How do I un-barr a PAYG number from abroad?

[chriwi]

My partner's EE PAYG number has been barred, probably because he hasn't used it in the last several months of being abroad. We believe that he has no credit on it and are unsure whether & how to top it up. He does not have an online account. I have tried to add his number to my account to top-up and re-activate online but adding it didn't work. The page simply got stuck on https://myaccount.ee.co.uk/app/association and I couldn't do anything with my account anymore (not even log out!).

How can we un-barr his number from abroad?

[Northerner]

Hi @chriwi 

Please read the hibernation policy here.

It maybe the number is dead now and unrecoverable. 

Thanks 

[Christopher_G]

Hi @chriwi

Welcome to the community.

It may be worth getting in touch with our Mobile Care team to see if it's possible to reconnect it. You can find all of our contact information, including an international number, on our get in touch help page.

Chris

[XRaySpeX]

@chriwi : How many last several months? 

EE PAYG SIMs are deactivated after 6 months of non-chargeable use. You then have a further 3 months 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.

[chriwi]

Thanks to all who engaged. Quick update: I called customer service. Seems like it's been at least > 6 mth. They cannot unblock the number b/c they can't send an authentication pin to a barred number. Next and last chance will be to find an EE shop around here and show ID as proof and hope they'll be able to reactivate the number.

FYI, WhatsApp still works with a deactivated number, as it uses data (from another SIM)/WiFi and just really needs the EE SIM. 

[XRaySpeX]

WhatsApp can only be working on a phone with a deactivated SIM when it's connecting to WiFi. Then the SIM doesn't matter.