No contact from EE to fix issue with SMS not being received abroad

[tjbryant]

I have two identical phones with two different EE lines and am now abroad.  One phone is receiving SMS (2 step verifications, etc) but mine isn't. I called (at great expense) to EE last week and was on the phone for an hour!  I got handed from Customer Service to 1st Level and then 2nd level support.  As I was in South Africa the agent on 1st level support agreed that they would call my other line and the costs would be covered.  £130+ call later the problem still exists and I was promised that it would be investigated and I would get another call back to advise (the call was to be within 3 - 5 working days).  A complaint was raised ID24408891 and it was then closed and I have heard nothing.

I still receive no SMS messages, I now have a phone call of £130+ on my next bill and I have no idea when, or if, I will get anything back from EE without making yet another high cost call back to the UK.  Pretty poor really

[tjbryant]

@Carlf2 I have been contacting EE from South Africa regarding SMS issues.  They can activate roaming via Customer Service but this did not even fix my problem and I still do not receive 2 step verification messages.  Are you on e_SIM or do you still have a SIM card in your phone?

I ask about SIMs as I converted my SIM to e-SIM using the iPhone conversion process and EE think that something corrupted in the transfer hence roaming but no SMSs being received

[bristolian]

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@tjbryant wrote:

Are you on e_SIM or do you still have a SIM card in your phone?

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This user's issue had nothing to do with an eSIM, pSIM or otherwise. It had everything to do with roaming not having been activated. Aside from the fact that eSIM is not supported on PAYG.

[bristolian]

Is the non-working line, able to connect to SA networks? If no - there's your problem.

If it is - can it make & receive calls? Can it send texts? Can it receive non-automated texts? Try sending one to itself, if you're not sure.

I'm not sure if the reference to "complaint was raised" means that a fault case was opened (correct process) or just a CS complaint (fine to raise, but it won't solve a technical issue)

[tjbryant]

Thanks @bristolian  I have two SIMs in the phone one South African and one UK.  I can use the SA one no problem and the UK one, when selected as primary, cannot receive or send SMS.  EE went through all the checks and are supposed to have escalated it for further analysis as they could not see why it would not work.  I have already identical line with EE and it is used in the same way with the same settings and that one is fine 😞

The complaint was raised whilst I was on the phone but closed at the same time.  They said the complaint was just to record the issue

[bristolian]

If roaming is shown enabled on your account, and there are no known issues with any individual SA networks, CS should be raising a fault ticket into the networks team for further investigation. It helps to confirm whether that SIM can connect to foreign networks and make/receive calls, can it? You've not said,

Once all those boxes are ticked, a fault case should be raised.

[tjbryant]

@bristolian when on my UK line calls and SMS I make are OK but I can't receive calls or SMS

[tjbryant]

Back onto EE today, another wait, only to find that the 2nd level support guys had not created an escalation for my issue as promised...... more calls and more expense