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Authentication code for Japanese apps not being received in UK

mrsmoonlight
Investigator
Investigator

I have 2 Japanese apps which required authentication codes. 1 of which was previously installed a couple of years ago and at the time, I received the code as expected within a few seconds.

One of the apps has a ticketing feature. I cannot access the ticket screen or receive my ticket without the authentication code. I checked all of my settings for app and phone. All seemed in order. I contacted the app support staff. I contacted EE technical support twice. Staff stated that everything is in order on my end, nothing is blocked and I should be able to receive SMS codes without any problems. I receive SMS messages from the UK with no trouble. She said it is not possible for them to block anything coming in unless it is in my blocked number list. It is not. Friends in Finland, Greece and the USA using the same app have not experienced problems receiving the code or tickets. Based on that, I deleted and re-installed the Japanese app that had previously been authenticated with no trouble to see if the code would come through for that one. It did not.

The issue has not been resolved. I turned spam protection off, cleared all blocked numbers, cleared app cache and data, deleted SMS messages that were sitting on my phone, re-installed the messenger app, re-installed the Japanese app, removed photos from my phone etc. I removed my SIM card and put it back in. I have followed all advice but to no avail. No matter what I do, the authentication codes from Japanese apps do not arrive. After failing to get an authentication code for the app with the ticketing feature, I searched online and can see that a number of other EE customers are experiencing the same problem since the major security update. Getting an eSIM will not solve my particular problem because in order to download my ticket, it can only be sent to the mobile number on the ticket application without exception.

Has anyone else experienced this issue, followed advice, spoke with tech support and still not resolved the problem? At this point, I am convinced that the network security may be causing the problem and it cannot be resolved unless I switch to another network. Can anyone help? I am desperate to resolve this. Thanks.

10 REPLIES 10
XRaySpeX
Grand Master
Grand Master

@mrsmoonlight : Where are you when all this is happening? Are you in UK or roaming?

If you think I helped please feel free to hit the "Thumbs Up" button below.

To phone EE CS: Dial Freephone +44 800 079 8586 - Option 1 for Mobile Phone & Mobile Broadband or Option 2 for Home Broadband & Home Phone

ISPs: 1999: Freeserve 48K Dial-Up => 2005: Wanadoo 1 Meg BB => 2007: Orange 2 Meg BB => 2008: Orange 8 Meg LLU => 2010: Orange 16 Meg LLU => 2011: Orange 20 Meg WBC => 2014: EE 20 Meg WBC => 2020: EE 40 Meg FTTC => 2022: EE 80 Meg FTTC (no landline number)

I am in the UK.

What phone have you?

If you think I helped please feel free to hit the "Thumbs Up" button below.

To phone EE CS: Dial Freephone +44 800 079 8586 - Option 1 for Mobile Phone & Mobile Broadband or Option 2 for Home Broadband & Home Phone

ISPs: 1999: Freeserve 48K Dial-Up => 2005: Wanadoo 1 Meg BB => 2007: Orange 2 Meg BB => 2008: Orange 8 Meg LLU => 2010: Orange 16 Meg LLU => 2011: Orange 20 Meg WBC => 2014: EE 20 Meg WBC => 2020: EE 40 Meg FTTC => 2022: EE 80 Meg FTTC (no landline number)

I have a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.

I have an earlier Galaxy. Just a wild guess but in the Messaging App Settings > More Settings >  Text Msgs > Input Mode: Is it set to GSM? If so set it to UNICODE or Auto.

If you think I helped please feel free to hit the "Thumbs Up" button below.

To phone EE CS: Dial Freephone +44 800 079 8586 - Option 1 for Mobile Phone & Mobile Broadband or Option 2 for Home Broadband & Home Phone

ISPs: 1999: Freeserve 48K Dial-Up => 2005: Wanadoo 1 Meg BB => 2007: Orange 2 Meg BB => 2008: Orange 8 Meg LLU => 2010: Orange 16 Meg LLU => 2011: Orange 20 Meg WBC => 2014: EE 20 Meg WBC => 2020: EE 40 Meg FTTC => 2022: EE 80 Meg FTTC (no landline number)

Hi,

Unfortunately, those are not menu options within the messaging app settings.

bristolian
Legend
Legend

Are these in-app notifications or SMS ones? If the former, these are entirely controlled within the app and all EE (or any operator) can do is provide your phone with a mobile data connection.

If these are SMS notifications, I suspect the app is irrelevant and you will need to escalate within CS. When you did so previously, what did they offer by means of further action? Or did they just figuratively shrug their shoulders?

These are verification codes sent via SMS. According to app support, there are no problems on their side to explain this issue. They gave the standard advice about clearing the cache and data, checking permissions settings are correct, uninstalling and reinstalling the app, removing my sim card and putting it back in etc.

Apologies for repeating myself but as I said in the original post, this problem is now related to 2 Japanese apps that require entering a code sent via SMS from Japan. Friends in other countries outside of Japan on other networks had no difficulty receiving the SMS notifications in relation to the same app. 

I successfully received an SMS notification for one of the two apps more than 1 year ago. After this issue arose with the second app., I deleted and reinstalled the first app and can confirm the same problem is occurring.

bristolian
Legend
Legend

All of this confirms my suspicions that if these are being sent by SMS, the app has nothing much to do with the problem.

When you tried reporting this to CS, what did they offer by means of further action? Or did they just figuratively shrug their shoulders?