One Time Passcode (OTP) not being received

[#1]

I am having issues receiving a One Time Passcode (OTP) to my PlusNet landline as part of accessing an online system.

The need is because (like thousands of others) I have virtually zero mobile signal in my home, and I have to leave my home and walk for several minutes to pick up a signal.

With the increasing introduction of two factor authentication, many (banking & finance especially) sites are requiring entry of a OTP in addition to username & password in order to access online accounts.

The frustrating part is that SOME providers (eg. Equateplus, who manage a share account I have) ARE able to send a OTP code to my landline (they use the 3rd party provider Twilio for OTP) which is received and "read out" fine, but my pension provider keep telling me that a code is sent to my landline, but I receive nothing.

This has been ongoing for over a month and they insist I need to take the matter up with my landline provider, despite my pointing out that a different site seems to manage it ok. Hence this post.

When I searched all forums, the best post I could find stated: "PN don't support sending to short codes, but there is nothing stopping you receiving them. You should still get them."

CAN ANYONE HELP PLEASE? How should I respond to my pension provider? They keep telling me that the problem is with me or my landline provider.

[#2]

Cant solve the issue about the phone, @andypearson , but does your pension provider have your email address? I get a number of mine via that route (in a couple of cases, via that AND a text to my mobile).

[#3]

Although you can set up a text service on a BT line, I don't beleive PN supports the service.

You could however give it a try:

https://www.bt.com/help/landline/set-up-and-use-bt-text 

[#4]

Many thanks John. They've certainly been emailing me about the problem, so they know my address. I'll ask if they have an option to send a code via email - though I hope they might have suggested that sooner, given how long the issue is taking!

[#5]

Thank you - I appreciate your help!

I've now discovered that even if I send a text from my mobile phone (after leaving the house to obtain a signal) my home phone rings and reads out the "message" (word, numbers, whatever) perfectly! I've let my pension provider know this too - it seems I am spending hours of my time trying to resolve THEIR issue in not being able to send a number to my home phone 😞

[#6]

Interesting, Andy. Be good to know their excuse/reason.

[#7]

@andypearson I'll add that the other day a friend accidentally sent an SMS text to my landline number instead of my mobile number - I too got it read out to me by a robot calling my landline. The caller ID is 0845 602 1111 which is the "BT Text Store" service - you can call it back to hear the message again, it only keeps it for 24 hours. (0845 might be chargeable, or included in your call package)

As for no mobile reception at home - have you considered "Wifi calling" if you have an Android or iPhone? It depends on the phone and carrier, but for example my Contract Vodafone sends and receives SMS over wifi at home (my reception is a bit patchy).

[#8]

Thanks for the advice - much appreciated. I've been with Tesco Mobile for decades now, but "unfortunately on Tesco Mobile Wi-Fi Calling is not available & neither is 4G calling" 😞

It'd be a shame if I had to move as generally, I've been happy with them, and although O2 coverage (used by Tesco) is really poor - it's actually not as bad as Three, EE and others.

[#9]

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@andypearson wrote:

How should I respond to my pension provider? They keep telling me that the problem is with me or my landline provider.

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Intriguing.

Most angles seem to have been considered in the thread, but just a thought...

Do you always call them, or have they on occasion called you on your landline?

If they haven't, then is it possible they may have your number wrong on their records?

Assuming that the number is correct, is it nevertheless possible that the wrong number has been entered onto whatever system they use to send OTPs.?

[#10]

Thank you - your thoughts are in line with mine...

They have occasionally called me on my landline, leaving a message when I was out, so I'm sure they have my number correct. They have, however, seemed to place a lot of emphasis on saying that my number MUST have the +44 included at the beginning, implying that I may have entered it incorrectly. However, it is THEY who have entered my landline number, because ever since they introduced the OTP requirement over a month ago, I have been unable to access my account - and the pension team themselves updated my record to assign my landline number to receive the OTP - which of course has never worked.

My remaining thought right now, until I hear from them again is: if I knew how the OTP system used by Equateplus (https://www.equateplus.com, who I gather use a 3rd party OTP service provider Twilio) who manage employee share schemes for many companies, worked (as this company appears to have no issue sending a OTP to my landline) or how to explain the technicalities of this to my pension provider - this may help.

I feel as though it's me who is trying to solve their problem... <sigh>

[#11]

Did you get this problem resolved?  I have exactly the same issue with a pension provider!

[#12]

Hi Peter - no, my issue is still unresolved. I am pretty appalled at the situation, given that Hymans Robertson (https://www.hymans.co.uk/) are a pretty big pension company, who must deal with hundreds of thousands of customers, many of whom must also have no mobile phone, or no mobile signal at home. Many other banks, financial organisations etc. are perfectly able to send a OTP to my landline, which is received perfectly OK, and I can also simply arrange for a text message to be sent to my landline from a mobile phone - which is also received and "read out" fine. I eventually raised an official complaint on 24th November 2022, to which they responded on 6th December with the waffling response below. I have had no further news on their "further investigation". I'm not happy.

As you will be aware from the earlier correspondence, when this was reviewed the one-time codes were all confirmed to have been sent to your land line correctly and in line with our usual procedures.  However, upon confirmation you were still not receiving these codes, the issue was referred back to the developers, for further investigation. Subsequently, the developers arranged a test with the external platform, again it was confirmed that with a BT landline that it was possible to send and receive the codes.  However, they have now identified that the issue appears to be where a non-text enabled landline phone is receiving the one time code, as it cannot display the senderID (PRISM), although the code has been successfully sent, the details of the SMS are then lost in the ether.  As we are unable to determine this prior to the codes being sent, the developers are now looking at a way of ensuring landline SMS are sent in a different format, to prevent the loss of the SMS.  Plans have been put into place to progress this, but we do not expect this to be resolved immediately, due to the level of work involved and the subsequent need to test this across major landline service providers.

I would like to thank you for bringing this to our attention and for your continued patience whilst this has been investigated on your behalf. Whilst an immediate resolution is not possible, I hope this gives you some reassurance that we have put in place plans to try and resolve this as a priority.

[#13]

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@andypearson wrote:

When I searched all forums, the best post I could find stated: "PN don't support sending to short codes, but there is nothing stopping you receiving them. You should still get them."

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For clarity, that relates to Plusnet's mobile phone services - it is not possible to send SMS messages to mobile short codes (with a couple of notable exceptions).

[#14]

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@andypearson wrote:

However, they have now identified that the issue appears to be where a non-text enabled landline phone is receiving the one time code, as it cannot display the senderID (PRISM), although the code has been successfully sent, the details of the SMS are then lost in the ether.

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I think they're barking up the wrong tree there. The whole point of sending a OTP to a landline is that the SMS goes to a message centre, which then rings the landline and the passcode is read out. It could be any old telephone instrument.