changing very rapidly in Australian Telco arena.

Try manually searching for a network, and try it even if it says "Forbidden Network" - you may get one that you can use, but manually searching for networks is going to be a feature of roaming in Oz until things settle.

https://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Discussions-Feedback/Roaming-in-Australia/m-p/1765855/highlight/true#M136179

Good luck!

Re: Cannot make calls in Australia

Enlli — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 09:11:15 GMT

Almost certainly down to the policy now in place by the Australian Networks.

See my post

https://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Discussions-Feedback/Roaming-in-Australia/td-p/1765855

The network needs two things

1. Your handset is on the approved list (the article has a link to an IMEI checker)

2. Your phone has 4G calling (VoLTE) turned on.

Try using Vodafone who are less strict

Make sure calls to the UK start +44

Re: Cannot make calls in Australia

Cleoriff — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 10:54:56 GMT

@IainFlynn

If still having issues and need to contact O2, you can use Skype

Also go for the social media team who are UK based and seem to be more on the ball

You will need to send them a DM via any of these links

Facebook ( https://o2uk.co/O2CFB) , Twitter (X)( https://o2uk.co/O2CTW) or Instagram ( https://o2uk.co/O2CIG) , they should be able to help.

Guide: How to find help & contact O2

Re: Cannot make calls in Australia

Enlli — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 18:21:00 GMT

Some more info re Australia

Mobile service providers are best placed to advise if your device may be affected. There are several ways you can check your device:

Telstra
- Visit: www.telstra.com.au/support/mobiles-devices/3g-closure
- Call: 13 22 00
- SMS '3' to 3498 for an automatic response on your device's 4G network compatibility.
Optus
- Visit: www.optus.com.au/3g
- Call: 13 39 37
- SMS '3' to 3498 for an automatic response on your device's 4G network compatibility.
Vodafone/TPG Telecom
- Visit: 3G Network Closure FAQ | TPG Support
- SMS '3' to 3498 for an automatic response on your device's 4G network compatibility.
Industry IMEI lookup tool
- Visit: www.3gclosure.com.au and follow the link to 'Check my mobile phone' to access the IMEI lookup tool

Customers of other mobile service providers should contact their relevant service provider directly.

You can also visit www.3gclosure.com.au for general information on the types of devices that may be impacted. AMTA, the organisation that hosts that website, is the peak industry body representing Australia's mobile telecommunications industry.

Re: Cannot make calls in Australia

hk_1 — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 16:52:23 GMT

Were you able to solve this as we had identical problem in Australia with 5G phones, even setting them to 4G network? We want to fix this before a trip in 2026

Re: Cannot make calls in Australia

pgn — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 18:06:06 GMT

Did you read the thread to which you attached your question, @hk_1 ?

Or even search for posts about how Australian telcos are aggressively removing older tech to make way for 5G?

Re: Cannot make calls in Australia

Enlli — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 18:31:24 GMT

@hk_1 It's down to the Australian Networks and if they will accept your phone.

It must be an approved model and 4G calling must be enabled on the handset.

Somebody got theirs to work by contacting one of the Australian Networks when there

Re: Cannot make calls in Australia

pgn — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 18:57:42 GMT

Already covered above, @Enlli - but probably no harm repeating it for @hk_1's benefit 👍🏼

Re: Cannot make calls in Australia

Enlli — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 19:04:43 GMT

@pgn wrote:
Already covered above, @Enlli - but probably no harm repeating it for @hk_1's benefit 👍🏼

I got the feeling they hadn't read it

Re: Cannot make calls in Australia

hk_1 — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 09:04:55 GMT

Hi, I did read previous posts but didn't include all steps, apologies. We have phones around a year old, have checked IMEI should be ok. When in Australia we found this info and tried setting preferred network to 4G, also using 00 before dialling. We aren't concerned about calling UK as we can cover this with WhatsApp. The main problem for us was not being able to make local calls. We only have one sim slot in our phones and don't want to use e-sims because of security issues. We were hoping that the situation may have improved, hence reached out to the forum.

Re: Cannot make calls in Australia

Enlli — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 10:01:31 GMT

@hk_1

@IainFlynn Was the first to post. I've tagged them here to see if they respond