topic Re: Receiving SMS in South Africa in Tech Support

Receiving SMS in South Africa

Peter86 — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 14:38:46 GMT

I'm in South Africa and can't receive SMS on my UK phone with an O2 Sim. The phone settings are:

Airplane mode Off,

mobile data On,

data roaming On,.

Wifi calling On.

local network MTN-SA (have also tried Vodacom-SA and CellC).

This is seriously inconvenient as I can't complete authorisatiion for bank/credit card transactions etc. I do not need to be able to make or receive calls or send texts.

Can anyone help please?

Peter Britton

Re: Receiving SMS in South Africa

jonsie — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 14:44:23 GMT

Have you tried to connect to any other network as it would appear to be a network related issue

We’re just customers like you but it sounds like you’ll need someone to access your account which can’t be done from here. If you message O2 using the links below, they should be able to help you with this

or give them a call on 202 or 0344 809 0202

Re: Receiving SMS in South Africa

Enlli — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 14:51:39 GMT

Is it just bank type codes, or are all texts affected.

There are no guarantees when roaming.

Re: Receiving SMS in South Africa

MI5 — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 15:25:22 GMT

You can turn off wifi calling as it doesn't work abroad @Peter86

Might make a difference????

Re: Receiving SMS in South Africa

Peter86 — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 15:32:21 GMT

Thanks but I've tried both with and without wifi calling - no difference

Re: Receiving SMS in South Africa

Peter86 — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 15:36:12 GMT

Thanks for this. I've tried three local networks in all but none worked. I'll try messaging O2 as you suggest. Thanks again

Re: Receiving SMS in South Africa

Peter86 — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 15:39:16 GMT

Thanks for the reply. I'm mainly concerned with OTP type codes. I receive so few texts of any other kind that I can't say whether they're also affected.

Re: Receiving SMS in South Africa

Barneyd — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 15:09:01 GMT

Did you find a solution? I have the same issue. No SMS received for 5 days. I have selected different networks, rebooted to no avail.

Re: Receiving SMS in South Africa

madasaf1sh — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 16:10:38 GMT

There is no guarantee on SMS delivery, it is not a delivery guaranteed service and when abroad you are reliant on the roaming network processing the delivery of the message.

Re: Receiving SMS in South Africa

Barneyd — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 21:21:06 GMT

My wife is also on O2 and receiving texts so can it really be a local network issue?

Re: Receiving SMS in South Africa

japitts — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 09:42:04 GMT

@Barneyd wrote:
My wife is also on O2 and receiving texts so can it really be a local network issue?

If your wife is also in the same country as yourself and receiving SMS on the same local roaming network, that is good evidence of the issue lying elsewhere.

The local network is only providing radio coverage, not any SMS routing.

Re: Receiving SMS in South Africa

Smartyfozzie — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 16:59:29 GMT

Correct som must be selected if got 2 sims in mobile. Otherwise data must be on for o2 sms for use in sa as far as I know. Must have airtime from uk loaded /topped up.