Activating UK PAYG sim in India

[Luizas]

Hi 

my boyfriend is currently travelling in India and I brought him out a UK SIM card for his CV so employers can contact him on a UK number. I’ve just got home and he is struggling to activate it. He has topped it up. Can anyone give me any suggestions? Thank you 

[BandOfBrothers]

It needs to be in the UK on the Vodafone network to activate the sim card. 

"f you’re a Pay as you go customer, you’ll also need to top up your phone before your SIM will activate."

[Luizas]

He has signal and the top up has been accepted but nothing rings in or out. Does this mean it’s not been activated?

[BandOfBrothers]

You could try Live Chat or Vodafone while abroad number in contact-us but he may be told he needs to be in the UK. 

Could he post it back to you and you activate it and then send it back to him after its activated. 

Please also be aware a payg account needs to be used at least once every 180 days to remain active and the roaming bar may need to be removed. 

Roaming is meant for short term use too. 

To add. 

"If you ordered a free Pay as you go SIM online, call 17298 (free from your Pay as you go mobile) to activate it."

But the shortcodes to activate is meant for use while in the UK. 

Getting Started.

[ToniCa]

Something I've seen recommended is to try switching to a different network (there should be a "select network operator" option somewhere in the phone's settings). That network will reject the attempt, but you then switch back to the network that had originally part-accepted you - presumably Vodafone IN in this case - and reconnecting to that can, if you're very lucky, refresh the connection all along the route, and you might find it all works OK. Though there's still the danger that a roaming bar is in operation, which would probably require CS to sort out.

Can you simply buy a new SIM, get it all set up in the UK, make sure with CS that there isn't a roaming bar, and send him that one?

[ToniCa]

PS: and set up a voicemail PIN while the card is in the UK. Then he'll be able to retrieve voicemail from overseas. Otherwise, people will be leaving messages that he won't be able to access till he gets back to UK.

[Luizas]

Hi all 

He topped up another £5 and now all is working. Didn’t need to be in the UK to activate at all. 

Thanks for all your help 

[Blair]

That's great news @Luizas 

If there's any other issues, please let us know.

Blair

[ToniCa]

That's excellent news! But I'm still a bit anxious about the voicemail aspect - if a potential employer leaves a message, will he be able to retrieve it? Otherwise, best to keep voicemail switched off.