New EE Sim and a Nokia 106

[RainWalkerUK]

Hello,

A bit of background - I've had a bit of a drama recently with my mum's phone.  She's had a Nokia phone which has worked fine since the 90's. Due to inactivity through Covid her EE pay as you go sim account was closed rendering the old sim that she'd had since the days of Orange null and void.

I've had a new sim from EE to start her up with a phone again but her old phone being locked to Orange didn't like it.

So now, I've got her a new phone to go with her new sim and I've run in to unexpected problems.

My question - Is an EE sim compatible with a Nokia 106 I've bought from Amazon (shipped from the UK by Amazon themselves)?  I see no reason why it wouldn't work, but the sim isn't being recognized by the phone when the sim is in either sim slot a or b.  Could it be that the sim isn't activated?  I've had the new sim around a month.

I'm not a total tech newbie, but it's been a while since I've been messing about with things like this, so any and all advice is welcome.

If it turns out I've bought an unsuitable phone for the EE network, what similarly simple, mum friendly, phone would you recommend?

Thanks

[RainWalkerUK]

This is the link to the phone

Amazon (Opens in a new tab)

[mikeliuk]

A retail mobile from Amazon should be unlocked to be used on all networks forever unless advertised otherwise. (I judge it highly unlikely that a boxed and sealed phone would be faulty from the factory as they should be tested before boxing.)

I would recommend to review the information regarding activation of a SIM and at least one reboot might be required to get everything setup correctly. You've not mentioned whether the new SIM is pay monthly, but as advised below, the link is not relevant to PAYG.

https://ee.co.uk/help/help-new/getting-started-and-upgrading/activate-a-new-sim/how-do-i-activate-an...

Some of the instructions and messages you receive may not be relevant to a new SIM (having activated a SIM recently, some of the instructions assumed I was an existing customer rather than a new customer).

For convenience, I provide a link showing how soon various PAYG SIMs will expire.

For mobile numbers which will be used for two-factor authentication, I would highly recommend a pay monthly SIM of about GBP 6/mth (unlimited minutes and texts, and 4 GB data plus roll-over) to ensure the number is never lost.

https://kenstechtips.com/index.php/payg-inactivity-account-termination-and-credit-expiry

[XRaySpeX]

@mikeliuk : Those instructions do not apply to new PAYG SIMs, only contract SIMs.

[James_B]

Hi @RainWalkerUK,

Welcome to the EE Community. 🙂

If the phone is unlocked and the SIM is inserted correctly, the phone may be faulty.

Do you have another phone you could test the SIM in to confirm?

James

[RainWalkerUK]

Morning everyone,

Thank you for all the tips and advice!  I really appreciate it.

I have good news.  It's now fixed and working.

Work meant I had to take a couple of days away from the project.  When I came back to it and turned the phone on (having done nothing else to it since the last time I tried to get it to see the sim without success) everything seemed to work fine all of a sudden.  I've made a call from it.  Sent a text too and everything is fine.

Why initially it didn't want to play ball I do not know.  I'll keep and eye on it to make sure it remains working and isn't faulty in some way.  But as it stands things seem to be working fine.

Thanks Again for your advice!

[Leanne_T]

Thanks for coming back and letting us know @RainWalkerUK

I'm happy to hear this is now working for you 🙂

Take care. 

Leanne.