Check your Mobile Service Exclusions as you may never be able to Authenticate via Twitters Mandatory SMS Verification

Written by James McDonald

October 2, 2020

A while ago I deleted my Twitter account as I found the platform to be generally harmful to the human psyche.

However I recently have need of following some Sharering Company accounts on Twitter

While attempting to create a new Twitter account, as soon as Twitter noticed that I was using the app from my phone it put up a mandatory prompt to verify my mobile phone number which will not allow you to go further until you recieve and enter a verification code.

However I have a Woolworths Pre-Paid Mobile Service and each time I entered my number I did not receive the SMS they sent to my mobile number.

Looking at the exclusion list for my plan it doesn’t appear to specifically exclude social media as follows. So I’m not sure what the deal is currently

Exclusions: Your Plan does not include any
allowance for international calls, International
Roaming, Premium Services), or calls or SMS to the
following types of numbers: “19xx”, “0055”, “1234”,
“12455” and “12456”. You may purchase an
International & Other Add-on from us online to enable
you to make calls and send SMS to international
numbers, and to use extra services such as video
calls and video MMS to Australian numbers.

Woolworths Mobile Pre-Paid Plan Exclusions

Despite not being explicitly mentioned in the exclusions it appears that my plan is not configured to allow SMS notifications from social network providers.

If you have a Woolworths Pre-paid mobile service you will not be able to recieve SMS’s from twitter.com

I have raised a support request with Woolworths Mobile but they are quoting 10-14 days until they give a response. When it comes to support desks for big companies it usually takes a number of days before the metaphorical “ball” is passed to someone who is willing and capable of progressing your request toward an answer. So I hope this happens in my case.

There is also a reddit thread where several Woolworths Mobile users mention they cannot recieve social media verification SMS which I included with the support request so this is not unique to my service.

Update: 4 November 2020 – If you have a Woolworths Pre-paid mobile service you should now be able to receive SMS’s from twitter.com

After the above mentioned support request it took a couple of weeks. My Woolworths Mobile Pre-paid Service is now receiving Twitter Authentication SMS’s.

I have received a notification from Telstra Wholesale as well who I believe would have had a part in actioning the fix request.

I can’t categorically say that every Woolworth mobile service has been fixed but mine has

Do Add-Ons enable Social Media SMS Verfication? – No

There seems to be some add-ons that one can pay for to get greater functionality such as “$10 PAYG International & Other add-on.” but they don’t seem to specify if the “Other” will allow social media SMS notifications throug. I have asked this question via the Woolworths Mobile Support channel too, but am awaiting a reply. If anyone knows the answer I would be grateful if you could leave a comment.

Checking other providers such as Amaysim they are more explicit and it would pay to check all the exclusions before committing as can be seen from their plan exclusion list “social media SMS alert services” are explicitly excluded

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