An in-between phase

PennysIntoPounds

I am largely starting this thread so as to not rudely put a long whinge on the lovely @foxgloves and @EssexHebridean threads!

I will talk a little more about my slightly unsettled life situation in due course, but for now, just whinging 😂

Today I have been trying to switch to a more money saving phone contract. It has been awful, taken most of the day, and it's not even been successful. Tried the SIM on three different phones (mine, Mr PIP's and Mr PIP's recent old one. I'm not a drug dealer 😁). Phoned Lebara and they were not very helpful and quite rude. They insisted all three phones must be locked but in the meantime I received an email saying my Lebara account had been activated so one of the phones must have done something despite the SIM being unable to connect to a network on any of them. Unless I'm mistaken because I'm a tech idiot and am now considering living off grid (in the bins behind Lidl). But despite being an idiot when it comes to tech, they didn't have to speak to me like I'm an idiot who's wasting their time. Sorry for trying to give you money and asking for help 🙄
So I called my current provider to ask for an unlock code and they emailed it to me. They said when I put the new SIM back in I should enter the code. I did and the code wasn't accepted. I then got caught in a loop on the EE website 'how do I unlock' 'unlock' then back to 'how do I unlock' 😭😭😭
So I put my old SIM back so I can call EE cos no network on new SIM, and they say I need to go to a store and ask them to help.
Fortunately I'm currently at Mr PIP's where there is an EE store or I would have thrown my phone under a passing bus. Knowing my tech luck it would have been fine.
But temper tantrum averted for now, off I trundle. I walk to the shop and say/show what EE told me. Shop says I need to call Lebara to get their unlock code. I have now given up and gone to the pub. 

If anyone read all that, thank you, you deserve a medal/pint/never to have to deal with phone providers 

Makingabobor2

Oh my, what a nightmare for you. Hope you get something sorted. 

foxgloves

Oh what a tedious saga these phone changes always seem to turn into. Mr F always comes with me when I need to have dealings with phone shops, esp for new contracts/upgrades. This isn't because I'm hopeless with tech, not at all. It is because I find the whole process so stultifying that I tune out after approximately the first 4 minutes. Can remember being in the Sean Bean shop (sadly he wasn't there) & when the poor sales assistant started getting into all the stuff this phone could do & all the stuff I could hook up with, I said "I'm sorry but I literally don't care. I want to make & receive calls, text & use the internet, that is it". He said he had to go through it all with me & I said I found the subject, not him, of course, so mind-numbing, I'd stopped taking anything in. It is so tedious getting to the end point isn't it, & when codes don't work either, you could just lob the handset straight into the Trent (insert own choice of river here)
F

savergrant

Lebara use the vodafone network so it might be worth checking coverage for your postcode with ofcom.
There is a possibility that moving the sim between phones (maybe while it was setting up) has caused the sim to be blocked.
Take a look at this wikihow and see if it helps;
https://www.wikihow.com/Unlock-a-SIM

The codes come on the outer credit card housing that came with the sim.

PennysIntoPounds

Thanks @Makingabobor2 Apart from it all being ludicrous, it's that feeling of when you put on your big girl pants and 'swallow that frog' then gradually just shrivel into a gibbering wreck who feels completely unable to navigate the basics of the modern world. It is not a pleasant or productive (shout out to @foxgloves motivation) feeling to feel you'd have been better off just not bothering trying to engage with bettering your situation in a small way

PennysIntoPounds

Absolutely @foxgloves I don't think I'm generally significantly more idiotic than the average but tech and especially phones just make my brain weep. I think we should demand Sean Bean does phone contract transfers for us. It wouldn't be very MSE for me to pay the fare to lob it into the Thames let alone the Trent or other rivers but there is still a bit of a puddle I'm eyeing up

PennysIntoPounds

Thank you @savergrant I appreciate that. The plan is to call Lebara tomorrow morning if I can face it, and if this mysterious code that they didn't want to tell me about initially doesn't work, I'll look into that. I'm in London so don't think it would be a vodafone coverage issue but will absolutely check out the possible sim issue if no joy. It's just the exact sort of thing I feel cross about having to find out about or anyone having to know! I live in a deluded world where I think company's products should work 🙄 

savergrant

I joined lebara at the end of Jan and followed the instructions to put the sim in the phone and send a text or make a call ro activate it. I did and it sent OK but then when I tried to use it again it told me I was out of credit. I emailed them with all the info about my purchase and they replied asking for all the info I had just given them and asking if I had used the sim abroad. Then they sorted it and married the plan up to the sim.

PennysIntoPounds

I mustered my courage to call Lebara and ask for the PUK number which is not the PAC number and which even with my limited knowledge I really don't think I should have needed to get or do all this stressful running around for. I have a PUK number. I haven't yet been bold enough to attempt to put it in and see what fresh nightmare awaits.
My friend invited me to a beer festival as she had a ticket free so it was lovely spening time with her and lovely doing something different, and dinner was tasty leftovers so a thoroughly nice day that was also money saving

PennysIntoPounds

Woken up after less than five hours sleep by upstairs neighbours, gave in and got up and the electric toothbrush hadn't been charging.  Had a coffee, which ended with a mouthful of granules. Appreciate these are not huge issues in the grand scheme of things but you know when a day seems to have it in for you from the start? Grr.
Managed a bit more sleep interrupted every so often by Hippo Riverdance upstairs but still feel very far from the productive person I envisaged being.
Things I must do today:
Sort out phone
Get some steps in
Tidy and clean flat
Things that would be nice to get done today:
Sit-ups
Wash hair
Boil, mash and freeze some very sorry-looking potatoes
Check some books on Z*ffit
Pick some blackberries

Hope you all have a lovely Saturday ☺

WinterWarrior

I used to have a next door neighbour that was so loud, so very loud. Then they had a baby and used to scream ‘woo’ at the poor creature in bed at 6am on weekends. I presume lifting it up, but their headboard was just across the wall from mine 😭 So I really feel your pain. I hope to never go back to attached neighbours for that very reason.