I just want an eSIM

[andysmithee]

I picked up a new iPhone 16 on launch day, which was Friday 20th September. Something happened during the transfer of my eSIM, and my old eSIM was deleted, and the new one never successfully activated on my new phone. I couldn't activate a SIM via the website or app, because I no longer had a SIM on the account to receive the confirmation SMS.

I tried calling EE that day, and after waiting on hold for nearly an hour, I was told that I was through to the wrong department and I would need to speak to tech support. Rather than wait on hold for even longer, I tried the live chat on the app instead. I never got a reply after waiting about 2 and a half hours.

I was more successful over the weekend, speaking to some operators on the live chat. Each time I spoke to someone, they told me to download a new eSIM, then wait anywhere between 1 hour and 24 hours and it should activate. This never happened.

I managed to speak to a couple of people on the phone the following week. Some of them told me my account was 'clogged up' with many, many eSIM requests, and that the live chat were 'idiots' for telling me to do that. One person on the phone said they had fixed the issue, and to wait 24 hours. Surprise surprise, nothing happened the next day.

After speaking to someone else, they told me the only thing I could really do is get a physical SIM posted out or go to an EE store. My one opportunity to pop to my local store on a Sunday I found a scrawled note on the door saying they were closed. I opted for a posted SIM card. This took 4 days to arrive.

Once I had the physical SIM, I popped it into my phone and tried to download a new eSIM. This failed every time with an activation error. I can't use the physical SIM as I need the slot free for my work SIM card, which is why I used an eSIM in the first place.

I spoke to another phone operator on Monday last week, who said the only they could do at this point was post me a physical QR code to scan to download the eSIM. It's now a week later, and I am still waiting for this bit of paper. If only EE knew of a way to send simple image of 2D barcodes over the internet instead.

So in summary, it's been 2 and a half weeks and I am still without a working eSIM. I'm honestly amazed.

[Rach_H]

Hi @andysmithee,

Thanks for getting in touch here on the Community!

We know how important it is for you to be able to get your new SIM up and running in your new phone, so I can understand how frustrated you must be, given the trouble you've been having with your eSIM over the past few weeks. 

Is your physical SIM now working in your phone? I appreciate that this isn't a long term resolution, but I just want to check this before suggesting anything else.

Rach

[andysmithee]

Spent an hour and a half in an EE shop today and left without a working SIM, which was actually a step back from where I was at the start of the day.

Then I spent another 30 minutes on the phone.

I've now cancelled all three lines I have with EE. This issue has taken up about 12 hours of my time now which is absolutely insane. I'm still fuming.

[Christopher_G]

Sorry to hear that this has taken up so much of your time, and that you've decided to cancel, @andysmithee.

I'm not sure what caused these problems for you, but if you want to make a complaint on our website, our complaints team can look into it and contact you directly to discuss.

Chris