OTP not coming through after switching to EE

[gleonov]

I recently switched to EE, transferred my number from another network (Three). Since then, Natwest and crypto.com apps (both banking in this case) - are not able to deliver OTPs to my phone.

I contacted 150 and got put through to "level 2 advanced technical support" who gave me advice to do lots of things, none of which have resolved my issue. On the final note I was told that it's an issue on 3rd party side for not being deemed "secure enough" to pass on messages sent from their end.

I am sorry but this is not acceptable service. It is working perfectly fine on both of those apps on my other phone that has EE, and somehow just the action of moving numbers causes an issue like this to arise. I am then given wrong advise ("secure enough" - clearly it works on another phone with EE for bot apps). 

EE has so far provided inconsistent and bad advice and also not resolved the issue as explained above.

It is clearly the migration of the number from Three to EE that has caused the issue from the day the number got migrated and EE has not done anything to rectify the issue that is clearly down to that move, nothing to do with the third party app security.

[gleonov]

@Chris_B I informed EE that when I call 150 and try to run the "technical support" and end on the "We are running advanced diagnostics" - I end up with a text from 150 saying something went wrong and contact 150. Seems that's not been dealt with either and I have no idea if that's a potential flag to indicate an issue - despite being told that there's no issue.

[Chris_B]

@gleonov  Ofcom will do nothing for you your a lone case and no rules have been broken. 

   Issues can and do happen when moving numbers around to different networks it’s not a simple case of just grabbing the number and taking it across to the other network.  There is a lot of code involved to migrate a number to a different network, why do you think they don’t do this over a weekend and don’t start this on a Friday.  It can take up to 24 hour to complete.   

 What device are you using ?  and does your number show correctly within the device settings?    Also have you restarted the device since your number port.  

[gleonov]

Sorry, but telling that transferring a number is not as simple as... just reminds me why "moving digital numbers from one bank account to another" is not as simple as. Let's not dive into why it's a complex problem, and why it's causing network providers take no responsibility on their part for not ensuring it works.

[gleonov]

@Chris_B Yes, I have performed all of the recommendations, and common sense actions. I am a fairly technical person, I just can't bear to have to rely on someone not having done the transfer right when it was crucial to have done so - and as you also stated, it is clearly on the network provider(s) - both the former and new network hosting the number.

[Chris_B]

@gleonov  issues can and do happen it’s not a flawless process that will work every single time.   Just because you’ve never had an issue in the past it doesn’t mean there has never been issues before it’s just that you’ve not had one before now. 

how many number migrations do you think are processed by EE every week ? and you’ll probably find it is less than one percent of them actually have an issue.  

[MozzaSec]

@gleonov 

Why do you think a person hasn't done it right, it could be down to an issue on the account from your old provider, it could be an code issue...  

The whole process is automated by batch processing, there is no to very little manual intervention... 

Technology is fallible to errors, I have yet to see a piece of code that doesn't have bugs in it and like all technology sometimes it takes time to find the issue and fix it, added to the fact it is the weekend doesn't help, as the teams wont be in to investigate fully..

[gleonov]

@Chris_B I am not concerned with the frequency of the issues. I am concerned with the competence of the providers taking on responsibility to rectify this matter. It's like statistics suggest it shouldn't matter to them at this point and "it's someone else's fault".

OTP stops working for a banking app you use - the issue is yours, as is the responsibility to make it work. Unfortunately, having to rely on OTPs in the first place, and then network providers as the supporting infrastructure, is something we have to live with - but someone has to solve the issues that arise. So far I have not seen the solution. Hence the OP.

[gleonov]

@MozzaSec Yes, let us see what happens next week. However, the issues we see have been around for 3-4 years now based on the forum posts on this matter just on EE alone.

[Chris_B]

@MozzaSec   @gleonov   all it takes is one little bit of corrupt code on the migration and that’s it there is big issues.   It could just be one letter/number/abbreviation/icon anything that makes up the code among all the lines of code. 

And your not the first to have had this happened to when porting to a different network and majority of the time the number port was actually done correctly and successfully and it’s actually the sender who is trying to force it through their gateway to your old network.  

[MozzaSec]

@gleonov 

It isnt just EE, its all Network and Virtual Mobile Networks, that have a less than 1% issue with SMS after porting...  
Through my job where we allow employees to take there number with them, if they leave we do about 500 ports a year and we see about 10 porting issues.

You do realise Banks and Financial Companies,  have been told to stop using OTP via SMS as they are not secure at all, and are susceptible to man in the middle attacks, and other security issues, and as I have said before they are not guaranteed to be delivered..