O2 PAYM has stopped working for UK Landlines in Guernsey (where it should)

[IslandBoy]

Same symptoms on 2 different phones with 2 different users.

Same phones with same users with same PAYM SIMs worked fine on our last visit to Guernsey in Aug this year. Now, they don’t.

My wife and I both have O2 PAYM and O2 PAYG.

When calling a UK landline (like our home landline), O2 PAYM says “the number you have called is not recognised”. This is the case whether we enter the number by keypad or by redial from the list. This worked in August but not now.

Her O2 UK mobile can call my O2 UK mobile using O2 PAYM.

My O2 PAYG can call UK landline no problem. Her O2 PAYG can call UK landline no problem. Just not either of our O2 UK PAYMs (which they could 4 months ago).

I was asked to turn the phone off, remove the SIM, replace it and turn the phone on again. Did that, I could dial a UK landline once. Tried again “the number you have called is not recognised”.

Turned it off again and put the SIM in a different phone. Still can’t call UK landlines.

When we arrived, we got a text from O2Roaming (as usual – we have come here many times over the decades) which said “Welcome to JERSEY. Now, all calls, text and data you use in our Europe Zone will come out of your normal UK allowance. So roaming in Europe feels just like home.”

Which is what it did 4 months ago last August (but not now). And which we checked (as usual) before we came.

On the current support call, he suggested the £5 cap was an issue so removed it, then asked me to restart the phone and try again. He would call me back within 5 to 10 mins. Once more, could call a UK landline once (which worked) and then when checking by calling the same number: “the number you have called is not recognised”.

He then asked me what network I was on, 5G or 4G because they didn’t offer 4G coverage in CI. He was unable to say why it isn’t working today and did in August.

I have been wrestling with this on 2 separate support calls (the first one never called me back) for over 3 hours now. Can O2 please do something to deliver the service they say they will and for which they have contracted.

My only next step is a complaint to Ofcom.

[MI5]

@IslandBoy 

We’re just customers like you but it sounds like you’ll need someone to access your account which can’t be done from here. If you message O2 on Facebook (https://o2uk.co/O2CFB) , Twitter (https://o2uk.co/O2CTW) or Instagram (https://o2uk.co/O2CIG) , they should be able to help you with this

Thanks

[IslandBoy]

I have been told many times today that there is no problem with my account and no problem with the system. Clearly this is rubbish. Something that worked 4 months ago has stopped working and neither myself not my wife have made ANY changes. 3 bloody hours on the phone and waiting for call-backs. Community is about the only way offered by O2 "help". Does no-one from O2 monitor the Community?

[MI5]

No, it's a community not customer service.

O2 don't want to help customers, they just push them here to be given scripted answers of no real help.....

[psmo]

I don't have a solution, but fwiw I am having the same problem today.  But, as I feared, O2's customer service and experience has gone downhill since the merger with Virgin 😞

[IslandBoy]

Tried O2 Facebook. Useless. The second time they asked me to clear security on the same message thread I had just done so, I gave up.

[madasaf1sh]

@IslandBoy  @psmo 

This could be an issue with the roaming network and how they are routing calls back to the UK, as you are not actually on O2's network whilst roaming, and o2 have no part of the call connection process. (All o2 get is details of calls placed).

Have you tried manually reselecting the local network which is either Sure or Airtel-Vodafone or Jersey Telecom and seeing if you can call the landline number. 

Also OfCom don't deal with consumer complaints and the CEDR service will tell you to go away, unless you follow the correct complaints process.

[IslandBoy]

I'm in the telecoms industry (not mobile) so will use my contacts.

1. the same SIM in the same phone worked to UK landlines from here in August. Nothing changed since.

2. O2 roaming here is via Sure and that is correctly reported by the phone on auto select.

3. My Sure SIM in the same phone has no problem calling the same UK landline numbers.

My major issue is having spent three hours going through the interminable "by the numbers" troubleshoot script and been promised an escalation last Tuesday and also trying through O2 FB, I have had no contact.

4. it gets worse. Today, my wife can call UK landlines on her O2 PayM SIM (she noticed the issue on Tues when her O2 PayM stopped being able to call UK landlines while her O2 PAYG worked fine). But I can't call 01983 numbers. That's the IoW where we came from. She can call it, I can't! I can call any other STD code, just not the IoW. Aaargh.

[madasaf1sh]

I will say again it has nothing to do with o2, as in this case it is Sure who choose how to route the call, and with you saying the Sure sim is working then it sounds like an Issue with Sure and how they registered your o2 Sim Card on their network... 

Not really a lot o2 can do about it, apart from ask Sure to force disconnect your sim card from there database/whitelist, and their is no guarantee this will work. 

Just to add I manage 1000's of phones across global networks, and this is something we come across frequently with phones that are permanently roaming, and these numbers are always an issue on the host network.