Urgent Help Needed: Service Issues with Pay As You Go SIM

[Gerry7]

Hi there,

I’m reaching out to the community for assistance with an ongoing issue I’ve been experiencing with my Pay As You Go SIM card. Last month, I switched from a monthly plan to a £10 Big Bundle tariff after moving back to Spain. Initially, everything was working fine, but since last week, I have been unable to send text messages or make/receive phone calls—my iPhone simply displays "Call Failed."

I’ve contacted O2 customer service three times, spending between 60 to 90 minutes on each call, but unfortunately, the issue remains unresolved. During one of these calls with O2 Customer Service, a wrong bolt-on was added to my account, which I am now unable to remove, costing me an additional £5.

Adding to the confusion, in an attempt to resolve the issue, I've switched to the £15 Big Bundle tariff, which supposedly includes international minutes. However, I need to wait another 7 days for the tariff update?

It’s frustrating as I can still use my mobile data and receive text messages from O2, but the line is otherwise non-functional. Has anyone experienced something similar, or does anyone have insights into why my service suddenly stopped working and what I can do to fix it? Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

[MI5]

@Gerry7 

Assuming you have renewed your bundle ?

https://www.o2.co.uk/help/pay-as-you-go/big-bundles

The international calls won't help your issue either unfortunately.

[Gerry7]

Hi @MI5, thanks for your message. Do you know what could be the cause and more importantly if this will be eventually solved? Otherwise I think is best for me to move to another service provider?

[MI5]

@Gerry7 

It could be an issue with the local network that you are using.

Try manually searching for alternatives.

Any that show can be tried even if they show as forbidden (this is only relevant in UK).

[Gerry7]

@MI5 thanks for your message once again, I am using Movistar in Spain, which is the O2 owner, so in theory is the right one. I have tested other options (Vodafone, Orange and Yoigo), which obviously does not work. I will visit shops here in Spain to check but I guess they will not know what to do as it is a UK number.  At this point I just think this O2 Pay As You Go Sim Cards are a useless scam if you are outside UK and their customer services is clueless so I do not recommend anyone that is thinking to move abroad to change their monthly card for a PAYG O2 Card, is best to move to another company. Thanks for your message once again.

[MI5]

@Gerry7 

tbh you're not the only customer on here with PAYG issues in EU.

I'm inclined to agree that it isn't a viable option anymore and probably all part of O2's plan to get rid of PAYG completely.

I'm surprised that customer services haven't told you that you need to upgrade to a contract to fix the issue.

[Enlli]

As data is working I wonder if 3G has been turned off in your area? It is in many places in Spain this year PAYG is limited to 3G and 2G to make calls.

Can you switch the phone to 2G only to see if it can make a call?

[MI5]

I don't think Movistar are closing down 3g until 2025 though.

Movistar has already shutdown the 3G network in Germany and wishes to shutdown in Spain by the end of 2025, while fully migrating to fiber and putting an end to the fixed copper network. In addition, Movistar has gone a step further and wishes to shutdown the 2G network on the same date (despite this goal not being formally drawn up).

https://www.teldat.com/blog/5g-networks-3g-2g-shutdown/

[Gerry7]

@MI5 @Enlli thanks for your messages. I have visited a local phone shop that sells O2 in Spain and he said that Movistar (O2 Owner) does not even sell PAYG cards in Spain at the moment...so I guess is not interested in this kind of PAYG service.

Also, once I landed in Spain I received the O2Roaming text message saying "Welcome to SPAIN. Calls to the UK and within our Europe Zone are charged at the same rate as your UK tariff. Visit https://www.o2.co.uk/help/pay-as-you-go/roaming-in-europe for more information, or call 2266". Have a look to this URL if you have a minute, but I think the following content within this URL explain what is going on: "What other restrictions are there? You can only use our services for periodic travel, like holidays or short breaks, in our Europe Zone (excluding the UK). Otherwise we may charge you for using our services in our Europe Zone (excluding the UK)." So for people planning to be outside UK more than 24 I don´t think is recommended to buy this crap Big Bundle O2 PAYG Sim Card as you can find yourself completely out of communication. So avoid the stress and wasting your time with O2. It is not worth the initial £10 or more that you have to pay.

The question is, which other PAYG service provider could potentially be good to have a PAYG UK number for the long term? Can you recommend any of them?

[MI5]

@Gerry7 

The time constraints usually only apply to pay monthly contracts and you are allowed 63 days in a 4 month period.

I have Vodafone on my work phone and have travelled all over. Ironically I get a better signal abroad than I do in the UK.