Help Needed: Reactivating Long-Inactive EE SIM While Abroad

[afan_zaheer]

Hi everyone,

I’m currently facing an issue with my EE SIM. I have a UK EE SIM that I haven’t used for 6–8 months and I’m now in Pakistan. Recently, I’ve noticed:

• Calls to and from the number are barred.

• USSD codes (like *#100#) show unknown error.

• EE is sending top-up reminder messages.

• WhatsApp is still active on this number, but I cannot receive verification codes.

• My phone shows Ufone as the network, likely due to roaming.

I want to know:

1. Can I reactivate this SIM from abroad by topping up?

2. Is it still possible to keep this number alive and receive WhatsApp codes?

3. Has anyone successfully reactivated a long-inactive EE SIM while abroad? If yes, what steps worked?

Any guidance or personal experience would be very helpful. Thank you in advance!

[XRaySpeX · Accepted solution]

@afan_zaheer : After over 6 months of non-use your PAYG SIM has gone into hibernation. Topping-up now would be too late. It's possible you now have a month of grace to contact EE & get it back.

EE PAYG SIMs are deactivated after 6 months of non-chargeable use. You then have a further 3 months period of grace to call EE to reactivate it before it is lost completely.

You needed to make a chargeable action like making a chargeable call or text, topping up or buying a Pack or Add-on, not just using your mins, texts or data from your pack.