topic Re: e-SIM not working in Get Support

e-SIM not working

Jenny23 — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 19:37:42 GMT

Hi,

I was told by Telus tech support that there is something wrong with the e-SIM I received when I subscribed to Public Mobile, and that I should request a SIM through the Community portal.

Does anyone know how I can request a replacement SIM from Public Mobile? I'm guessing that if I go to a local store, I would need to pay for a new SIM, but my problem is that my e-SIM is not working in the first place.

Can any one help or advise?

Thanks!

Re: e-SIM not working

Vneld — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 19:42:51 GMT

I'd contact CS_Agent by private message to request a free sim to be sent to you since your eSIM wasn't working in the first place.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

Re: e-SIM not working

LitlLdy — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 19:50:40 GMT

@Jenny23 wrote:
Hi,
I was told by Telus tech support that there is something wrong with the e-SIM I received when I subscribed to Public Mobile, and that I should request a SIM through the Community portal.
Does anyone know how I can request a replacement SIM from Public Mobile? I'm guessing that if I go to a local store, I would need to pay for a new SIM, but my problem is that my e-SIM is not working in the first place.
Can any one help or advise?
Thanks!

@Jenny23 ,

Please send a private message to a Public Mobile CS_Agent using @Vneld link (same link below) to ask for them to help get your eSIM working for you or to give you a replacement eSIM.

You can send a private message to a CS_Agent using the link below: -> https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

Customer Support Agents are available from:

Monday to Sunday: 9 AM to 10 PM EST

A CS_Agent will respond back in your Community mailbox at the top right of this page (envelope icon to the left of your community avatar).

Re: e-SIM not working

Jenny23 — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 21:22:45 GMT

Hello, thanks for your reply!

I contacted the CS_Agent and this was their reply:

"Hi

There is no replacement for the eSIM, and there are no records that the eSIM is not working. If it was an error, in order to activate your account, you must buy a physical SIM. we ofer only one SIM at activation, after that you need a regular SIM.

Leonardo"

So, what do I do now? My phone doesn't show any e-SIMs from Public Mobile, and the activation for the e-SIM they sent me gave me an error. Will I have to pay twice for a SIM?

Re: e-SIM not working

LitlLdy — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 22:48:25 GMT

@Jenny23 wrote:
Hello, thanks for your reply!
I contacted the CS_Agent and this was their reply:
"Hi
There is no replacement for the eSIM, and there are no records that the eSIM is not working. If it was an error, in order to activate your account, you must buy a physical SIM. we ofer only one SIM at activation, after that you need a regular SIM.
Leonardo"
So, what do I do now? My phone doesn't show any e-SIMs from Public Mobile, and the activation for the e-SIM they sent me gave me an error. Will I have to pay twice for a SIM?

@Jenny23 , I am sorry I didn’t see that you responded!

Please respond back to the messages & hopefully you will get a different CS_Agent! Sometimes they give incorrect information! You can request a Senior CS_Agent to help with it. Explain the situation in detail & say that your service is not working that you paid for & received an error when installing your eSIM! I have seen CS_Agents send a new QR Code (for free) to Customers email address due to the one they were given didn’t work.

@softech , any suggestions?

Re: e-SIM not working

softech — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 23:02:21 GMT

>I was told by Telus tech support that there is something wrong with the e-SIM I received

@Jenny23

what was the exact problem? the eSIM was installed and you just have no phone service? or you actually got some error like SOS or so? Give us more details.

What phone , band and model, do you have?

did you try to click Reset all networks?

Re: e-SIM not working

Jenny23 — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 20:38:57 GMT

@softech

When I subscribed to Public Mobile, they sent me a QR code by email to install the e-SIM. After scanning the code, I kept getting the error "Unable to active e-SIM". The e-SIM wasn't showing in my list of SIM cards. My phone didn't show any cell reception at all, not even SOS.

My phone is an iPhone 13. I subscribed to Public Mobile $25/mo 3G plan. I did try Resetting all networks and it didn't work. I ended up buying a physical SIM card, and after installing it, the e-SIM suddenly appeared and worked. I'm not sure what kind of glitch is going on, but after 2 weeks of no service, feeling relieved that I'm finally connected to the network is certainly an understatement.

Thank you for your help!

Re: e-SIM not working

softech — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 20:43:15 GMT

@Jenny23 wrote:

@softech
When I subscribed to Public Mobile, they sent me a QR code by email to install the e-SIM. After scanning the code, I kept getting the error "Unable to active e-SIM". The e-SIM wasn't showing in my list of SIM cards. My phone didn't show any cell reception at all, not even SOS.
My phone is an iPhone 13. I subscribed to Public Mobile $25/mo 3G plan. I did try Resetting all networks and it didn't work. I ended up buying a physical SIM card, and after installing it, the e-SIM suddenly appeared and worked. I'm not sure what kind of glitch is going on, but after 2 weeks of no service, feeling relieved that I'm finally connected to the network is certainly an understatement.
Thank you for your help!

@Jenny23

so, you sure you are not using the physical sim? You did not go to My Account to update the sim number to the phsyical sim card? Only one sim will be on PM system and working at one time.

If you never update the sim number to the physical sim and you sure you are using the eSIM, that's weird. But maybe a reboot or some updates somehow triggered it

Re: e-SIM not working

Jenny23 — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 20:51:39 GMT

@LitlLdy

No worries. I ended up buying a physical SIM card, and after installing it in my phone, the e-SIM appeared and worked. I'm in the process of getting the purchase credited to my account for the extra SIM card I had to buy.

Thanks so much for all your help! I appreciate it 🙂

Re: e-SIM not working

LitlLdy — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 21:38:06 GMT

@Jenny23 wrote:
@LitlLdy
No worries. I ended up buying a physical SIM card, and after installing it in my phone, the e-SIM appeared and worked. I'm in the process of getting the purchase credited to my account for the extra SIM card I had to buy.
Thanks so much for all your help! I appreciate it 🙂

@Jenny23 ,

Thanks for the update! At least you didn’t activate the SIM Card so have it as a spare! It is very odd that it worked out the way it did! Resetting network settings/rebooting the phone should have fixed the issue of the eSIM not working, thats why it was suggested to do so after installing it. Even when I don’t get a good signal I either toggle on/off air plane mode, reboot my iPhone or reset network settings & it fixes the issue.

I’m happy that CS_Agent is crediting your account for purchasing the SIM Card! Every bit helps. 🙂

Edit: Welcome to Public Mobile 😃

Re: e-SIM not working

Jenny23 — Wed, 16 Aug 2023 22:03:22 GMT

@LitlLdy

I think I did have to active the SIM card. After that, the e-SIM showed up and worked.

Thanks 😄

Re: e-SIM not working

LitlLdy — Wed, 16 Aug 2023 22:10:06 GMT

@Jenny23 wrote:
@LitlLdy
I think I did have to active the SIM card. After that, the e-SIM showed up and worked.
Thanks 😄

@Jenny23 , if you activated your SIM Card your eSIM would not work. In order to activate your SIM Card you have to do the steps below. Is that what you did?:

Log in to the Public Mobile app or My Account
Go to the ‘Profile’ tab
Select the pencil icon next to your current SIM number
Enter your the 16-digit code of your new SIM
Select ‘Save Changes’

Screenshots are from @softech !

Re: e-SIM not working

Jenny23 — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 00:11:50 GMT

@softech

I don't remember the prompts I received on my phone, but as soon as I inserted the physical sim, the e-sim showed up and worked. I removed the physical sim just to make sure the e-sim was still working and it was.

I did turn off the phone once, at the same time I reset all networks. Those steps didn't work for me.

No, I didn't manually update the sim number. I checked on my profile, and the sim number is different from the physical sim, so, it may be for the e-sim.

It's all good now, that's all that matters to me 🙂 Thank you for the advice!

Re: e-SIM not working

Jenny23 — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 00:24:06 GMT

@LitlLdy

No, I didn't manually update the sim number on my profile. The e-sim worked after I installed and removed the physical sim. I'm currently using the e-sim only.

It's all good now 🙂 Thank you for the detailed steps!

Re: e-SIM not working

LitlLdy — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 00:36:11 GMT

@Jenny23 wrote:
@LitlLdy
No, I didn't manually update the sim number on my profile. The e-sim worked after I installed and removed the physical sim. I'm currently using the e-sim only.
It's all good now 🙂 Thank you for the detailed steps!

@Jenny23 , awesome 👏🏻! That means that you can save your SIM Card for an emergency or pass it on to someone since you didn’t activate it on your account! 😃

Have a great night! 🙂

Re: e-SIM not working

Brandy2008 — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 02:14:54 GMT

I paid for two eSims in 3 week period, and both failed ! Finally had to purchase Public Mobile Sim card from Telus and appears to be working! As for Refund from Public Mobile .... the chances are nil and None!!

Re: e-SIM not working

hTideGnow — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 02:54:18 GMT

@Brandy2008 wrote:
I paid for two eSims in 3 week period, and both failed ! Finally had to purchase Public Mobile Sim card from Telus and appears to be working! As for Refund from Public Mobile .... the chances are nil and None!!

hi @Brandy2008

asking PM for eSIM or sim cost reimbursement is not hard. I personally requested and got the money back. I also helped many community members here for successfully reimbursements

Re: e-SIM not working

Brandy2008 — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 11:59:02 GMT

Who did you ask ?