EE Unlock Device been having issues on their end for 2+ days

[tentenmen100]

I bought my device second hand.

The device has an eSIM that seems to be locked to EE (when trying to "add eSIM" it says "Scan QR Code from EE". The physical SIM is unlocked.

I've tried time and time again to unlock my device via the website for the past 3 days. It goes to the next screen and has a button for "Unlock this device" but before I can even react to where it is on the screen, it goes back and says "Please try that again" - for 3 days now.

I'm abroad currently but I've had 5+ people in the UK, the country I'm in and even in America try it because this is really detrimental to me.

I've tried to call the EE call centre but it redirects me to the page mentioned above (given the country I'm in and my physical SIM provider, I've spent over £10 on calling EE for just an automated reply that doesn't give an option for a human representative but just gives you a link and hangs up...).

Could I have someone to talk to about this please? I'm losing money very fast here (£7 per MB of data for this country so just posting this has cost me another £30+ and I'm here for a long time so I won't be able to even check my emails for over a month at this rate without going bankrupt...)

[Christopher_G]

Hi @tentenmen100 

Welcome to the community

Where did you buy the phone from and what kind of phone is it? Is it the phone that is locked to EE?

Chris

[tentenmen100]

Hi Christopher.

The phone is second hand from eBay Google pixel 8 pro.

My physical SIM is not EE so my primary SIM is unlocked and working fine. I assume this is imei 1.

My second SIM which is an eSIM seems to redirect me to a screen requesting that I scan an EE QR code. I assume this is imei 2 (neither imei works on the unlock device screen). Please see the attached screenshot showing when I attempt to add an esim.

Thanks,

[Christopher_G]

Thanks, @tentenmen100 

All Google Pixel devices on EE are unlocked as standard. Is it only giving you an option for an EE eSIM?

Are you following the steps on this Google Guidebooks help page?

Chris

[tentenmen100]

Hi Christopher,

I've only got the option of set up a new SIM which directs me to the screenshot sent prior to this. Here is the screenshot of the specific screen which redirects there.

There's no secondary option as shown in the guidebook sent which I am following the steps to.

When I try to unlock a device, from what I can see it does correctly attempt to unlock the device through EE and says it's possible for me to unlock it. This screen then quickly disappears and redirects to the same screen as shown in the initial problem. As a result. I expect this is registered to EE - as EE had acknowledged the imei - and needs unlocking.

The phone has been around since October or earlier of 2023 and the unlocked as standard sounded more recent so I'm not sure if this phone is new enough to have been included in what you've mentioned.

 

[tentenmen100]

In case you're wondering if I've checked the need help option, here is the screenshot of that. The number directs to another number that says my call cannot be completed.

I also have my mobile data and WiFi on with battery saver off. I've no idea why it's routing to EE.

[Chris_B]

@tentenmen100  Since December 2021 all phones are sold unlocked from any network.    That device came out back end of last year so it’s not network locked to EE and never has been.   You can not unlock an unlocked device.  

 Do you have a QR code from your network provider? have you tried scanning that code ?  Have you contacted your network provider on how to set up the eSIM for that device?   

Even on dual sim phones when you request to unlock it it unlocks it for both sim and eSIM.  You can not have a lock on one and unlock on the other. 

[tentenmen100]

Hi Chris.

EE website confirms my IMEI is locked to EE. This is the  intermediate screen I saw before being redirected.

[tentenmen100]

I will try to contact Google regarding the lock on the eSIM but my provider for my physical SIM is fine and that does not use EE so I'll try to see what's going on.

I'm still confused why EE agrees my phone is locked though.

Thanks

[Northerner]

Hi @tentenmen100 

You maybe receiving this error becase the phone is not past its 6 months minimum contract term. Until the 6 months is up the device belongs to EE and should not be sold, hence the error on the unlock page and demand for an EE esim. 

I would add if the device was purchased by the original owner on finance then there are other terms which appy. 

Did you get a good deal on Ebay? 

Thanks