23-09-2026 05:36 PM - last edited on 24-09-2026 08:07 AM by Ali_A
In October 2019 I purchased a 4/5G router from EE in order to see if we could get better broadband than through a land line, At the time the router was on some sort of special offer for £100+vat and I decided it was better to purchase it that way than commit to a contract and then find the data connection was still slow like our land line. However it was a great success and we have been using this router as our broadband office connection ever since. However this year the contract ended and I decided to move elsewhere, mainly because the EE service level/connection has deteriorated a great deal in the last 18 months. I tried to take this matter up with the customer service people and wasted literally hours on the phone being told someone would look into it and get back to me but noone ever did. So I decided to leave. Whereupon I have discovered the router is locked to EE. Bit cheeky really as I paid for it outright not as some sort of contract bonus. I called and waited ages yesterday for an advisor and the lady I spoke to took down the IMEI number and promised to call back this morning. Guess what, nothing happened and while I am typing this I am on some sort of never ending hold waiting for someone to come to the phone and help me. So as it tells me to start a live chat (I've got one of those on the go as well but no-one is available currently, no surprise there) or to ask on here, I thought I'd ask the community. Anyone know what it might be ? Its a Huawei B525-25DO unit and the IMEI number is [Removed] , I purchased it on October 16th 2019 EE invoice number [Removed]. The IMEI search function on the EE website doesnt work either. Are they going broke or something this is all a bit of a joke
Solved! See the answer below or view the solution in context.
05-10-2026 03:14 PM
Hi @timatsvs,
Thanks for coming back to the Community to provide an update. I am sorry to hear you have not heard back from the complaint you submitted, I have sent you a private message to take some details to check this for you.
Alex
24-09-2026 02:01 PM - edited 24-09-2026 02:03 PM
Yes, devices purchased new before Dec. 2021 were often locked to their network provider.
You can just apply for unlocking by using the Unlocking your device form and giving its IMEI no.
24-09-2026 02:15 PM
Hi @timatsvs
As @XRaySpeX has mentioned, you should be able to unlock your device through our Unlock EE Device | Help | EE page. It's free and easy to unlock.
However, as this hadnt worked for you, you have taken the right steps to contact our customer service team. If they have raised a ticket for you to have the device unlocked, you'll usually receive an email confirming once it has been completed.
Ali
24-09-2026 06:25 PM - last edited on 25-09-2026 08:28 AM by Christopher_G
Thanks, but no it doesnt work. I've tried the unlock EE device page and entered the IMEI number and I get this message ;
Please try that again
Sorry, something went wrong on our end. Please enter your IMEI again or come back later
I've done that 5 times so far. I've rung customer services twice. As you may know the wait times to speak to a human are very long. The first time took almost 20 minutes and the second over 30. The first customer service representative was a lady, very polite, promised to come back to me at 10.00am yesterday. She didnt. So I tried again later yesterday and spoke to a gentleman who gave me 4 possible unlock numbers, they were ;
****
****
********
*********
none of those work. Any ideas ? This is all quite tiring. I tried your online chat system too (twice in fact) You say its quicker. Also wrong, never even got a connection to an agent. Perhaps you could use my IMEI number, my original invoice details and the model number of the router and find it for me ? I still have my business mobile telephone with EE, I've been a customer for about 15 years now. I dont think I'll be renewing my contract next March, based on my customer service experience recently, its been awful. Not to mention giving you 6 weeks notice to terminate the data contract in advance of it finishing and you just carried on charging me anyway. That was another 2 phone calls (one to a chap who does not understand basic English, promised to get a supervisor to call me back within 2 hours - didnt happen, and the second call to a lady who understood the issue and said it would be corrected on next month's bill. Yet to see if thats true)
[Mod edit: Removed unlock numbers, just to be safe]
24-09-2026 06:26 PM
Hi Ali
no, none of that works. And no one has called me back. Please see more detailed response above.
best regards
Tim
25-09-2026 08:29 AM
Hi @timatsvs
If you're not happy with how things are progressing through our customer support team, I recommend opening a complaint online. A dedicated team will look into it and contact you directly to discuss it.
Hope you get sorted.
Chris
25-09-2026 10:56 AM
I've done that a few minutes ago. Be nice if someone did what was requested and answered the question instead of having to make a complaint. But we'll see how that goes
I hope I get sorted too.
Tim
05-10-2026 10:49 AM
Hi again @Christopher_G and @Ali_A
So as you recommended, I made a complaint to EE. This was acknowledged by email from you 10 days ago. It said ''we'll get back to you as soon as we can''. How long is that ? Its a simple enough matter. I'm presuming it will just be ignored, and nothing will be done. I've had to spend £90 on a new router from elsewhere since starting this thread as no-one got back to me with any unlocking information and couldnt wait any longer. As already explained, its fairly clear you dont care too much about looking after your customers. The community was my last resort and its so far been a failure too
05-10-2026 03:14 PM
Hi @timatsvs,
Thanks for coming back to the Community to provide an update. I am sorry to hear you have not heard back from the complaint you submitted, I have sent you a private message to take some details to check this for you.
Alex