Outgoing calls time out after 5 mins

[Brownieboy]

Visitor from Australia here.   I have a local 02 sim, which I purchased in Oz before coming to the UK.

I have a weird issue where any outgoing calls will time out after 5 minutes.  No warning; I'm just cut off.  We don't ever need to talk to anybody that long, but it's a real pain when you get put in a call queue, like we've done when we tried to report a problem with our rental car.   We always get cut off before we get to talk to anybody!

It's not the phone.  It happens on two different phones, with two of these SIMs, both on the same plan.  We haven't put any credit on the phone yet - it shows £0 when I check online - but we've been able to make (short) calls, and it works okay for data, so I haven't bothered.

The company we bought the SIMS off in Australia has never heard of the problem.   They suggested calling 02 themselves.   I'd already tried that though, and guess what?  I got put in a call queue, and it timed out before I could talk to anybody!

The nearest 02 store is miles away, so it might be while before we could go that route.

Any tips gratefully received.

[MI5]

@Brownieboy 

You need to top up  the sim Guide How to Top Up (PAYG) 

[Enlli]

As you can't  call You can message O2 on

Facebook (https://o2uk.co/O2CFB) , Twitter (https://o2uk.co/O2CTW) or Instagram (https://o2uk.co/O2CIG) ,for help

[Brownieboy]

Thanks for your reply.

I'll be happy to add credite if I know it's going to solve the issue.   If that was the issue though, wouldn't I be just blocked from making outgoing calls completely?

Have you come across this 5 minute limit previously?

[MI5]

@Brownieboy 

I can only assume it's some kind of anomaly as you should not be able to make any calls at all without topping up.

You're lucky to get 5 mins free each time  

[Brownieboy]

Logging into My 02 shows that I have unlimited free minutes, i.e.

"Tariff remaining allowances: You have 6350.9MB of data, unlimited minutes and unlimited texts left in your Big Bundle"

[Brownieboy]

I've also had this response from 02 themselves via Facebook Messenger (thanks to @Enlli for the tip):

"This isn't something we're aware of, how long has this been happening for? Have you been able to make calls longer than five minutes before? As long as you have minutes available, you wouldn't need any credit on the sim."

[MI5]

@Brownieboy 

I was going off what you said that you hadn't topped up, but clearly you have or else you wouldn't have your allowances.

From now, I can only assume the sim card is damaged or faulty, so I suggest you find an O2 shop and ask them to swap you over to a new sim card.

[Brownieboy]

Apologies for not being clear.

Yes, the SIM came preloaded with free minutes and data.  Here's the one: https://simcorner.com/products/uk-sim-card-o2-8gb

Data and phone calls (less than 5 mins) are fine, but it still shows £0 credit when I log into the My 02 site.

The issue affects two different SIMs in two different iPhones, but both are on that same package from SimCorner.   So maybe a bad batch of SIMs. 

I will try popping into an 02 store when I'm near one, which is not now, sadly.😥

Thanks again for all your help.

[MI5]

@Brownieboy 

I would also try and contact this "simcorner" outfit to see if they are aware of anything.