Hi,
Some time between late last night and around the early hours of this morning, (about 5am), I lost service.
My phone displays "Emergency calls only" which is normally the message you get when your SIM card is deactivated (usually during a SIM swap). This made me a little flustered as I thought someone had impersonated me and swapped my SIM.
It has been like this all day and I have been regularly restarting my device, switching airplane mode off/on, with no luck.
I know it's not a coverage or mast issue as Wi-Fi calling also is not working, plus the issue is present at different areas near other masts, and yes I've definitely paid my monthly bills to O2.
Getting help with this matter is useless though. I remember long before Virgin took over that you could do a live chat via the O2 website. Now it fobs you off with an AI assisted chatbot, then insists you use the My O2 app. (Luckily I'm signed into it or I wouldn't be getting the code via a text!)
The first person I spoke to just dismissed my issue as a local mast issue, which it clearly is not, then ended the chat. The chat I must have waited an hour for a response to. (Also don't click the notification you get from the My O2 app, otherwise it starts a new chat...).
I can't call support as my phone isn't working and I don't have an alternative phone.
I can see other people posting here and on Twitter/X but there's no real explanation as to what is going on.
I did manage to get another support agent on the My O2 app after the first dismissive one, but they said they've raised a ticket which I should get a response within 5 days, (not sure how, by email? or carrier pigeon?), and told me to visit an O2 shop to get a new SIM (maybe because I explained the behaviour is similar to a SIM swap to them?). I guess I'm probably going to have to visit my local O2 shop anyway where they will probably be clueless and fob me off too?
Anyway, it seems to be people with eSIMs that are having the problem. Is this like the Ericsson debacle from a few years all over again but for eSIM users, or has someone at O2 not paid Gemalto, or Thales or whoever issues the eSIMs, or perhaps they have all expired or been revoked for security?
