I had a pixel 6a and brought a 9a which arrived yesterday. Transfering not a problem. But when it said I could change to an esim I thought why not, it's the future. This was a big mistake as the ESIM failed to activate but before it failed it had already bricked the physical SIM. So my phone then had no network and I had to rely on the WiFi.
I then had to spend over 30mins waiting for a rep on the online chat who did fix the ESIM by giving me a link on my02 app but I felt it was just a waste of my time. They did credited me £4 but I will wait to see if it arrives. I thought to myself why didn't I just swap the physical SIM card over it has never failed me.
Then the next day an email was sent by O2 saying
"We're just confirming that we've now removed your 5G access bolt on."
Just to confirm I never asked for any changes except for changing to an esim. So another online chat to a rep but luckily it only took 10mins to sort this time. And the 5G bolt on which is free was re added.
A cynical person might believe this happens automatically to existing customers transferring to an esim to put us on the slower 4G network and reduce capacity on the faster 5G network.
So lesson for today do not transfer to an esim unless forced too.
