No wifi on the London Underground Tube following switch to eSim

[rsg444]

I recently joined O2, everything was working fine, I automatically connected to the O2 wifi hotspots and O2 Wifi Extra on the London Underground, then I done a sim swap and basically moved from a physical sim to an eSim. Once my services returned, I found I could no longer join the O2 wifi hotspots or O2 Wifi Extra.

I deleted my online wireless profile, then went to a hotspot and registered myself, I can now connect to the O2 Wifi Hotspots but I cannot connect to Wifi Extra or even the Virgin Media network.

I've tried everything, restarting my phone, Network Settings Reset, Deleting account and re registering, click on "Not You" and re registering, turning wifi on and off. O2 Gurus and Chat can't seem to figure out why not.

[MI5]

@rsg444 

I'm not sure if eSim is compatible with WiFi extra but I'll ask admin to check @Martin-O2 @Marjo @EmilieT ?

[Martin-O2]

Thanks for the mention on this one @MI5!

@rsg444 I'm not aware of any limitations of esim with wifi hotspots but we can certainly find out for you! I'll need a few details so I'll send you a message. 

[rsg444]

@Mart and @MI5 thanks for your help.

I spoke with the Guru team, they asked me to do the usual e.g. restart the phone etc, they checked my o2 wirless account, they checked the wifi mac address which matched what they had, they don't know what is causing this so they've referred this to the next level of support. I should hear within 5 working days - so at some point next week.

A really good post explaining the basics of EAP is here:

https://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Other-Products-and-Services/Wifi-Extra-London-Tube/td-p/1044781/highli...

so going by this, it looks like the sim swap process probably doesn't update the eSIM number to whatever system is managing wifi access for wifi extra.

Frustratingly though, the "Guru" didn't know WIFI extra is available on the tube and kept on telling me to connect to the Virgin network instead - which I can't do either as it's saying my phone is number isn't on O2.

[Martin-O2]

Great thanks for the update @rsg444! Sounds like it's in hand but please do keep us updated or let us know if anything else crops up. 

[KnightGrey]

I’m having exactly the same issue. The phone can’t connect to WiFi extra on tube (it doesn’t ask for a WiFi password). Tried to register through virgin media WiFi but I never receive the text message.

[MI5]

Any updates @Martin-O2 ?

[Martin-O2]

Thanks for the mention @MI5. I'll drop you a message to get some details @KnightGrey and see if we can get this one sorted for you. 

[rsg444]

So, a month on and O2 still can't fix this. I think the bottom line is if you use the Tube network, don't switch over to an eSim as your access to WiFi Extra will be revoked and O2 have no way of figuring out what has gone wrong. I've had a handful of conversations with engineers who then send me a text two days later telling me the issue is resolves, but when I go and check, it's the same problem. 

Unfortunately, telling me to simply use the Virgin one instead isn't really a fix.

[rsg444]

KnightGrey, are you using an eSim?