Conference calls not working on O2 - unable to merge calls on iPhone

[Peter_L]

Good morning All,

I am wondering if anyone could help please. I was using conference calls on O2 for a while and everything was working fine. However for a few weeks, I am unable to merge calls together anymore.

When I am on the phone with one person and add another person in, a first person is on hold (which is fine) but when I try to click on "merge calls" button, nothing happens. I have never changed any settings on my iPhone and like I mentioned above, everything was working fine until recently.

I read somewhere on this forum that O2 is supposed to activate it first (enable it) but yesterday when I tried to call and also chat with O2 I've been told that there is nothing they can do "as there is not like a button or toggle they just click and activate it". So I am very confused.

Like I also mentioned before, conference calls always worked for me fine and I have never asked O2 to activate them for me even in a past so I am not sure where the truth is. Does O2 really need to activate it or not?

I've tried to reset network settings and also contact Apple Support but nothing worked.

I know there are many other apps for conference calls but I have my reasons why I need conference calls on O2.

Thank you for any help

[pgn]

@Peter_L - https://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Pay-Monthly/Merge-calls-on-O2/m-p/1627724/highlight/true#M259096 says exactly as you say re O2 Conference Calling.

Try reaching out to O2 via X or Messenger using either of the links in Guide: How to find help & contact O2 as O2's call centre staff seem to have been left unacquainted with O2's services since the merger with Virgin Media.

It sounds like you may have read this Guide: Conference Calling Hints and Tips - Avoiding Call Charges  that was put together to help people get together virtually during lockdown - is there anything in there that would help?

[Peter_L]

Hi @pgn Thank you for your respond. I've tried to call O2 and then also contact them via X - they only said to try troubleshooting - reset network settings etc. which I did - it didn't help. Nobody seems to know that they might need to activate/enable it? That's why it's weird and not sure what else I can do if staff doesn't know what to do?

Yes, I've read your Guide, I find it helpful, thank you, however it doesn't sort issue with conference calls directly on O2

[pgn]

All I can suggest is to persist with O2 via X @Peter_L  - as it was working previously, and assuming no updates have been applied to the phone, then it points to something on the O2 side that has changed.  Does it work on your phone if you force the handset back to 4G or even 3G instead of the default 5G? 

[Peter_L]

Thank you @pgn I've just tried to switch the network to 3G only and it worked. But it's weird because I am 100% sure that before I was using conference calls on 4G/5G and it worked fine. I have never needed to change my network before making conference call to 3G or 4G only. The only thing I am thinking of is that this issue appears since I updated my iPhone to iOS 18/18.1. That's why I've also tried to contact Apple but they are not aware of any issues with conference calls on iOS 18/18.1 and they only suggested to reset network settings too. Something definitely must've changed somewhere... O2 or Apple? Hard to say.