Help! Expat trying to keep my PAYG phone alive in the USA

[Mark-USA]

OK, O2 is proving a real challenge. Like many expats I like to keep a UK phone number for return visits that everyone knows and PAYG is the cheapest way. I know about the 6 month rule etc so I have it on my calendar to make a chargeable call every 5 months. Last time I did this was December 1st so this is at the 5 month point.

So, I try to do this today and I can't. It says I don't have enough credit, a nonsense, as both of the phones we use have £20 or so. My O2 says my phone has zero credit, and my wife £19. Either way, both SIMS give the same message (last time I looked online both reported with the balances mentioned). 

This is frustrating - everything is set up to roam in the USA where I live but things just don't seem to work and the SIM balances are inaccurate. I saw this same kind of thing last December and had horrible trouble (interestingly the balance showed as zero and eventually corrected itself and I bumbled through eventually)

Does anyone have any suggestions? I want to keep the numbers, and I want to keep the credits. Help!! Please!! Oh, and I can't simply top up here (which would be fine) as the system is set up for UK credit/debit and it all falls apart when I provide my zip code instead of postcode. Grrr...

The only thought I have is that O2 here on the West coast seems to roam on T-Mobile and my house gets a pathetic T-Mobile signal and I wonder if this is confusing things. I'll try taking a quick drive to see if I can get a better signal somewhere but I don't know what this would affect  the balance for my phones shown in MyO2.

Frustrated as heck, even more so as these work so well when I'm in the UK.

Please help folks!

[MI5]

We did, but no answer.

[Cleoriff]

Let's see if we can get an answer now.

@Marjo @Martin-O2 

Can you confirm whether it's 3 or 6 months clients need to top up to keep a PAYG sim active?

Thanks.

(worth a try anyway)

[MI5]

[Mark-USA]

Not just one phone. Two phones! Both independent PAYG lines, only connected by my wife using one and me the other, and them making chargeable calls on the same timetable as you'd expect. I made chargeable calls from both on December 1st, 5 months ago, in both cases. That said, it was a real effort last time and I did see some weirdness with account balances in December dropping to zero (which I put down to a really bad T-Mobile roaming signal here) but this, oddly resolved itself the next day, followed by me sending the necessary txts, seeing the balance get charged and so on - I passed that off as a quirk of SIM's unable to send/receive correct information in a bad reception area.

Well, the latest is I drove to a close-by area earlier and used a strong AT&T signal for roaming so I could rule out any such quirkiness. That didn't work.

Same problem - for both lines - and now I come back and check the balance on MyO2 and BOTH are now zero. Seems the act of roaming at 5 months not just didn't work but zero'ed out my O2 balances.

Very bizarre. It shouldn't be this hard. I will, literally, have to make a call at midnight... 

[Bambino]

@Mark-USA I have a PAYG sim and I send a text to a UK number every couple of months or so. That seems to be enough to keep my sim active. To call O2 customer service use Skype and call for free on +44800 032 1402.

[Cleoriff]

Thanks for your input @Bambino 

It seems we do need clarification on this so call rule regarding chargeable activity, which we always understood to be once every 6 months. I've tagged the managers and hopefully they will reply on this thread later today.

[jonsie]

Yes, we all really need to know and if it's changed, O2 need to get it written into the T&Cs.

[Bambino]

I agree @Cleoriff and @jonsie. I've always sent a text every couple of months. Never trusted the six month limit.

[Mark-USA]

Agreed. If it's 3 month's then that's fine - I'll just set up a calendar reminder to send a txt every 10 weeks.

No big deal really but not knowing is what seems to be my issue, plus I can't top up as my financial empire is all US addressed, which stops me even doing a top up by credit card etc.  Mind you, a top up, if I brought back a load of prepaid cards that I can load, would eventually leave me overflowing with credit as the 3-2-1 plan for UK use only makes it hard for me to spend too much - part of the reason I like it. 

[Cleoriff]

@Mark-USA 

You can top up when abroad as long as you have a Paypal account.

Have a look at this guide Guide How to Top Up (PAYG) and scroll down to Mobile Top Up Alternative. You will find this

https://www.mobiletopup.co.uk/o2 

It does charge a service fee which is annoying, although it does help those who can't top via any other route.