Troubleshoot issues paying through your mobile provider (direct operator billing)

If you're having trouble with a purchase billed through your mobile phone operator, try these troubleshooting tips.

Tips for first-time direct operator billing customers

If you're having trouble making a purchase using operator billing, we recommend that you start by ensuring that:

  • You are connected to your operator network, if this is your first time using operator billing on YouTube.
  • You are using the YouTube app, not a mobile browser or a computer.

We also recommend that you try turning your device off, waiting a few seconds, and then turning it back on. After turning on your device, re-attempt your purchase.

Additional troubleshooting tips

If you're still experiencing problems:

  • Make sure that you are using a personal account. Some companies may block operator billing on corporate accounts.
  • Confirm that you are not using a rooted device.
  • If you use a device with dual SIM cards, make sure that you put the right SIM card in slot 1 and leave slot 2 empty.

Check your operator settings

If none of the tips above fixed your issue, there are some operator settings that could be impacting your service. Check with your operator to make sure that:

  • You haven't hit any cap set for monthly spending totals or individual purchase prices by your operator (when those limits are reached, the billing option disappears).
  • You have sufficient balance for the purchase amount, if you are using a pre-paid plan.
  • Your device and service plan allow premium content purchases.
  • Your device can use mobile phone billing.

If you've tried these steps and are still having problems, please contact your mobile phone service provider for more help.

Tips for existing memberships billed through a mobile phone operator

As of 24 January 2023, Rogers Communications will no longer be an accepted payment method for recurring paid memberships in Canada. If you signed up for YouTube Premium, YouTube Music Premium or a channel membership through Rogers Communications, update your payment method to one of the accepted payment methods.

If you have been using direct operator billing to pay for a YouTube paid membership and are experiencing payment issues, please contact your operator to find out the reason for the decline. There could be an issue with your account, such as exceeding a spending limit.

If there is no issue with your operator account, try removing it as a payment method and readding:

  1. Go to your Payment methods page on Google Pay and remove your operator billing payment method. Note: You will be unable to remove operator billing from your account if you are using this payment method for any currently active memberships.
  2. Go to the YouTube app and tap on your profile picture .
  3. Tap Purchases and memberships and complete the sign-up process again.

If you have problems re-adding operator billing, try the troubleshooting tips for first-time users above.

If these don't help, please contact your mobile phone service provider for more help.

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