Virgin Media Community

[andyjtait]

Hi All,

Having ported my number across from Three to Virgin Mobile I now find that I am unable to activate my mobile number for use with iMessage.  I can see from the results on the Internet and from the previous posts and threads in this community that this is an issue that has been around for over 4 years now in some shape or form which in itself is disappointing.

I’m getting the same problem where my mobile number just doesn’t activate for iMessage and the spinning wheel of death sits there next to the number whilst the second phone number of Vodafone registers within a few seconds.  The details of my setup are:

Phone:  iPhone 12 Pro Max

SIM1:  Vodafone Nano SIM

SIM2: Virgin eSIM

I’ve pretty much tried everything from all of the other posts and Internet search results which includes activating/deactivating iMessage and logging in and out of iCloud and nothing seems to have any effect.  I’m going to wait a few days and keep trying but in the mean time does anybody have any insight into what is currently causing this issue to occur yet again and a possible fix?

Thanks all

Andy

[Ryan_N]

Hi andyjtait, 

Thank you for your post and welcome to the forums. 

Sorry to hear you're having this issue! It's an issue that doesn't affect every user but can pop up from time to time - the most common fix is, that it fixes itself. I did a bit of looking into this not long ago, and it seems to be when it doesn't connect to the iMessage server. How long has it not worked for? 

Cheers, 

Ryan. 

[andyjtait]

Thanks Ryan,

Yes I was kind of thinking the same thing from what i have seen on other posts that eventually it might fix itself.  In fairness its only been 24 hours so far so I’m going to wait a few days and see if anything changes.  The question is do i have to keep doing anything to encourage it to connect up or do i just leave it to its own devices and see what transpires?  What do you think?

Thanks

Andy

[Ryan_N]

I know, it's a pain when it happens - can you let me know what you've tried already just so I don't bore you with the same things haha. 

Cheers, 

Ryan. 

[andyjtait]

Yes sure.  So I’ve done all the following:

• Disabled and re-enabled iMessage 
• Done the above in conjunction to rebooting the phone and performing a soft reset
• Disabled and re-enabled the eSim on which the Virgin line is on
• Logged out of all Apple services and re logged in
• Manually registered the Virgin number by adding it to the “Numbers I can be contacted on” in the Apple ID

The end result is the same every time which is my Vodafone physical SIM number registers for iMessage within about 10 seconds or so and the Virgin one spins on forever before eventually telling me there was an error during activation.

I think that’s about it.

Thanks

Andy

[Ryan_N]

Just as an off chance - have you tried taking the other SIM out of the phone, turning it off and just rebooting with the E-Sim connected? 

I still back that it will be sorted tomorrow, I have seen ones before and it always seems to connect after the weekend (don't ask) haha. 

Cheers, 

Ryan. 

[andyjtait]

I just tried taking the SIM out and rebooting but unfortunately the same outcome.  Let’s see if your theory is right and it bursts into life tomorrow.

Thanks

Andy

[Ryan_N]

Imagine the scenes haha! 

Speak to you tomorrow 🙂

Cheers, 

Ryan. 

[andyjtait]

Well......seems you were right Ryan.

This morning I tapped on the phone number to register it for iMessage and it registered straight away and its now also registered for Facetime.

There is an odd glitch in Virgin's systems somewhere for sure 🤣

Thanks for your help!

Andy