Suddenly unable to make international calls

[dfenceman]

I have an elderly neighbour who has been ringing one of his few remaing relatives in South Africa for many years.

Over the weekend he was unable to make an international call although calls to the UK are unaffected.

Someone else tried ringing a couple of other foreign countries but they also failed.

An OR engineer has been out today.  He can find no fault with the phone or line and has walked away as he does not know what the problem is.

Do any of the experts on here have any ideas please ?

[john46]

has he got call barring activated on his line

[dfenceman]

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@john46 wrote:
has he got call barring activated on his line

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Hi john46,

No he has not and the OR engineer confirmed that.

[dfenceman]

Another OR engineer came again yesterday and tried making several international calls.  All returned the same "number not available" message.  As with the first engineer he had no idea what is causing this or what to do about it.

If none of the CL's have any ideas could a mod offer some advice please ?

[Keith_Beddoe]

Are they sure that their line has not been crossed with another, are they getting incoming calls?

If the number is fine, then ask them to prefix the international number with 1280, that will ensure the call is routed over the BT network, and not via a CPS provider.

[dfenceman]

Hi Keith,

Many thanks for the reply.  Please bear in mind that this gentleman is a very infirm 88 year old who has not long lost his wife.

He has no problem making and receiving UK calls.  He can receive international calls but cannot make them.

I have just asked him to try dialling 1280 first but he said that made no difference.

Please excuse my ignorance but what is a CPS provider and why might the international calls be routed via them ?

Any other suggestions would be very welcome.

[john46]

this explains CPS Providers a  google search  shows more informatio http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/oftel/ind_groups/op_policy/cpscgm/cpslistoprts.htm

[DavidM]

Hi dfenceman,

Thanks for posting. We'll need to take a closer look at this for your neighbour so can you send over his details and we'll check it for him.

Cheers

David

[dfenceman]

Hi DavidM,

Many thanks for your reply.  I have completed and sent the online contact form.

I know it can take up to 5 working days for you to respond but the sooner the better please.

3 OR visits, the third again today, have failed to solve the issue.

The gentleman is getting very anxious.

[dfenceman]

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@john46 wrote:

this explains CPS Providers a  google search  shows more informatio http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/oftel/ind_groups/op_policy/cpscgm/cpslistoprts.htm

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Hi john46,

Thanks for the post but I can't see how that helps this elderly gentleman one bit.  He is a BT customer and has nothing whatsoever to do with any of the companies on that list.

Hopefully DavidM will be able to help.  After all it would seem that the problem lies with BT Retail.