I have an old(ish) mobile phone that I use mainly for receiving texts from various online services that have two-factor authentication as a condition of access. It has an O2 PAYG SIM with a remaining in-credit balance of £7.40. Last Thursday, 7 July, I fell foul of the rule for PAYG customers that a charged call must be made at least once every 6 months in order for the SIM to keep working. (I'd been under the impression that the requirement was for a charged call at least every 12 months – my mistake.) Since that time the phone has been displaying the message “SIM card error. Please contact the SIM card provider” and I have been unable to make or receive calls or texts. I immediately called 4445 and was told that my £7.40 balance would be restored and that reconnection would occur within 24 hours. After 24 hours, during which time I had repeatedly re-started and checked the phone, the “SIM card error [etc]” message was still on the screen so I again called 4445. The call handler suggested that my SIM might be damaged and said he would arrange for a new one to be sent to me by post. The new SIM arrived on Tuesday, 12 July. I inserted the new SIM, called 4445 to request activation and was told that the process would be completed within 24 hours. However, the call handler had seemed a little confused about my situation so I took the precaution of calling again later that evening. I stayed on the line whilst the handler completed the process of reactivating my number (she said it was initially showing as “inactive”), and was then told to expect reconnection “within” 24 hours. As I type this it's nearly 37 hours since that last call to 4445, and whether I have the old or new SIM in the phone I still get the same “SIM card error...” message and cannot make or receive calls or texts. I have very little confidence in O2, and am now thinking that my best option may actually be to start afresh with a different provider. Is it worth holding on for a bit longer or calling 4445 one more time?
