Online payments and SMS

Halevie

I live in an area where there is no mobile reception (30 miles from London, 10Mb broadband.... and the UK is supposed to be a global power...!). I don't use a mobile phone as there is no point carrying a useless brick around. I also run a business from home and haven't been out more than a few times since Covid hit, but that's fine, I can do everything online. One by one my services (banks, insurance companies, HMRC, eBay, Paypal, Verified by Visa,) have introduced PSD2 regulations. Most require SMS OTP that I can't receive. Some organisations like HMRC and First Direct have alternatives to SMS such as VIP Access or an app that generates a code (sent via wifi). Now Santander, my business bank has introduced SMS OTP with no alternative. I can no longer make any business payments unless I do it by telephone. That took me 30 mins to do one payment which isn't going to work for a business and it blocked my phone line while I was on the phone to Santander so nobody could contact me. 

As many transactions with my card are now "Verified by Visa" and they require SMS OTP, I switched to Paypal. And now Paypal is using SMS OTP but have alternatives. Problem is they don't work. There are many posts about Norton's VIP Access not working with Paypal. The result is a hugely complex and unmanageable range of login and payment processes for each provider. That just increases the number of organisations holding personal data which makes us more vulnerable to data losses from businesses (which happen with increasing frequency and volume of lost data).

I was working on IT security in the '80s when there were less than 50 known computer viruses. I know how to transact in a secure way but I realise that many people don't which is why PSD is needed. But what has been implemented is a mess and it is discriminatory. There is no reason to require someone to have a mobile phone/signal to transact. There are compliant alternatives. It seems to me that the banks have chosen the cheapest option for them and not considered their customer needs. That's in breach of EBA guidelines which state: "It is imperative that all actors, including card schemes and merchants, take the steps necessary to apply or request SCA and thus avoid situations in which payment transactions are rejected, blocked or interrupted."

ColdIron

Buy a phone, it will connect using your Wifi. Then enable Wifi SMS

colsten

ColdIron said:

Buy a phone, it will connect using your Wifi. Then enable Wifi SMS

Agree. Aside from a WiFi-capable phone, you need to make sure you use a provider which offers WiFi calling. All very easy. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/stay-connected

Zanderman

colsten said:

ColdIron said:

Buy a phone, it will connect using your Wifi. Then enable Wifi SMS

Agree. Aside from a WiFi-capable phone, you need to make sure you use a provider which offers WiFi calling. All very easy. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/stay-connected

Only easy if the phone is capable of wi-fi calling.  And many of the budget ones aren't.  Indeed a large number still aren't. 
And, iirc, wifi calling isn't normally available on any phone on PAYG.  

The OP, not a mobile user, may have to shell out at least £100 to get a mid-price phone capable of wifi calling and sms.  And a contract, not PAYG, sim.  That isn't money saving for someone who, up to now, hasn't needed either.

It may be the only way, but I wouldn't call it easy.  And it is frustrating that it requires spend.

jsmith9

I have a couple of suggestions which might help although no guarantees of course !

1 are you sure you have absolutely no mobile signal at all- even if you have 0 bars there may be some Signal around in which case you could install a signal booster - Google this 

2.  if you definitely have no signal then there are options to receive SMS texts on your PC - no idea if it will work for you but again Google 'receive SMS without a phone' it may be worth a look.

ColdIron

The OP is running a business. I guess they will need to weigh up the cost of a tiny business expense against the costs and barriers involved when 'I can no longer make any business payments'

colsten

It really is easy, and yes, as has already been mentioned, you need a WiFi capable phone and a provider who offers WiFi calling, even on PAYG (BT, for instance, do, and for BT landline customers, mobile comes at a fiver a month).

As to affordability: somebody who can afford to pay £4,000 for a BMW X3 can probably afford to get a smartphone.

Zanderman

ColdIron said:

The OP is running a business. I guess they will need to weigh up the cost of a tiny business expense against the costs and barriers involved when 'I can no longer make any business payments'

Fair point. Depends on how tiny 'tiny' is of course.

I'm a two-mobile man- one a trusty indestructible week-long-battery-life dumbphone on PAYG, a system used for 20 years until recently for all texts and a lot of calls.  And a smartphone used for, er, smart stuff but rarely for actual calls or texts.

In the last year I've started working a lot from a location with no signal at all. And so had to use wifi calling/sms.  That meant replacing the smartphone with a more expensive model capable of this and having to change my contact details from the previously bombproof dumbphone to the new smartphone.  This has been annoying, and costly.  But essential to remain operational.  I may even now abandon the dumbphone - but only because of this need for OTPs.

To do it on a budget I had to research wif-fi capable phones that would work with EE, which is not a long list, and an even shorter list fi you don't buy direct from EE.  The actual list may be longer but EE won't guarantee any not on these short lists, so (if you're with EE) you risk buying a phone capable of wifi calling but not capable on your network.  So best to stick to that short list.  This is why I wouldn't call it 'very easy' - there are lots of pitfalls if you get the wrong phone.

Mrs Z-man has resisted a similar move - as she likes her current smartphone - which also can't do wifi-calling.  But this is now restricting her ability to do things in that location, so it looks like another bit of research and spend is needed. 

Business needs?  Yes.  Right and proper?  No, as providers are supposed to provide alternatives to SMS OTPs.

Zanderman

colsten said:

.............
As to affordability: somebody who can afford to pay £4,000 for a BMW X3 can probably afford to get a smartphone.

4k for a BMW X3 sounds like a bargain to me.  That isn't what the OP actually did though.  It was an engine replacement.
But regardless I wouldn't judge someone else's business finances by one snapshot of their personal purchase history.  

colsten

Yes, replacement engine, I should have said.

gt94sss2

BT landlines can also receive SMS messages for free - assuming the firm you are dealing with doesn't insist on a mobile number

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8510/~/all-about-bt-text