mobile phone unable to receive calls or texts

Popsy25

I swapped to a low-cost lebara sim-only, month-by-month contract. The first month was fine. But just after I received notification of the second month's payment, my phone stopped being able to receive calls and texts. 2 weeks, a new SIM and multiple contacts with Lebara after, I am in the same boat. People who try to call me get a 'you have dialled an incorrect number' message. texts from websites as part of the 2-stage authentication never arrive. 
I eventually twigged the lebara helpline was taking me through step-by-step checks on making sure I hadn't inadvertently changed settings on my phone, so to speed things up I went to Samsung's checklist for this problem, worked through each step with no result.
I am convinced it must be something their end, but I think I am currently dealing with bots who keep asking for the same info. Any suggestions?

Yours, Desperate.

Newcad

What make and model is your phone?

If it is a 3G phone and not 4G then check that GSM/2G is enabled in the Mobile Network settings.

(It's just possible that 3G may have now been turned off in your area. If that has happened, and if you don't have a 4G phone, then you will need to use 2G for calls/texts).

Popsy25

It's a Samsung Galaxy S20 5G. Changing down through 5G to 3G was one of the tests I did on the Samsung Checklist, with no effect.

PHK

When you changed to Lebara, did you port your number and if so from who?

Are you able to call out and send texts?

Is your data working?

Jon_01

Try sending a text to yourself and see if that creates an error either on the send or receive.

GDB2222

My wife had the exact same problem this morning, which easily went away when she switched off airplane mode. 

Popsy25

PHK said:

When you changed to Lebara, did you port your number and if so from who?

Are you able to call out and send texts?

Is your data working?

I swapped from 3 and for the first month everything worked fine, although it took 3 days for everything for every function to switch. I can make calls and send texts. Not sure how to check if data is working: what do you mean?

And to the person who mentioned airplane mode, no, that's not switched on. I have been abroad and back since this problem started, and switched airplane mode on and off again. No change.

S

Popsy25

Jon_01 said:

Try sending a text to yourself and see if that creates an error either on the send or receive.

Interesting. I expected that to be a bit of a joke, but in fact I did send the text and it arrived a few seconds later!

Jon_01

Popsy25 said:

Jon_01 said:

Try sending a text to yourself and see if that creates an error either on the send or receive.

Interesting. I expected that to be a bit of a joke, but in fact I did send the text and it arrived a few seconds later!

It's a good test to make sure the sms settings are correct.

If you're using a third party texting app, check that the permissions are set for the app.  I had the same problem a while back where texts would only arrive if I was using the phone at the same time. I found the permissions needed resetting. After that everything worked fine.

Popsy25

Jon_01 said:

Popsy25 said:

Jon_01 said:

Try sending a text to yourself and see if that creates an error either on the send or receive.

Interesting. I expected that to be a bit of a joke, but in fact I did send the text and it arrived a few seconds later!

It's a good test to make sure the sms settings are correct.

If you're using a third party texting app, check that the permissions are set for the app.  I had the same problem a while back where texts would only arrive if I was using the phone at the same time. I found the permissions needed resetting. After that everything worked fine.

Contacts and SMS both allowed. Can't see anything else that might be relevant. 

J_B

Popsy25 said:

Contacts and SMS both allowed. Can't see anything else that might be relevant. 

Clear cache perhaps? 🤷‍♂️