topic Re: Phone Broke abroad with eSIM - what do I do?! in SIM cards & Porting

Phone Broke abroad with eSIM - what do I do?!

Hbhbhbhb — Mon, 17 Jul 2023 10:29:01 GMT

Hi all, I really appreciate any advice on this topic as I'm a bit lost. I am currently in Singapore and I dropped my pixel - it hit wrong and the screen flashed for a bit then went black. I am going to buy a new phone tomorrow, but I had an eSIM and the physical SIM is back in the UK. I won't be returning home for 3 weeks and I have absolutely no idea how to active an eSIM on a new device. Anyone been in a similar position?

Re: Phone Broke abroad with eSIM - what do I do?!

Christopher_G — Mon, 17 Jul 2023 12:39:25 GMT

Hi @Hbhbhbhb

Welcome to the community.

I'm sorry to hear about your phone. You'll need to request a new eSIM from our Mobile Care team, which will be sent to the account address or download one from the My EE app. Because you're abroad, it may not register till you're back in the UK.

Chris

Re: Phone Broke abroad with eSIM - what do I do?!

light_clover — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 12:23:03 GMT

Hello, I'm in the exact same situation, just in a different country. My phone broke yesterday, and the motherboard is apparently unrecoverable. I am buying a new phone today, because I use this number for work, and I am wondering how i can activate and get it going again for calls/data as well as apps like Whatsapp, etc?

Re: Phone Broke abroad with eSIM - what do I do?!

Chris_B — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 12:44:00 GMT

@light_clover As above it might not register to activate as your abroad

Re: Phone Broke abroad with eSIM - what do I do?!

light_clover — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 13:22:25 GMT

Hello -- I am meant to be out of the country for several months (on work). What can i do please to remedy the situation. I desperately need my phone back to use for work.

Thanks

Re: Phone Broke abroad with eSIM - what do I do?!

Peter_W — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 15:57:35 GMT

Hi @light_clover.

Welcome to the EE Community 😊

With your current phone, were you using a physical SIM or an eSIM?

If it's the former then you should be able to remove this and use it in any other phone that's unlocked, and then pop it back in your phone once this is repaired / replaced.

If you have an eSIM this will be a bit more complicated, as like @Chris_B mentioned new SIM activations must take place on our network here in the UK.

Peter

Re: Phone Broke abroad with eSIM - what do I do?!

bristolian — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 16:34:26 GMT

This "me too" scenario is a prime example of where physical SIMs have a huge advantage. Anyone who has an eSIM in this situation needs to be prepared to be offline until returning to the UK.

Re: Phone Broke abroad with eSIM - what do I do?!

Peter_W — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 17:15:36 GMT

@bristolian @light_clover when in this kind of scenario with eSIMs when abroad, , we can look into the option of sending out a replacement physical SIM to your UK address.

You would then need someone to activate this on our network here in the UK though, and arrange shipping to you overseas.

I appreciate this adds extra complexity, but for security we'll only ever ship SIMs to the address registered on your account.

Peter

Re: Phone Broke abroad with eSIM - what do I do?!

light_clover — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 19:45:55 GMT

Sadly it's an ESIM -- but I imagine there must be something that can be
done to help activate abroad?

Re: Phone Broke abroad with eSIM - what do I do?!

Chris_B — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 19:58:27 GMT

@light_clover The problem is it’s trying to do it with roaming network involved. It’s not that EE don’t want to it it’s because it’s a roaming network your trying to connect with to activate the eSIM, Your only option is to request a replacement sim and that will be delivered to your UK billing address, someone there will need to active it and make sure it’s working before they post it out to you. You can’t even active a sim on roaming network. It just doesn’t work.

Re: Phone Broke abroad with eSIM - what do I do?!

bristolian — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 20:08:39 GMT

If there was a technical solution to this catch-22 scenario, then previous replies would have offered it!

Re: Phone Broke abroad with eSIM - what do I do?!

light_clover — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 20:53:55 GMT

Thanks Chris. I did thus far have an eSIM (in a broken phone) but is it
possible to replace with a physical SIM?
Thanks

Re: Phone Broke abroad with eSIM - what do I do?!

Michael_D — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 08:27:57 GMT

You can change from an eSIM to a physical SIM @light_clover, it will cut off the eSIM and activate your number on the physical SIM, ready to go when you receive it.

As mentioned previously, it would need to be sent to your UK address and have someone to collect it, pop it in a phone to activate and then ship it on to you.

Michael

Re: Phone Broke abroad with eSIM - what do I do?!

chistery — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 08:51:34 GMT

I'd recommend also setting a SIM PIN if you go with this method to add an extra security layer when posting a SIM.