Techniques for recovery during authentication include initiating sending a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) authentication message from user equipment of a user to a merchant node of a merchant. If the user is not authenticated in response to the HTTP authentication message, then sending a Short Message Service (SMS) message from the user equipment to the merchant node is initiated. The SMS message indicates a transaction between the user and the merchant. In some embodiments, techniques include changing an access point to a network until an access point utilized is on a list of acceptable access points, in response to a buy response message that indicates a transaction between a merchant and a user. A hypertext transfer protocol authentication message is sent through the access point that is on the list of acceptable access points.