Pay as you go SIM card not activated

[jack0x]

Hi,

I am rejoicing EE to have a work phone number, I bought a SIM card from the local shop near my house for £1, I popped it in my old phone (what's gonna be used for work) and I have no service, yet the phone is not locked to another network. 

Do I have to wait around 24 hours for the process to complete or did I get given a lemon (expired SIM)?

Thanks,

~ jack0x

[XRaySpeX]

You need to top it up yet. The £1 was only the fee for the shop to have the pleasure of selling it to you.

What does texting AL to 150 from it fully report verbatim (it is free)?

[jack0x]

I cannot do that as I don't have service in order to check. I plan to top up later but as I said I can't text 150 without service. 

[XRaySpeX]

You should have service. Manually search the Network Ops for EE.

[jack0x]

Update: Seems like switching to GSM fixes the problem for like 5 or less seconds and reverts back to "No service - emergency calls only".

No clue now if its an EE fault or a software issue with my Android phone. 

[Leanne_T]

Hi @jack0x

Thanks for coming here. 

Does the SIM work in any other phone?

Leanne 🙂

[jack0x · Accepted solution]

Hi Leanne (+ anyone else replying),

it was not anything to do with my SIM or the network itself, it was to do with network lock. For whatever reason after reverting my phone back to stock firmware (so it can be used for work purposes), not only did it confuse itself but it also decided to change my IMEI number... So what I did was I still had my Vodafone unlock code from 3 years ago, then I took the IMEI from that, and flashed that back into the phone, entered the unlock code and I had service!

Thank you to those who gave their suggestions, sometimes the weirdest solutions fix things. 🙂

~ Jack0x

[Leanne_T]

Thanks for letting us know @jack0x

Leanne 🙂