Problem with sending SMS from iPhone 8 as of yesterday

[Butterhook]

Aged iPhone 8 running IOS 15.6, soon to be replaced but I need it for a few weeks still!

I've had the phone for nearly 4 years with no previous issues.

iMessage still works fine - just conventional SMS.  All but one of the 17 or so I've tried today have been a fail. Repeat send to the number which received one subsequently failed.  It's failed both indoors/outdoors/WiFi/4G. Checked the service status for my area and it's fine.

Device is locked so I can't flick between networks to give it a jolt and am unsure as to what resetting network settings will do and if these revert to the standard O2 ones or if I will need to manually enter some stuff - I don't know what or where I would do this so don't want to make the situation worse.

I could do with not ringing O2 for obvious reasons, given the current state of the "help" on offer.

Thanks for any help/advice.

[Bambino]

@Butterhook You said in your initial post that you have had the phone for four years and that it's locked. O2 haven't sold locked phones since 2018. Did you purchase the phone from a third party seller?

[MI5]

iPhone 8 is from 2017

[Bambino]

I know that, but the OP said they've only had the phone for four years, which is why I asked where they got the phone.

[Butterhook]

Yeah, someone offloaded it to me as they didn't need it and it hard hardly been used - I must admit my recollection is that it was a bit newer than 2017/2018, but it's perfectly conceivable I'm wrong!

[Butterhook]

I don't actually think they will be - I think the whole industry is bereft of any customer service. But this - on top of trying to sort out a new device via O2 last month and them over the course of 5 phone calls crawling over themselves to be the most incompetent left me feeling that I never wanted to deal with them ever again - is a bit too much.  After I left the whole "new device" situation to calm down, I thought the fact that I've always had good service from O2 in terms of a network and the only time I've had a bad experience was trying to buy something wasn't worth leaving over, as the fact I've so seldom had to contact customer services is a good yardstick in itself. However, this just makes me feel like it's going down the khazi and I'm not going to give them a third chance. But they are also not price competitive on what I want.

[Bambino]

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[Butterhook]

I'm just going to get a new iPhone 13 and go MVNO - probably Lebara on a 1 month rolling job. Worst case scenario is I come running back with my tail between my legs to an O2 based network on a SIM only. I'm not really sure I want to be committed to one of the larger networks any more as they all just seem as comedically poor as each other in terms of customer services. They don't care as they don't need to. As they lose one customer, they offer refuge to another receiving the same rubbish from another. Maybe they've all come to some agreement 😂

[Butterhook]

Cheers - yeah, been hammering it for a while along with the MSE one (which I think has a few unique SIM only offerings). I'm just extremely tight fisted!

[Butterhook · Accepted solution]

I should add - I thought I had posted this this morning, but it appears not be showing - the situation resolved itself this morning and is now OK. I was about to try my SIM in an old 6S I was recharging and gave it one final try before I extricated the 6S from its case and bingo - it was firing on all six again. Although... ahem... I think someone did say that would happen 😂  @jonsie 

[Oxonian]

You are spot on @Butterhook when you refer to the level of customer services from the four mobile network operators (MNO). I have, in the past, posted the Which? annual survey. Last Spring, only 1 per cent separated O2 and two of their competitors, whilst the fourth MNO was several percentage points lower. 👍