Question

Not receiving OTP SMS text in a timely fashion when overseas

  • 4 May 2023
  • 8 replies
  • 251 views
W
Rank

I’ve recently been travelling the the EU with my wife and both of us (on iD) have failed to receive OTP SMS texts from UK financial institutions within an acceptable timeframe.

 

We have had no problems sending or receiving SMS texts to UK numbers and each time we’ve not received a OTP we have ‘tested’ our phones by sending & receiving SMS texts for the UK.

 

The OTP SMS texts arrive but several days late - which is totally useless.

 

The financial institutions are not aware of any problems so I am guessing that there is issues with iD ?

 

I did raise this issue with an agent but they were UFU and provided erroneous and incorrect information.

 

Any help or advice ?

This topic has been closed for comments

8 replies

andewhite
Rank
Userlevel 8
Badge +9

I guess the thing to remember about an SMS message is there’s no guarantee messages get delivered, which is in the GSM industry standards.

Most financial institutions outsource SMS services to companies that specialise in bulk SMS delivery. Sometimes these companies have issues that prevent or delay the delivery of SMS messages. I doubt many customer service staff at any given financial institution would know the service provider they were using for OTP SMS services.

W
Rank

Your points are duly noted but why is it that (only) OTP SMS texts appear to be getting “stuck in the network” when being sent overseas ?

andewhite
Rank
Userlevel 8
Badge +9

I guess that’s a question for the bulk SMS service provider(s) being used to send out OTP messages. 

Lauren
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Userlevel 4
Badge

Hi @Widget. How late are you receiving the OTPs? Is it a few days later while you’re still abroad, or do you instead receive them while back in the UK?

 

-Lauren

W
Rank

@Lauren - some messages were received a few days late while overseas, and another was when I returned to the UK. However, in this instance my phone had been in flight mode for several hours while returning to the UK but had not received the OTP in the 5 hours before going offline.

 

Going back through our messages I realise that some OTP messages DID arrive in a timely fashion while we were in the EU. {Which will make diagnosis/investigation more difficult.}

Tom
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Hi @Widget 

 

Is this only with a certain OTP sender or with all OTPs you’ve had sent to you?

 

Tom

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W
Rank

@Tom

Multiple failures (over a couple of days) with one sender, HMRC, and 1 failure with a credit card provider.

Mohammed
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Userlevel 7
Badge +10

Hey @Widget,

We’ll shortly send you a Private Message to your Community account, so we can discuss your issue further.

To access your messages, click your profile picture in the top right hand corner and then click ‘Private Messages’.

Alternatively, if you are currently logged in, you can use the following link: https://community.idmobile.co.uk/inbox/overview

We’ll see you there.

 

Mohammed

I hope I was able to help you with your question. If my answer resolved your issue, then please mark my answer as ‘Most Helpful’ using the button below the message with the answer.
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