[a_ukboy]

Hiya,

My mate use to be on Three UK and ported his number to Orange, since he's ported his number over i can't mms him, i can text, call or video call him, he has no problems sending things to me.

When i send him a mms it says sending and before its actually sent it fails and says "2508: Recipient Blocked"
Now i've tried getting Three so sort this out, they have said its not their problem its Oranges and they can't do anything about it, Orange say exactly the same thing, its Three's problem and can't do anything!
I know its not my phone because 4 other friends on Three can't send him mms messages either, but we all can send mms to other Orange customers.

What can i do now? I'm convinced its a problem on Three's end as i don't get a sent, then failed in my reports folder, it just stays in my Outbox and fails, so to me its not leaving Three's MMS Centre?

Also when this number was ported from Three they didn't close the account down and although the account no longer had a number attached to it, they kept applying line rental, it took 9 months to solve that issue and he also got a disconnection notice and a court summonds, anyway thats all sorted now because it was Three's fault. I think they have barred his number and that's why i can't mms him!

I'm unhappy that Three arn't looking into this anymore and i also want to know how can i take this matter further? Is there a way of talking to someone in the UK?

Thanks

[3g-g]

Eeep, rock and a hard place eh?

You could ask your friend to talk to Orange, ask them to resend the settings for his particular handset, see if that makes any difference. Or if he could get another handset and see if you can MMS him on that? Is he able to receive MMS from any of the other networks, or even Orange to his ported number?

As Orange have accepted the PAC code I'd of thought they might take bit more interest in the problem, at least you'll get someone in the UK that may be more sympathetic to the problem. It might be worth keeping on at them instead of 3, it looks like with all the problems prior to the port it's worth steering clear of 3 CS.

If it can't be taken any further then you could take it up with OFCOM, or he could ask Orange for a new number. I know these are last ditch options, but it may be the only way if both 3 and Orange refuse to take responibility. OFCOM may be able to tell you who's responsible for a number once ported in order to give you some leverage with either 3 or O.

Let us all know how he gets on!

[Ben]

I guess even if this is all Three's fault, it's Orange who has the number and customer now so it really should be their responsibility to sort it out. It's all well and good them saying it's Three's fault, but what's the customer supposed to do if they're no longer a Three customer?

I think the person needs to get back onto Orange and make sure a request is filed with their second line/offline support people. In Orange's infinite wisdom, you can't actually speak to these people - so it'll sure be a fun fight.

Surely Orange must have some inter-network relations... the networks certainly don't all function in 'harmony' with each other by magic!

[miffed]

I guess even if this is all Three's fault, it's Orange who has the number and customer now so it really should be their responsibility to sort it out. It's all well and good them saying it's Three's fault, but what's the customer supposed to do if they're no longer a Three customer?

I think the person needs to get back onto Orange and make sure a request is filed with their second line/offline support people. In Orange's infinite wisdom, you can't actually speak to these people - so it'll sure be a fun fight.

Surely Orange must have some inter-network relations... the networks certainly don't all function in 'harmony' with each other by magic!


I agree with the above - I must say there is nothing more frustrating that having the two networks blaming each other and nothing getting done , I had a similar situation with SMS's not working between a Three account & a Vodafone account a while back - never did get to the bottom of it !
In your situation I would agree that it is down to Orange to either provide you with a soloution or admit they are not able to provide you with the service you signed up for and release you from the contract
Best of luck :(

[3GScottishUser]

With almost everyone now owning mobile phones I think the time has come to issue individuals with a mobile number for life that they can use with any network. This would be their primary mobile number and would be the property of the individual.

Additional phones and devices could have numbers issued by networks but the primary number would be issued by Ofcom or an agency set up to provide them and networks would be required to release or accept an 'individual number' on request.

Workable?

I dont see why not and this approach could iron out alll the PAC code shenannigan that appears to be going on these days.

[Hands0n]

Great! I'm porting from 3 on Monday and am dreading the outcome. But if there is any nonsense then I'll be inclined to tell 3 and T-Mobile to stuff it, give me a new T-Mobile number and they can all go to hell in a handcart.

But to comment on the thread topic .... Clearly there is a responsibility between both networks to resolve this issue and not pass the buck. Collaboration is the keyword, and it appears that such is the last thing that is going on here. I'd like to see OFCOM's view on this as it makes a complete farce of Number Portability. So either fix it or scrap it entirely rather than set the Customer's expectations and then let them down miserably.

Looking at the logic behind what is technically going on I beleive the fault to be with Orange. Why? Well, simply put, all 3 are doing is re-directing the number to the Orange network. It is then up to Orange to do the delivery bit. The same logic must apply to MMS as it does to Voice, Video and SMS. How, or why, would 3 block just one of several methods? Surely if there was a contract issue (now resolved) the other methods would be blocked also. Surely, also, Orange could perform an MMS transmission trace and find out where the blockage is occurring. Stuff that 2nd line engineers should be able to do to resolve the issue.

I'd be on Orange's back like the proverbial Monkey until they get the fault (a) identified and (b) remedied. We'd be on first name terms by then. I'm deadly serious!! Grrrrrrrrrrr :(

[timothythetim]

I am in the processing of porting my number from three to a vodafone sim only contract. Got the vodafone sim the other day and put it in my phone - nothing. Phoned up vodafone; "Oh, the porting wont happen until the 24th of April"
Hrrmph.

[Hands0n]

:) T-Mobile texted me to give me the same Porting date - but then I am running two phones right now, the soon-to-be-defunct 3 phone and the new 6280 on T-Mobile. Have you got an old handset you can "park" the Vodafone SIM only in?

Good luck with your port on Monday - with a bit of luck there should be two happy bunnies :D

[Hands0n]

Anecdote: My daughter ported yesterday from Orange PAYG to 3, it took two attempts, the first failed last week for some reason or the other (each blamed the other!).

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was able to Voicecall, SMS, MMS and Videocall to the same number successfully. I had anticipated at least one of those services being problematic, particularly Videocall as it usually its own number associated.

[3GScottishUser]

It is a bad idea to port out a 3 issued number because your contacts will still have to pay the massive termination rates that 3 charge. Ported numbers attract termination rates allocated to that number range regardless of network operator.

So if you want to save your friends, family and contacts up to 50% on their call charges - get a new number from T-Mobile!!

[Hands0n]

I've already got a T-Mobile number on the handset of course. But am reluctant to change to it permanently, hence the port.

The number is important to me so giving it up is not on the agenda, even if the termination rates are higher. Most who call me do so from mobiles, and so [ordinarily] the call comes within their bundled minutes. If they're out of bundle, they are already heamorraging cash :D

[a_ukboy]

Latest update is not alot's happening, I've been making more calls to Three ref this but they still insist nothing can be done!!

To cut a very long story short, when my friend ported his number, Three failed to close his account, 9 months later he gets a letter saying he owes them £500, for line rental and they have barred his phone (That's now on orange) Thats when this block appeared, his issue with Three is now resolved as they've re-calculated his bill and removed the 9 months line rental he was charged for, but still this block is there!!
All Three say is get Orange to re-set his mms settings and it will work, but he can get mms and send them fine!!!

Orange are saying the Block (error message i get is 2508: Recepient Blocked) is in Three's mms centre (which i tend to agree as the message fails while sending and not when sent) and only Three can resolve that issue!

Three are saying they can't sort it out as he is no longer there customer!!

*I bang my head hard against a brick wall now*

Basically my friend can't recieve any mms messages from anyone on Three!

[Hands0n]

It really looks like the only course of action open to your friend is for him to ask Orange to assign him a genuine Orange number and go through the hassle of advising all of his contacts of the new number.

Clearly 3 have no intention of helping remedy the issue and Orange [apparently] cannot! What a dreadful state of affairs.

[a_ukboy]

It really looks like the only course of action open to your friend is for him to ask Orange to assign him a genuine Orange number and go through the hassle of advising all of his contacts of the new number.

Clearly 3 have no intention of helping remedy the issue and Orange [apparently] cannot! What a dreadful state of affairs.


LOL That won't happen, he got a gold number from Three, as did i :) So he said he would rather not get mms from Three then loose his number!!

[a_ukboy]

Latest update is that yesterday i got fed up with Three's Customer Services pushing the blame onto Orange so i emailed the Executive Office to highlight the issue and complain about Customer Services, i got a reply this morning stating they have forward the email to Customer Services!

Hmmmmm!