Issue sending international SMS to the Irish EIR network

[Jimjims89]

Hi I would like to report an issue with sending international SMS to the Irish network EIR. My dad lives in Ireland and does not use WhatsApp, and he sends me SMS text messages which i can receive fine. However when i send him a SMS back he doesn’t receive it. He told me he noticed this is happening with some other messages he receives from English phone numbers.

Long story short after a lot of digging into this issue we have found this seems to be happening only when he is sent a international SMS from the O2 and Tesco Mobile network. He rang his own phone network “EIR” and after troubleshooting they told him that it looks like the the sms are getting lost on the way from O2 to EIR and they surmise that there is a problem with “the international SMS routing from O2 to EIR, and to contact O2 as it is under their control”

So i would like to highlight this issue. Many thanks.

[MI5]

@Jimjims89 

This is a customer to customer community, not O2, so we cannot access your account, sorry.
You need to contact O2.
Message them on Social Media. Facebook (https://o2uk.co/O2CFB) , Twitter (https://o2uk.co/O2CTW) or Instagram (https://o2uk.co/O2CIG) or give them a call on 202 or 0344 809 0202 (contract) 4445 or 0344 8090222 (PAYG)

Guide: How to find help & contact O2 

[pgn]

On the O2 side, without the International Bolt-On, this will be racking up the pennies in international SMS, let alone what your dad is paying to text your UK number @Jimjims89.

Have you considered using WhatsApp (as an example) rather than SMS?  You would both need to have it on your phone, and then not only messages, but voice calls (in a good network area) and pictures, etc, can all be sent for free, providing you have a bit of data included in your tariffs each side for when you are away from a domestic WiFi signal.

Note SMS is not a guaranteed delivery method, and a percentage of messages, for various reasons, do get lost in the ether (target phone off-net or not switched on, cross-net message losses, etc). WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted and not only works every time, but uses indicators to tell you if your message has been received as well as if it has been read by the recipient.

Just saying... 

[MI5]

My dad lives in Ireland and does not use WhatsApp, 

[pgn]

No harm in suggesting WhatsApp (as an example) 😁

[Oxonian]

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@pgn wrote:

No harm in suggesting WhatsApp (as an example) 😁

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@pgn 

The free versions of Teams and Zoom are other examples of software that @Jimjims89 and his dad could experiment with. 👍    

[pgn]

Those too, @Oxonian 👍🏼

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[Jimjims89]

Hi guys thanks for the suggestions, i have tried setting him up on WhatsApp unfortunately he uses an old nokia phone so i might have to try upgrade him. In the meantime is there an email address for o2 technical support or is the best way to ring the helpline?

[MI5]

@Jimjims89 

All ways in the guide I provided above

Guide: How to find help & contact O2 

[Oxonian]

@Jimjims89 

Your dad would not need an expensive smartphone and if @pgn's hypothesis that you "....will be racking up the pennies in international SMS..." is correct, you might actually find that you and your dad save money over time.

I have helped a couple of elderly people set up and use their first smartphone in the last few months ; all have commented that they have found the features really useful once they became familiar with their new handsets. 👍