Replacement SIM x2 still no internet

[favershamj]

Hi, for some reason my account was registered to an @o2.co.uk address for some reason, which prevented me from being able to access the community. After many toing and froing between customer service over the phone and in person o2 store advisors, it's actually been resolved, with no explanation as to why an employee's email was linked to my account. But nonetheless, I have been having ongoing issues with accessing the internet for coming up to 3 months now. Calls and texts work absolutely fine. Ever since I requested and received a replacement SIM for a lost phone, I have never been able to access the internet. On iPhone, normally 4G comes up on the drop down menu next to O2-UK and the full bars, but I have never seen it with these replacement SIMs

To make matters worse, after spending a good few hours of Friday afternoon, on the phone to customer service and getting nowhere, I finally got through to a senior team member who promised me the problem I had been having with internet access was sorted. As compensation, they promised to reinstate my PAYG plan and refund the phone credit I had spent activating it, bare in mind I had a little credit left over, about £3.50, left on my account from a previous top up. But after restarting my phone. Still no data and credit reduced to £0. What the hell?

Went to an o2 store the Monday start of this week and I got nowhere, but was advised to do a sim swap with a replacement sim they gave me as they thought it could be a sim issue. Yet once the new sim was activated with my original phone number, still no data. And yes, I've switched phones; used other SIMs, even a friend's o2 PAYG sim which worked fine, in my main phone; fiddled with APN settings; reset network settings; called up customer service to remove any data bars yet I still have no data access mid bundle plan and it is 100% tied to a bar or restriction on my account which no one seems to be able to remove. Can I get some help please?

[Bambino]

@O2Sarah- or @O2KyleW can you please assist @favershamj?

[MI5]

@favershamj 

Looks like 4g was not activated after the bar was lifted.

Looks like you should contact customer service as they can help with that – message them on Social Media if that works best for you -on Facebook (https://o2uk.co/O2CFB) , Twitter (https://o2uk.co/O2CTW) or Instagram (https://o2uk.co/O2CIG) or call on 202 or 0344 809 0202 (contract) or 4445 or 0344 8090222 (PAYG).

[favershamj]

I specifically asked about this when I called in after reading other posts. But the o2 customer services representatives I spoke to in India and South Africa have all insisted that any bars on my account are lifted, so I'm guessing it's a higher clearance bar that they cannot see which is preventing me from using the internet. 

[MI5]

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@favershamj wrote:

I specifically asked about this when I called in after reading other posts. But the o2 customer services representatives I spoke to in India and South Africa have all insisted that any bars on my account are lifted, so I'm guessing it's a higher clearance bar that they cannot see which is preventing me from using the internet. 

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Or more likely is that they are just incompetent.

If you try often enough, you'll get someone who cares enough to fix it for you. 

[favershamj]

Thanks for the tip, but it would be more time and cost effective just to move to a different network. I don't fancy repeating the same troubleshooting information I've already uttered for more than the 6 hours that I already have. 

[O2Sarah-]

Thanks for the tag @Bambino 

@favershamj I will send you a private message so we can look into this. 

[favershamj]

Thanks @O2Sarah- I've messaged you back and await your response.

[congo181]

This seems similar, but not exactly the same, to the problem I have been having.

I was with O2 for the longest of times, but swapped over to EE for two years when I got my last iPhone. However, I didn’t get as great service so in November last year I moved back to O2 when I purchased my iPhone 14 Pro Max.

The transition wasn’t smooth at all, as although I’d provided the PAC code to O2 and from O2’s side the port has been completed, I was able to make calls on my existing number on both networks at the same time. EE had no record of the port taking place! After a week of calls between EE and O2 I finally got the port fully completed but it took a few levels up in tech support to get this working, and a few resets of network settings from my iPhone.

However, since then I had noticed that I could receive mobile data on 5G and 4G, however when my phone showed as having 3G, I could get absolutely no data.

O2 have checked all of the areas (several times) where I have been getting this 3G signal, and they say that the masts are all working fine but there is no reason I should be getting 3G as it is excellent for 4G signal.

I have tried this outdoors, I have tried it without the case, I have restated the iPhone.

I contacted Apple Support and went through several levels of diagnostics to check if the phone was the problem. They have gone through senior tech advisor steps which have included removing any vpn’s, resetting iPhone, setting iPhone up as a new iPhone, reset network settings (several times!). All of this has concluded that that the phone is functioning properly.

With O2 I have swapped the SIM for a new one in the O2 store, spoken to customer services who checked there are no data bars on the account. The only advise they could give is to send the phone to them to check, but I can’t be without my phone as I use it for work as well as personal matters.

I am at my wits end with this issue. As I said, fine on 4G and 5G but on 3G (in different areas of the country) I literally get nothing. It doesn’t matter if it’s Safari, Maps, Siri, any other apps that require internet. It has been a real problem, and I’m hoping that O2Sarah- can help me out with this. I need to reply on my phone for work and personal use, but find myself being stuck in a data hole right now.

I had really high respect for O2 but this has put me wanting to change network again, which I can’t do until my contract ends in a year and a half! 😞