Long Distance call blocked

[alhaha]

I tried to dial the phone number of a legitimate business in the UK. The phone number is as followed:

011 44 871 559 1852

(In case you wondered, it is Travelodge and I am not doing the commercial for that company. )

I tried 3-4 times and Public Mobile came up with 2 messages each time

1) Please wait while we tried to connect you. Long distance charge may apply. (and yes I did pay for the add on for long-distance calls already and yes, the minutes are still here.)

2) The number is removed for security reason. (the phone number was seen as a security threat). Hence I would not be able to get through.

I tried dialling other UK numbers, but they work fine.

Would somebody please enlighten me on this?

(PS I dialed the number digit by digit. I did not press an entry on my Contacts to dial this number, but I still was not able to connect)

[gpixel]

@HammerCraig if your phone is android you can download google hangouts dialer and program it to use your phone number. all you need is wifi or data to make a call

[HammerCraig]

Yes I see the add on. And no they don't have a toll free number listed for people trying to get refunds.

[Anonymous]

 @HammerCraig 

Do you see the add-on in your data & add-ons area? The method is to deposit money and then kinda do it again to actually buy the add-on.

Do they not have a toll-free number though?

[HammerCraig]

I am having this same issue trying to call British Airways after adding international calling just to make this phone call. Did you ever get an answer?

Thank you

[akmitche]

yes i'm at the same stage, no reply for 3 days now

[akmitche]

did you get it fixed, we have same thing happening

[alhaha]

Still waiting for the response from the technical team. Seems like a very complicated problem. Stay tuned...

[srlawren]

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@alhaha wrote:

Just got a message from the moderator. 

Issue escalated to the technical team, will know why in 3-5 days. That could be interesting. 

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@alhaha thanks for the update, and please keep us posted.

[alhaha]

Just got a message from the moderator. 

Issue escalated to the technical team, will know why in 3-5 days. That could be interesting. 

[alhaha]

Thank you Luddite and those all have provided support and help on this thread. 

I did try the number on a land line. And it worked, so I am still searching for a solution. It still beats me why a local motel might charge people for calling them, especially when most Canadian hotels I have called has a toll-free 1-800 line. 

Mystery....

[Luddite]

@alhaha et al. Some calls to UK numbers from cell phones are NOT included in calling plans but are premium with charge back to the caller. In particular numbers numbers starting 084, 087, 09, 118 have an Access Charge plus the Service Charge of the company being called. 

Lots of gory details can be found here: https://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Learning-and-giffgaffer-articles/Special-Charges-Code-of-Practice/...

[srlawren]

I'm going to tag @Luddite here as I believe he calls the UK.  Do you happen to have any good workarounds for calling UK numbers that don't seem to connect even with a valid 400min LD add-on with mins remaining?  @will13am was able to reproduce the issue with the particular number @alhaha is trying to call, so it's not account or handset related.  All known dialing patterns have been tried, it looks like.  Any ideas?  🙂

[will13am]

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@slash407 wrote:

being a prepaid service this could be a plan issue, look over ur plan online make sure everything is setup right

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My test yielding same outcome should eliminate phone, account related issues as the problem.  Maybe there are area codes in UK that are not included in the long distance minutes.  If anyone knows of a calling app for the UK, perhaps use it to see if there's anything wrong with the number.

[alhaha]

Thanks for will13am for trying out the number for me.

I did contact the moderator already, but I was told not to do this more than once, otherwise there will a delay in response.

[Dunkman]

Is it possilbe that the number is out of service for some reason or changed?  Do you have a friend that can call that number with their phone?  Just to make sure it is still active.

I know with the US dialing, there are certain area codes that are not "covered" by Public Mobile long distance plan.  Is it possilbe that certain UK numbers are not covered also.  

Maybe try re-booting your phone to see whether that makes a difference.  

Otherwise, if nothing else works, you may want to contact moderator, but expect 2-3 day wait for response.  

[lemew07]

sorry thought that might help good luck

[Anonymous]

 @alhaha:

mimmo_L was suggesting the actual + (plus) sign in front of the 44. I don't like it but if it works then great.

[will13am]

I call the UK from time to time and have no issues.  I decided to donate a few long distance minutes to science and see happens.  I get the same message.  Using 011 or + has never made a difference for me and didn't make a difference in this test.  Google dialer does report the number as belonging to Travelodge York bill road.  I don't know what to say.

[alhaha]

Tried that too

I tried

1) Dial the whole 011 44...... (10 digits)

2) Dial without the 011; just plain 44 ...(10 digits)

No help. the first 3 digits after 44 is the area code, so it is part of the 10 digits, apparently

[alhaha]

I did try to dial without the 011, but then it is rejected

[lemew07]

Or you can try 011 44 then the london number including area code. 

[mimmo]

Try +44 not 011