Understanding Pay As You Go Hibernation – and how to keep your number active

[Eoubebe]

Hello Peter_W. 

Thanks for explaining the timeline clearly. Seems I'm caught in a similar situation with my PAYG SIM - more precisely I might've gone past the 179 days of inactivity last week. I topped up £10 credit on 8 March, which doesn't seem to save my SIM from hibernation.

Currently unable to send a text to 150 or call for technical help as I'm abroad until August.

Is it possible to contact EE via WhatsApp or other web chat option to discuss solutions? Otherwise, could I get my brother to call EE customer care on my behalf instead? If so, what should he be aware of?

Appreciate your advice.

E.

[Leanne_T]

Morning @Eoubebe 

Thanks for coming back to the community. 

Sorry, we have no chat or WhatsApp option to contact us and we would need to speak to the account holder. Please call us from any other phone on +44 (0)7953 966 150, to get the account looked into and see if this can be reinstated,

Leanne.

[Eoubebe]

Hello Leanne,

So I contacted the EE customer service number and spoke with a helpful agent. He'd advised I'd need to return to the UK to reinstate my PAYG SIM from hibernation zone 

I'd explained that the earliest I'd be back in-country was August and asked for an interim solution. 

My SIM is still disconnected and I'm still unable to call my family in the UK while on roaming.

Could you advise what I can do at the moment to get my SIM back to life?

Cheers. 

Ubebe

[Peter_W]

Hey there, @Eoubebe

This will depend on how your account is set up, but there's sometimes the possibility of seeing if we can get a replacement SIM sent to a friend / family member here in the UK that can then activate this on your behalf.

If your account has been set up with an address it's only possible for us to send it to this location that's registered here, but it's definitely worth reaching out to our team to see if this is something we can explore.

Peter

[Eoubebe]

Hello Peter_W,

Thanks for your kind response and advice. Missed seeing your message earlier. I'm happy with the option of getting a replacement SIM sent to a family member for activation in the UK. 

Currently, I am able to send and receive texts, but still unable to make/receive calls.

I got in touch with EE over the phone on 10 April. Following up via email to see how best we can get the hibernation issues resolved.

Waiting on their feedback.

Efehi.

[Eoubebe]

Update as of 13 April (a.m.):

My PAYG SIM seems to be back to life: my call to 150 went through and likewise had a phone conversation with family in England this morning.

Thanks for your kind guidance, Peter_W.

[Katie_B]

Thanks for updating us @Eoubebe. 

It's great to know that this is now resolved. 

Katie

[XRaySpeX]

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@Eoubebe wrote:

Currently, I am able to send and receive texts, but still unable to make/receive calls.

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As of 05:40 yesterday, if you are able to send texts you are NOT in hibernation.