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She’s On It
Nov. 28th, 2023 08:42 pmYesterday morning my phone had one episode of putting up a ‘No SIM card’ message, when there was certainly a SIM card in it. Switching on and off fixed the problem that time.
No such luck today. The ‘No SIM card’ message returned and came back every time. For most of the day I was cut off from the world, save that I still had Internet access when in a place with wi-fi. Preparing for the worst, I typed all the numbers in my phone into a Word doc on my iPad, then created another doc and listed all my essential apps.
So after work it was down to the EE shop. The guy there tried my SIM card in the shop phone and it worked, so he concluded that my phone was what is known in the trade as knackered. There the fun started. Unsurprisingly, Samsung Galaxy S9s are no longer offered. He suggested an upgrade to an S23, admitting that it would mean signing up to a new deal. The offer he made me involved the monthly line rental staying the same and a few pounds extra on the mobile Wi-Fi (and I’d have avoided that if I hadn’t needed a new sim box) so I agreed. After an ID check (involving me taking a selfie!) he swung into his no doubt well-rehearsed routine of taking me through the screens of the new contract on his tablet. I signed up, he sorted me a new phone and put my SIM card in it then fetched me a wi-fi box and a bag and said I’d need to go through a set-up process. And that should have been the worst over.
Not by a long chalk. Back at home, although gratified to be able to transfer over my data from my old phone, my new phone was now saying, wait for it, ‘No SIM card’. Back to the EE shop, where the same assistant spent the next half hour apparently trying all sorts of things (actual communication with me was mostly restricted to apologies for keeping me waiting), ending up phoning, presumably, head office to ask for a network refresh. He also asked them for an eSIM, which he’d asked ten minutes earlier if I’d be willing to accept (I’d agreed).
After half an hour of the existentialist hell of sitting in a chair while the assistant beavered away, he concluded that he’d have to exchange my phone. The problem was that there were no more S23s in the shop and a replacement couldn’t be had until Friday. I said I was leaving for London first thing on Friday morning and wouldn’t return until Monday afternoon.
He was unwilling to offer me a different model as that would have meant re-doing the tariff (and it was already after closing time). I said right now I’d be quite willing to drop down to a cheaper model and worry about the price difference later rather than be phoneless for six days.
He went to the staff-only back room to phone head office again and try to negotiate a loan phone for me. While he was on the phone, the lady assistant announced “I’ve got it working”. She headed out back to give her colleague the good news.
She’d used the pin, that she now told me comes with this model, to open a tiny drawer that, it turned out, houses the SIM card. The SIM card hadn’t been in true. She’d righted it and from then on my new phone ran like clockwork. I thanked her effusively and exchanged good wishes with her colleague on my way out.
Bonus : all my apps, contacts and messages had migrated over. Phew.
Need to go put my feet up and see if there’s anything to unwind to on the box.
No such luck today. The ‘No SIM card’ message returned and came back every time. For most of the day I was cut off from the world, save that I still had Internet access when in a place with wi-fi. Preparing for the worst, I typed all the numbers in my phone into a Word doc on my iPad, then created another doc and listed all my essential apps.
So after work it was down to the EE shop. The guy there tried my SIM card in the shop phone and it worked, so he concluded that my phone was what is known in the trade as knackered. There the fun started. Unsurprisingly, Samsung Galaxy S9s are no longer offered. He suggested an upgrade to an S23, admitting that it would mean signing up to a new deal. The offer he made me involved the monthly line rental staying the same and a few pounds extra on the mobile Wi-Fi (and I’d have avoided that if I hadn’t needed a new sim box) so I agreed. After an ID check (involving me taking a selfie!) he swung into his no doubt well-rehearsed routine of taking me through the screens of the new contract on his tablet. I signed up, he sorted me a new phone and put my SIM card in it then fetched me a wi-fi box and a bag and said I’d need to go through a set-up process. And that should have been the worst over.
Not by a long chalk. Back at home, although gratified to be able to transfer over my data from my old phone, my new phone was now saying, wait for it, ‘No SIM card’. Back to the EE shop, where the same assistant spent the next half hour apparently trying all sorts of things (actual communication with me was mostly restricted to apologies for keeping me waiting), ending up phoning, presumably, head office to ask for a network refresh. He also asked them for an eSIM, which he’d asked ten minutes earlier if I’d be willing to accept (I’d agreed).
After half an hour of the existentialist hell of sitting in a chair while the assistant beavered away, he concluded that he’d have to exchange my phone. The problem was that there were no more S23s in the shop and a replacement couldn’t be had until Friday. I said I was leaving for London first thing on Friday morning and wouldn’t return until Monday afternoon.
He was unwilling to offer me a different model as that would have meant re-doing the tariff (and it was already after closing time). I said right now I’d be quite willing to drop down to a cheaper model and worry about the price difference later rather than be phoneless for six days.
He went to the staff-only back room to phone head office again and try to negotiate a loan phone for me. While he was on the phone, the lady assistant announced “I’ve got it working”. She headed out back to give her colleague the good news.
She’d used the pin, that she now told me comes with this model, to open a tiny drawer that, it turned out, houses the SIM card. The SIM card hadn’t been in true. She’d righted it and from then on my new phone ran like clockwork. I thanked her effusively and exchanged good wishes with her colleague on my way out.
Bonus : all my apps, contacts and messages had migrated over. Phew.
Need to go put my feet up and see if there’s anything to unwind to on the box.
