No signal on SIM card recently changed to PAYG

[Robski93]

Hi all,

I recently went travelling and thus converted my monthly sim to a payg. I was told to keep this active I had to make a call from it every few months. So I gave the physical sim to my family in the uk and asked them to do this for me, while converting it to an eSIM on my primary phone. However I’ve just asked them to try and they are telling me there’s no signal in multiple locations. We’ve tried the sim in another phone too and same issue. I topped it up with £5 from the EE website.

Anyone got any ideas? It’s only been about 1 month since it was deactivated as a monthly contract.

could I maybe turn on the eSIM on my main phone and send a text from it? I just don’t want to lose the entire £5 in one go by accident as calls from this country are expensive.

thanks! 

[Chris_B · Accepted solution]

@Robski93   you cannot have an eSIM with PAYG go it’s for contract customer.    You also can’t have two Sims whether that’s a physical Sim or an eSIM with the same number and it sounds like you’ve converted it or try to convert it to an eSIM when it was still on contract so thus cancelling the SIM card and because it’s now on PAYG it will not activate as an eSIM on your device. 
You’re going to have to request a replacement Sim card this will be sent to your UK billing address and someone there will need to activate it and make a phone call and then this can be posted out to you. 

[XRaySpeX]

Sounds like your PAYG SIM may have gone into hibernation due to non-use. 

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.

[Robski93]

Hi,

thanks for the reply. I tried ordering a replacement sim and it says my account has already been closed? Any ideas?

thanks a lot. 

[XRaySpeX]

Refer to my previous post. Your PAYG SIM has gone into hibernation & as you haven't called to reactivate it, it has been completely deactivated & the a/c closed.

[Robski93]

How is that possible if I used and paid for service a month ago?

I also paid for a top up yesterday. 

[XRaySpeX]

When did you give your PAYG SIM to your family before you went away?

Topping-up will be too late if it's already gone into hibernation.

[Rach_H]

Hi @Robski93,

I hope you're having a fantastic time away!

It is likely that your online account is still linked to your Pay Monthly plan, which is why this is showing as closed when you log in, but if you give us a call, which you can do over Skype if that's easier, then the team will be able to get a replacement SIM sent out.

Rach

[Robski93]

Hi, thanks for the replies. I got a family member to call and as my sim has been converted to eSIM I can’t get a new one sent out. I turned on the eSIM on my main phone and got a text saying it had been topped up so that’s fine I’ll just have to send texts abroad. My question is, by topping it up does that count as a chargeable action and can I leave it for a few months, or do I still need to send a text? 
thanks!

[XRaySpeX]

Something contradictory there! You don't get eSIMs with EE PAYG. So you wouldn't be topping them up.