Loss of service on number ported to esim

[nill]

I have spent a week moving to o2, getting a regular account, and then requesting an esim.

My esim was working fine along side my existing vodafone sim

on the 14th March I got my code to move my number off my physical vodafone sim to my esim.

Got all the confirmations etc and left my phone off all day on the 15th March (yesterday) as requested.

Today (16th March) turning my phone on I get "No Service"

Spoke via chat to o2 who said it is because where I live, in Redcar in the north east has an outage that will last until April!!!!

However, I've looked on the signal page and 10 minutes up the road in Saltburn they claim to have good signal.  Drove up, restarted my phone several times, no joy, it will not join the network.

Q1 -  should my phone be able to join the o2 network, or is something else wrong.

Q2 - Is this due to having an esim rather than a regular sim?

Also, WiFi calling is active on my account and on my Pixel 6 Pro - but when I try and call it says "Mobile network isn't available. Connect to a wireless network to make a call" Yet I am connected to my home wireless.

Q3 - Why doesn't WiFi calling work?

Thanks

[nill · Accepted solution]

Thankfully this has been resolved with another esim swap.

However, it begs the question, what was the first chat operator on about that due to mast issues in my area I'd be unable to connect to the network until April?!  As it is I have 3 out of 4 bars.

Imagine if I'd accepted that and waited? Come April it still wouldn't have worked!

Only after 3 phone calls and a new esim being delivered (very quickly, which was good) and the call handler talking for some time with a "specialist" (their words) did it get resolved.

The last resort was to visit a shop, so perhaps if you are in this situation I'd do that first as supposedly they have access to do everything the call handlers do plus can make sure their are no rouge settings on your device.

[UKJamster]

I had the same issue. Solved it by removing the esim (remove data plan) and then adding it again using original QR code.  I suspect that esims are locked to phone number at enrolment so when phone number changes the esim needs to be re-enroled. YMMV.