Can’t make calls

[Rebeccageorge]

Was sent a replacement sim but can’t call out from it

[MI5]

@Rebeccageorge 

This is a customer to customer community, not O2.
You need to contact O2.
Message them on Social Media. Facebook (https://o2uk.co/O2CFB) , Twitter (https://o2uk.co/O2CTW) or Instagram (https://o2uk.co/O2CIG) or give them a call on 202 or 0344 809 0202 (contract) 4445 or 0344 8090222 (PAYG) or use Skype if you have no other phone Guide: A Guide to Skype 

[pgn]

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@Rebeccageorge wrote:

Was sent a replacement sim but can’t call out from it

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O2 have taken to blocking the existing SIM when a replacement is requested on-line, @Rebeccageorge - a good reason to make the move from one to another SIM in-store. You will need, as @MI5 writes above, need to persist with O2. Good luck!

[Oxonian]

Two quick questions @pgn as I have never swopped my SIM with O2 :-

a) if you do the SIM swop instore, do you leave the premises with a new working SIM ? Or is there a delay or more to do before the new SIM is active ? 

b) if you do a SIM swop by post, is the new SIM live when it reaches you ? Or is there a further activation process once the new SIM is installed into your handset ? 

[MI5]

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@pgn wrote:

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@Rebeccageorge wrote:

Was sent a replacement sim but can’t call out from it

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O2 have taken to blocking the existing SIM when a replacement is requested on-line, @Rebeccageorge - a good reason to make the move from one to another SIM in-store. You will need, as @MI5 writes above, need to persist with O2. Good luck!

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A replacement sim would be activated upon receipt, except in this case, which I assume would be to replace one reported lost. 

This then requires contact to O2 to remove account bars that are placed automatically upon a loss report.

[pgn]

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@Oxonian wrote:

Two quick questions @pgn as I have never swopped my SIM with O2 :-

a) if you do the SIM swop instore, do you leave the premises with a new working SIM ? Or is there a delay or more to do before the new SIM is active ? 

b) if you do a SIM swop by post, is the new SIM live when it reaches you ? Or is there a further activation process once the new SIM is installed into your handset ? 

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Last time I did a SIM swap in-store, the old phone lost service about 10mins after I left the store, and I remember sitting in my car in the car park  unpacking the new phone and popping in the new SIM - which had me up and running straight away.

(Damn that blasted pop-up! 🤯)

Most recently, I was sent a 5G SIM for my Pixel 6a, an upgrade via  AffordableMobiles, to replace the old 4G SIM in my 4a - the SIM sat unused for about 4 weeks, as the 4a and its SIM were still in use. I then put the 4G SIM into the new 6a, did the device sync to move to 6a from 4a (cable) and then started a SIM Swap from the MyO2 app on the 6a with the 5G SIM in the 4a...about 5 mins later, no service on new phone, and service on 4a. I powered each phone down, swapped the SIMs around, and my 6a was fully operational. The 4a showed 'No Service', or "Emergency Calls Only", at this point, from memory, @Oxonian.

As @MI5 explains above, a "Reported Lost or Stolen" phone or SIM results not only in barring of that SIM, but barring of the handset and the account (see Guide: O2 BARs for some idea of this barrage of Bars!) is also done by O2 - until the handset owner confirms receipt of new SIM and attempts to put it into a replacement handset... Only to find their account also barred. This is a situation which O2, since early VMO2 days, have been increasingly unable to rectify with a single call, sadly.

[Oxonian]

@pgn 

Many thanks for clarifying that. I found your explanations most useful and I am sure that there will be other readers who will appreciate your demystifying the process. 

My feelings entirely about the pop-up !