Another SIM number with the 7th digit a 2 instead of a 5

[Chrysanth]

I'm helping my husband set up his new phone, and we can't activate the SIM because the 7th digit of its number is 2 instead of 5.  (It's not just us; someone here had the exact same problem not long ago, but it doesn't seem possible to include the link here).

The SIM in question is the one that Three enclosed with his new phone.

He's an existing Three customer, and wants to carry on with his existing Three prepay plan and phone number.  Old and new phones are both fromThree.  (Ex O2 customer, in case it matters).

When I couldn't remember (or find) the network setup sequence for phones, a Mod here advised simply moving the old SIM to the new phone.  Which would have been great if it had fitted in, but Doro now uses the micro size, and the old one is standard size, and not the type with smaller ones to push out (which the new SIM does have).  The small difference in width wasn't obvious until I tried it the other day; it was hard to see the slot in the new phone, which is more recessed (feels less likely to work loose).

We've left the new SIM in the new phone for now, but I made a note before we started of every number on the SIM and its packaging (none of which looks like the temporary phone number I've seen in the past; I don't know whether it's a generic SIM, or somehow connected to his account).

We can't 'return to our local store' as directed by My3 in this case (the nearest one is a day trip job, and he currently needs to not go out much, or be left alone for long, for medical reasons).

So what's the answer - sending a replacement SIM for his existing one (but the push-out type)?  Use the new one, somehow?  Anyone?

[Chrysanth]

Yes, he ordered his replacement SIM on the 21st October, if that's what you mean; either that, or the order failed to go through on the same date.

[Three_Deborah]

Thanks for that @Chrysanth I've send your husband a PM. I'll wait on reply before taken further action.

[Chrysanth]

Thank you for your tenacity, Deborah.   With any luck I'll be marking this resolved in a few days!

Another problem's now cropped up though, that's rather urgent.  We went to my husband's My3 (just out of curiosity to see if the new SIM order showed there), and his balance had shot down to a few euro, rather than the roughly 60 we expected to see.  We then tried a link called 'Events'.  Under Texts were 35 mystery ones received  at 2 euro each (so 70 euro gone).  They're all in bunches of 5, once a week.  That list only goes back as far as September 13th.  The first buch of 5 texts shown apparently arrived at exactly the same time, and the others within about 4 to 11 minutes.   The next bunch would be due this Wednesday, so we tried to top up, to at least cover this next bunch and still have a working phone while sorting out the problem, but his session timed out.  When he signed in again this time he got the revamped system, requiring confirmation of his personal details.  including postal address as his bank has it, but that was impossible as it declared our post town 'not a valid town' and nowhere to put the county.  I tried topping it up at the Three Customer Services number, but after selecting the option for topping up another phone, entering his number went to 'Our offices are closed at the moment, but self service options are still available from the main menu (so round in circles).  I don't want to drive to a town just to do a voucher topup, and don't know if I'll have the time.

What can we do to at least keep his current phone working while this mystery is sorted out?  (He can't have followed any links from his phone even if he'd tried, with Three having removed its data capability for him).

[Three_Deborah]

@Chrysanth good morning to you. 

So there are a few things at play here. 

1: Premium SMS - these tend to come through in fives and cost between €2 and €2.50. Now, some people want the services provided by the 3rdParty SMS,( games, ringtones, etc) but if you don't, you'll need to block them straight away by texting STOP to the 5 digit number. Do not top-up until you receive confirmation that the opt out was successful.

Premium Rate Services: FAQs 

2: The revamped My3? Has your husband been using an email as his username all along? We have recently introduced ThreeID , which is an email username and password  and if you've been using My3 all along you shouldn't be asked for more detail. I'll reach out in PM later.

All about: Three ID 

3: Top-up : From what you are saying above, you'd like to top-up using a credit/debit card? In the absence of being able to log into My3 ( for the moment) try our instant top-up > click here

[Chrysanth]

I just tried to post a reply to you (a fairly long one I'm afraid!) with additional points that might be relevant, and it appeared briefly as posted, then disappeared.  Tried to post it again but was locked out, with error message saying to check the highlighted errors & try again (couldn't see any highlighting, spot any stray dots that might have signalled a link, etc).  It's happened before occasionally (just here and in 1 other forum site I think), and might be some security setting that slightly over-fierce (to use a hghly technical term!).  It seeme to go away if I don't try again for a while.

In case this post works, my husband's now got back to your PM.

[Chrysanth]

Tried splitting up the failed posting but part 1 was blocked ("Invalid HTML", though no stray dots etc).  I'll try leaving it for longer, or maybe a PM(s) would work?  (I don't know how many characters they accept).

[Three_Deborah]

@Chrysanth I'm loving our public conversations as it helps not only you but others who see this post. I've had one or two errors myself today, including authentication failed. All have been reported to our supporting team. So hopefully it's nothing too serious and will be sorted shortly

I believe there is a character limitation of a few thousand! But need to double check.

In the meantime, bear with us and maybe log out and back in to post later?   

[Chrysanth]

Husband's topup has now succeeded (so he should receive the bunch of texts tomorrow to opt out of, and without losing use of his phone).

We tried his My3 login again, and again got directed to the revamped system.  The address form was as before, but this time we tried "(Townland),(Post Town)" in the 2nd line, then our county in the Post Town box.  This was accepted as a post town, which it also is (just not ours!).  That got us through, the rest of it was straightforward and the online topup worked.  The address shown in My3 was perfect, with each word after the !st line having its own line, and in the right order (just as it was after you corrected it for him a while ago).  So it feels as if the problem is just with the address confirmation page (rejecting post towns, no space for the county).  Haven't tried again yet topping up at 1913.

I'll try that failed post again a bit later, but typed straight into the forum as it might be Google Docs's fault.  And maybe split into two (in case the site's anti-spamming defences are invoked by counting the verbiage!). 

[Three_Deborah]

@Chrysanth thanks for the update there and I've sent on your feedback. Let me know how the opt out for the Premium Rate SMS goes.

[Chrysanth]

Hmm.....  on bothering to read past the start, some of those texts do sound rather unlike Three!  1. Feel like having fun? Cool online games waiting for you!  2. ?Do not miss the chance to download your content on your phone. Download now  3. You are subscribed to Gamazers for €10EUR/week, until send free message STOP to 57127  4. How fast can you answer our 10 Quiz questions? Challenge yourself  5. Keep your phone virus free. Download your Antivirus App here.....

Anyway, this morning's bunch was there to greet him on turning his phone on, but they're now stopped.  We couldn't hold off topping up meanwhile as you advised, with too many calls he didn't want to miss (his car off the road with a big problem involving calls (mechanics/test centre/expiring insurance etc); flu jab, recovery after operation etc, with his his few€ phone credit counting down rapidly.  We did a successful € 20 topup yesterday (eventually), to cover today's premium texts and leave about €14 credit remaining to be going on with.

I don't think our difficulty doing it was 3's fault, by the way - probably mine, as his 'network administrator'.  First tried to top up from his My3, but with my card, (which is becoming the only one we can use online), but that was rejected so I did it as a Friend topup from my account.  Successfully, but not before triggering a blitz of bank communications temporary card block, calls from the Fraud team etc (think I must have got a bit confused about whose account we were at and who was logged in where).  But meanwhile the block was lifted overnight, in time for the texts.

Out of time now - will post again tomorrow with the rest of it!