As a postscript to my Paris trip with UM+, the UM customer service team finally replied to my email last night. The email had a lot of information in it, but failed to address the root cause of the problem
Here's the reply just out of interest / Steve
Dear Customer,
Your case with United Mobile Customer Service has been updated.
CASE NOTES
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[16/8/2007 06:41:37 - 1stlevel_deu]
Dear Mr Gold,
Thank you very much for your inquiry.
We are sorry to hear that you cannot make or receive calls.
Well, in many cases the best method to enable your mobile phone to make and receive calls is that you choose another network manually in the menu of your mobile phone (Settings> Phone Settings> Network selection).
The coverage of the different network operators is of different quality in some regions. Although you have full strength of an operator you could try to choose another network manually to see if it would operate better then.
You will need to use Menu Based Calling if you are experiencing problems trying to connect your call using your United Mobile SimCard. Some specific error messages are:
'Call Barred'
'Restricted Number'
'Call Not Allowed'
'Check Operator Service'
It also can happen that your mobile phone reboots.
IF YOU EXPERIENCE ANY OF THESE MESSAGES OR SITUATIONS TRY MENU BASED CALLING
To use this feature you will need to access a new menu item: 'United Mobile'. The location of this menu will vary depending upon the make of your phone:
Nokia: Last item on the 'Main' menu
Sony Ericsson: In the 'Connectivity' menu
Motorola: Under the 'Office Tools' menu
Samsung: In the 'Application' menu
Siemens: In the 'Main' or 'Extras' menu
If all else fails than you can try to make telephone calls using an USSD-command: Please dial *137*Countrycodes without "00", Areacode without "0", phone number and at last the pound sign (#).
Example for London/UK: *137*442072xxxxx#
If you have further questions, do not hesitate to contact us again.
Yours sincerely
Ferdinand Creutz
United Mobile Customer Service
You can now contact United Mobile around the clock. Our Customer Service Team is now available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
CASE DETAILS
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ID : 18933
Customer: Steve Gold
Title : um+ call problems
DESCRIPTION
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Type of problem:
It is not possible to make calls
Email:
sg@mail.com
First and last name:
Steve Gold
Country code:
+44 7937
Your United Mobile number:
032111
Date and time of problem:
ALLWEEK SINCE SUNDAY
Country where the problem occured:
FRANCE
Region where the problem occured:
PARIS
Your mobile phone model:
SIEMEN A65, LG CHOCOLATE, MOTO V3
Number of the person your were calling:
ASSORTED UK AND FRENCH NUMBERS
Further information:
Hello - long standing UM423 user here - New SIM worked in UK when activated - here in France 089 bal check works, but calls trigger SIM not acticated yet...
Called customer services 7ral times. Timed out.
Not at all happy with your new service one bit.
Steve
((((((((
Best regards
United Mobile
Customer Service
[QUOTE=UKSTEVE;16841]Just back from 10 days in Paris - customer services eventually unravelled the SIM authentication issue. I'd suggest all users of UM+ call customer services to activate their new SIM and avoid using the Web interface - it clearly doesn't work reliably.