topic Re: SIM card activation in SIM cards & Porting

SIM card activation

FedUEE — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 16:49:48 GMT

First SIM went missing in the post; second SIM card had a different number, not the phone number it told me it should be, wasn't getting signal tho at some point got five random texts that were obviously for someone else.

So third SIM received, trying to activate it, still not getting any passcode...

Does EE even realise that the first instruction to activate your SIM is to insert it into your phone, and the second instruction given by EE is have your old SIM handy so we can text you a passcode. Please tell me how that's supposed to work...

I'm sick of swapping, trying, and phoning for help. Never had this much trouble swapping SIM before. Please tell me EE service gets better from here on in...

Re: SIM card activation

Christopher_G — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 07:20:34 GMT

Hi @FedUEE

Welcome to the community, I'm really sorry to hear of your experience so far. Are you near an EE Store? f so, it may be best to pop in so they can manually register a SIM card for you in-store. You would need to be the account holder with photo ID to do this.

Chris

Re: SIM card activation

FedUEE — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 10:37:02 GMT

Hi Chris, thanks for your reply but unfortunately I don't live near an EE store... shrugs

Re: SIM card activation

Christopher_G — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 11:12:51 GMT

OK, that's a shame, @FedUEE

I can only suggest speaking to our Mobile Care team for an update on what's happening.

Chris

Re: SIM card activation

SunshineOnLake — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 08:12:45 GMT

Hi, I'm having the same issue, did you get anywhere with it (I can't do it through the phone support because I can't remember my password so they won't speak to me!). Cheers Bill

Re: SIM card activation

FedUEE — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 09:16:45 GMT

I spent four days over the course of several weeks, trying to get through
on the chat function, and eventually it was escalated to supervisor level,
chap was nice and tried to be helpful, you got to keep sending a message
every five mins or so, because it times out after 15-20 mins of being
patient and politely waiting; and you'll end up back at square one. Or
you're accidentally bounced from the system, I guess text or phone they
have limits/targets as to deal with issues within a set time frame and
you'll cost them their average, eventually I was lucky with a patient
operator, so we ended up discussing poetry and local landscapes while he
balanced other customers and trying to get my difficulties resolved, took
over four hours, and he said it'll be sorted that night, 26 hours later it
was.

Everyone else said it was the "flick of a button on the computer" he
admitted for whatever reason that wasn't working. Not sure how the
supervisor resolved it, still disappointed in the service and difficulty in
getting it resolved, four days of my time well outweighed the "free monthly
and £10 apology" it was over six weeks trying to get it sorted so a free
month was already well past gone. If I'd have given up I'd have had to lose
the exact telephone number I have - which I couldn't really afford to do.

Sometimes you fall through a crack in the system/computer... Companies
could do better acknowledging that. I did get an email reply from the
complaints department on the Friday after the supervisor had 'fixed' it
that Thursday and then it was working before the complaints department chap
was back in work on the Monday. So...

Email complaints as quickly as possible, you might hear back from them
before it's resolved, you might not... And then persistence and asking for
escalation to supervisor, because flicking the button on the system isn't
working for you, chat or phone function... Keep talking every 5mins so you
don't get switched off.

Or give up and go elsewhere?

Good luck

Re: SIM card activation

SunshineOnLake — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 11:25:42 GMT

Hi,

many thanks for your in-depth reply, sounds like you really got put through the wringer - well done for persevering!

Sounds as if I'll only get somewhere if I can work around the password issue & then talk to a supervisor. Or go elsewhere but I'd then have to pay an early termination fee. Having said that, Vodafone are equally bad - I had a 4G router of theirs for 2 yrs that only worked 10% of the time - tried to cancel the subscription after endless complaints to them but they wanted to charge me £700 early termination because it "still provided some service"! Only solution is to return to carrier pigeons!

Cheers Bill

Re: SIM card activation

James_B — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 11:34:04 GMT

Hi @SunshineOnLake,

If you've forgotten your password, our Customer Care Team will be able to run through some alternative security checks when you call.

James

Re: SIM card activation

SunshineOnLake — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 11:45:33 GMT

Hi James,

thanks for your comment, however, when I asked if they could do this they said they couldn't? Will try again & insist this time.

Cheers Bill

Re: SIM card activation

James_B — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 12:00:20 GMT

No problem, @SunshineOnLake

In the worst case scenario of all verification methods failing over the phone, you can visit your local EE store with some identification.

James

Re: SIM card activation

FedUEE — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 12:25:45 GMT

You're most welcome Bill, I wish it had been more helpful, as in just do
this one trick and you'll be good to go. It'll definitely be easier if you
can resolve the password asap.

Even the carrier pigeons were unreliable sometimes due to the arrows and
eagles...

Companies are so proud of the service for the 97+% of customers, but they'd
be better to pay attention to making life easier for the less than 3% who
they fail so badly. Such is the modern world, just pray to Bluetooth you
don't get caught in the missing code.

All the best 🙂

Re: SIM card activation

Alex15678 — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 11:29:20 GMT

My ee SIM card is not activated

Re: SIM card activation

Leanne_T — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 12:52:21 GMT

Hi @Alex15678

Thanks for coming here 🙂

Is the SIM card a replacement, an upgrade or for a new EE account?

Leanne.

Re: SIM card activation

Fadiaalhomsi12 — Sun, 16 Nov 2025 14:41:05 GMT

Hey

Re: SIM card activation

Ali_A — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 10:17:06 GMT

Hi @Fadiaalhomsi12

You can activate a replacement SIM if you still have your old and it's working, by visiting our Activate Your SIM page.

If your old SIM is no longer working, or you don't have it, you'll need to call our Customer Care or visit our retail store for a pre-activated replacement SIM.

Ali

Re: SIM card activation

Lenkapechova — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 19:18:24 GMT

Can you help

Re: SIM card activation

Chris_S — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 09:49:46 GMT

Hi @Lenkapechova

We can certainly do our best to help.

What would you like help with?

Chris S