topic Re: Sudden Call Barring in Tech Support

Sudden Call Barring

Athina — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 13:20:07 GMT

Hello all,

I’m having an issue with my Pay As You Go SIM. Out of nowhere, outgoing call barring has been activated, and I can’t disable it.

Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

1. Entered the default codes (0000, 1234 - it said "Network or SIM card error") but I’ve never set a barring password,
2. Removed and reinserted the SIM card (it looked fine),
3. Restarted the phone multiple times.

I have signal and data access, but I can’t make any outgoing calls. The last time I topped up was on the 24th of September, and I made a call the same day; everything worked fine then.

I’ve been in Greece for about 5 weeks now. As far as I know, EU roaming is still included in O2’s PAYG service, so I’m not sure why this is happening.

Due to this, I can’t call customer service and the Live Chat bot says there's no one available from the PAYG team and closes the chat window. So I’d really appreciate your help resolving this.

Thank you a lot in advance!

Re: Sudden Call Barring

madasaf1sh — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 13:52:42 GMT

@Athina

This isnt customer services, but a customer to customer community.

If you have been out of the UK more than 63 days in 180 days then you have fallen foul of the o2 FUP, and as such you may have had service barred (This is covered in the T&C's).
It could also be an issue with the sim card/

All the ways to contact o2 can be found below

Re: Sudden Call Barring

pgn — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 13:56:55 GMT

The guide shared by @madasaf1sh above has links to O2#s (mainly UK-based) Social Media Team, via Facebook or Instagram - try one of those avenues of support, as your voice access is zero but you still have data access (via guest WiFi somewhere, I'd guess?), @Athina.

Re: Sudden Call Barring

Athina — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 11:00:25 GMT

Thank you for your reply. I haven't been out of the UK for that long and I always read the T&C's but the barring mentioned there, refers to the misuse of a number; not normal everyday use.

Also, the sim card is (in a way) new, as it was replaced not too long ago. It was checked by a technician here and confirmed that it's in perfect condition.

I've read everything there is to read about barring and this forum was the second to last option for me. Now, I am trying to solve this chatting to the Customer Service on Messenger but it's going so slowly, it's excruciating. They keep asking me the same Qs and the suggestions provided have mostly repeated steps I’ve already tried and communicated.

Anyway, thanks a lot for trying to help, I highly appreciate it.

Re: Sudden Call Barring

Athina — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 11:06:47 GMT

Hi, thanks for your reply as well. I didn't want to copy and paste the same message to you, so please, read what I said to madasaf1sh.

I have exhausted every other avenues of support. On WhatsApp, they literally said "call XYZ numbers" and ended the chat, despite me repeating how I cannot make outgoing calls because of the barring!

This is so frustrating but I do appreciate your effort to help too. Thanks a lot!

Re: Sudden Call Barring

pgn — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 12:05:23 GMT

@Athina - you don't say where in Greece - some of the Greek islands are closer to the cellphone masts for (Samos/Kos and Turkey, Corfu and Albania, etc) non-Greek networks and your phone may try to roam onto one of those networks where no roaming agreement(s) exist between the local carrier and O2.

Also the link to Messenger that you are using, from the Guide shared by @madasaf1sh above, should let them tell you straight away if any bars are active on your account ( has some helpful info in a table near the end). Good luck!

Re: Sudden Call Barring

Athina — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 13:23:29 GMT

I'm sorry but I don't see the relevance in your answer.
As mentioned before, I read everything I could find about barring, I tried everything to disable it too, so if I were at a remote area or an island, I would have mentioned that too. My original post was to ask for help disabling the bar but since this isn't possible, everything's fine.

@Dave-O2 Would you please be so kind as to close this thread? Thanks!

Re: Sudden Call Barring

pgn — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 13:50:10 GMT

You're welcome, @Athina

If you have unintentionally roamed onto a non-eligible network (eg Turkish or Albanian), you would need to have some credit balance on your account (not just the amount needed to renew your spend bundle) in order to be able to make a chargeable call from that network to anywhere.

https://www.o2.co.uk/termsandconditions/mobile/big-bundles-terms-and-conditions

Re: Sudden Call Barring

Athina — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 14:12:00 GMT

I'm in the mainland; nowhere near another country, and I do have more credit on my account than my bundle requires in order to be renewed. Let's end the conversation here, shall we?

Have a lovely rest of your day.

Re: Sudden Call Barring

jonsie — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 14:47:56 GMT

Try and enjoy the rest of your time there

Please don't stress about your phone