What is 3DS Authentication and why it is required
3D Secure (3DS) is an extra layer of protection for online card payments and is especially useful when a business cannot personally verify a person’s identity. 3DS acts as a verification step (often a one-time passcode, or bank app approval) to confirm that you are the legitimate cardholder. In short, 3DS helps ensure your payment and card is authorised by you, designed to provide security for both you and the business.
How does it work?
New customers
You go to the Rocket Mobile order portal and add your desired plan(s);
Enter your payment details as part of the checkout process;
When clicking submit, but before a payment can go through, you are redirected to your card issuer's 3DS page
You are prompted to enter the one-time passcode sent to your registered mobile, email account or banking app (it should tell you where it will be sent)
Enter this passcode to allow the payment to go through
Existing customers
For existing customers, you will be prompted to complete 3DS when adding a new payment method to your account.
Enter your new card details and click Save
You will be redirected to your card issuer’s 3DS page
Enter the one-time passcode sent to your registered mobile, email account or banking app (it should tell you where it will be sent) to allow your new payment method to be added.
What does a 3DS authentication prompt look like?
Common reasons for 3DS payment failures
With 3DS in place, sometimes payments may fail. Common scenarios for this include:
Incorrect details: You may have incorrectly entered the passcode into the prompt. Be sure to double check the passcode you have entered before submitting it.
Authentication not completed: You may have closed the 3DS verification screen too soon or missed the prompt. If you do not finish the verification (for example, not entering the code or approving in your bank app), the payment can’t be authorised and will fail.
Authentication failed/rejected: Sometimes even if you try to authenticate, the bank may reject the verification. This could happen if the wrong code was entered or there was a timeout. For instance, entering incorrect 3DS passcodes will cause the bank to reject the transaction)
Card or bank issues: Your card could be expired, cancelled or blocked for security reasons. The bank might also decline the transaction due to their own rules (e.g. international transaction blocked, daily limit reached, or suspected fraud).
Insufficient funds: A very common cause of failed payments is not having enough funds or credit available. Even if 3DS is completed, the charge will fail if the account cannot cover the amount.
Other declines: Occasionally, a payment can be declined by the card issuer without a specific public reason (often shown as a “card declined” message). This could relate to any of the above issues, or a general policy of the bank. In these cases, you will need to contact your bank directly.
Notification process - how will I be notified of a failure?
3DS is initiated and requested by the card issuer (usually your bank) and a failure reason will display in the prompt.
For payment failures, you will receive a ‘Card payment failed’ email notification from us.
Steps to resolve 3DS authentication failure or payment
If your 3DS authentication failed or payment failed, don’t panic. You can often fix the issue with a few simple steps:
Try submitting the order / payment again and complete the 3DS step: In most cases, you just need to retry the payment and make sure to finish the 3DS authentication. While placing an order, you can reinitiate the 3DS authentication by resubmitting your order.
Update or change your card if needed: If the failure reason was related to the card itself (expired card, issuer decline, or the 3DS process continually failing), it may help to use a different payment method. You can update your card by either going back to the Payment section in the checkout process. Otherwise if you are an existing customer, you can update your card by following these instructions.
Note when adding a new payment method, you might be asked to verify this card by 3DS as well - be sure to complete that process. Using a fresh card can resolve issues if your bank was blocking the previous one for security reasons.
Ensure sufficient funds are available: For failures due to insufficient funds, you should add funds to your account or wait until you have enough balance, then retry the order for new customers. For existing customers, our billing system will make one more attempt at taking payment before your plan is due to renew. If this also fails, your plan will lapse, your service will be disrupted and you will have to re-purchase a plan when you have funds available.
Contact your bank if problems persist: If you’ve tried the above and still cannot get the payment to go through (for example, you keep completing the 3DS check but the bank declines it anyway), it could be an issue on your bank's side. In this case, call your bank’s customer service line and explain that you are trying to purchase a mobile plan from us. They can provide more information on why 3DS is failing and help resolve any security hold.
If I don’t take action, what will happen?
Here’s what to expect if no action is taken on a failed 3DS authentication or other payment issue:
Grace period: After a failed payment attempt, you will enter a grace period. During this time, you will still have access to our service. Our billing system will attempt one final payment when your plan is due to renew. This grace period is to allow you time to fix the payment issue.
Service interruption: If the payment isn’t completed and the grace period ends, your Rocket Mobile plan will lapse. This means your plan will become inactive.
Cancellation of subscription: Once your plan has fallen off, you will not be billed further, but you also will no longer have access to our service until the outstanding balance is paid. You will be notified by email when your payment attempts have failed, and your plan has expired.
Need to repurchase plan: After your plan has lapsed, you will need to repurchase a plan to restore your service. Keep in mind that if you had a special rate or promo price, it may not apply when repurchasing. It’s best to prevent your plan from lapsing by updating your payment as soon as you can.