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Not receiving texts from abroad

willmow
Established Contributor
Established Contributor

‎08-03-2023 04:11 PM

I am experiencing an odd issue that is seriously hampering my ability to verify/confirm things like identity, and thus run my daily life:

Issue: certain transactions conducted here in the UK via mobile apps require me to confirm my identity (or email/phone), e.g. banks, digital signature providers, mountain rescue organisations... To do this, the organisation/company sends an SMS text message with a code, which I must enter in the app. This works faultlessly if the organisation is in the UK (using a UK app), but I receive no such texts if the organisation is in (say) Switzerland (and I'm using their app). Something stops these texts from getting through. It happens time and again and with a variety of apps/organisations. 

Can anyone shed any light on this frustrating behaviour? It feels like it's security related. It's not my phone, as it happens on two different ones.

41 REPLIES 41
Leanne_T
EE Community Support Team

‎08-03-2023 05:33 PM

Hi @willmow 

Thanks for coming to the community. 

Are the other phones having the same issue also on EE? 

Just to check, are you connected to WiFi when this happens, or using a VPN? 

Speak soon 🙂

Leanne.

0 Helpful
XRaySpeX
EE Community Star
EE Community Star

‎08-03-2023 05:58 PM

Have you registered your mobile phone with these foreign firm in International format, i.e. dropping the initial '0' & prefixing it by '+44', e.g. +44 7123456789?

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willmow
Established Contributor
Established Contributor
In response to Leanne_T

‎08-03-2023 06:43 PM

Yes, both phones are on EE. Yes, connected to WiFi, no VPN.

0 Helpful
willmow
Established Contributor
Established Contributor
In response to XRaySpeX

‎08-03-2023 06:44 PM

Yes, international format.

0 Helpful
Leanne_T
EE Community Support Team
In response to willmow

‎08-03-2023 06:51 PM

Thanks @willmow 

Are you able to request the text when not connected to WiFi to see if you receive this? 

Have you reported this to the company to see if they have any reported issues? 

Leanne.

0 Helpful
willmow
Established Contributor
Established Contributor
In response to Leanne_T

‎08-03-2023 07:20 PM

The issue is present whether on mobile internet or wifi. Company swears the problem is not their end.

0 Helpful
Christopher_G
EE Community Support Team
In response to willmow

‎09-03-2023 07:40 AM

OK, thanks @willmow 

I recommend speaking with our technical support team so that they can look into this for you. Please come back and let us know what happens.

Chris

0 Helpful
willmow
Established Contributor
Established Contributor
In response to Christopher_G

‎10-03-2023 09:57 AM

Just spent quite some time with EE's Technical Support. They were very thorough and ran all sorts of checks. Apparently there is nothing on my account that could be blocking these numbers, and  so they surmise that the foreign systems are having problems interpreting the UK number format (or similar). I now need to have an earnest chat with the foreign senders of the SMS texts, which no doubt will end in failure! Oh well... thanks to all for your suggestions.

0 Helpful
Katie_B
EE Community Support Team
In response to willmow

‎10-03-2023 10:47 AM

Hi @willmow. 

Thanks for coming back and keeping us posted. 

Katie

0 Helpful