Preliminary information
Before getting to the heart of the guide, going to explain how to reactivate a Vodafone SIM, it seems to me only right to make some clarifications in this regard. First, keep in mind that, the thing is doable with any type of SIM cards, both rechargeable and subscription, including data-only ones.
Then, as also reported in the area dedicated to the support of the Vodafone website, in order to be able to carry out the operation in question it is essential that the card has not expired for more than 12 monthsotherwise nothing can be done. Also, to request the reactivation you must be the holder or real user of the SIM.
It is also necessary to check if the SIM card has expired for more or less than 90 days, because, depending on the case, a different procedure must be followed: if less than 90 days have elapsed from the expiry date, the reactivation can be performed via customer care, both by telephone and through the manager's social channels. If, on the other hand, the SIM has expired for more than 90 days, it is necessary to proceed with the reactivation of the same by going to a Vodafone dealer.
Note that when the Vodafone SIM is still active, it is possible know the expiration date in total autonomy, from the Web, by calling special numbers made available by the manager or possibly, also contacting customer service in this case. For more information on this, I refer you to reading my guide focused specifically on, in fact, how to know the expiration of the Vodafone SIM.
Reactivate an expired Vodafone SIM
Having made the necessary clarifications above, let's now come to the real heart of the matter and let's find out how to proceed to reactivate an expired Vodafone SIM. As anticipated in the previous lines, you can do this by contacting the customer care or by going to a Vodafone dealer, depending on how much time has passed since the SIM expired: below you will find out how to proceed in any case.
Via telephone customer service
If they have passed less than 90 days from the expiration of your Vodafone SIM or, in any case, you do not know exactly how long the card has expired, insert it into your mobile phone and make a call to customer care of the manager, dialing the number 190 on the numeric keypad and pressing the key to forward the call (usually it is the green one with the handset up).
When the call has started, listen to the instructions of the recorded voice and press the button to receive assistance for mobile telephony (which should correspond to1), then say out loud after hearing the welcome message from Tobi (Vodafone's virtual assistant), the phrase "Talk to a human operator".
Afterwards, your call will be transferred to a Vodafone operator "in the flesh". Then explain your situation to the person who responds and give them all the details about your SIM.
If the operator confirms the fact that the card has expired for less than 90 days, you can request the reactivation of your number simply by providing a alternative address and waiting a few days. As soon as the SIM is reactivated, you will come named from the Vodafone customer service that will notify you that the card has been activated.
If you think you need more information on how to contact customer service, you can refer to my tutorial on how to talk to a Vodafone operator.
Social procedures that
As well as by telephone, you can get in touch with Vodafone customer service to request the reactivation of the card also using the social channels of the company, always provided that the SIM has expired since less than 9o days.
To carry out the operation in question, you can act either through Facebook that through Twitter. Below you will find explained how to proceed in both cases.
- Facebook - log in to your Facebook account and go to the Vodafone city page, press the button for to send a message, type the phrase "Reactivate SIM" in the text field and send your message. Wait for the Vodafone bot to answer you, select the option Consultant and when asked if you want to chat with a consultant, press the button Yes. If requested, provide the telephone number of the SIM for which you need assistance and wait to be put in contact with a human operator. Then explain to the latter that you intend to reactivate the SIM and he will provide you with the support you need.
- Twitter - log into your Twitter account and start composing a new tweet to be addressed to the @VodafoneIT account. In the body of the tweet, explain your reasons without providing personal data (as the tweet is public and other users may read its content). Subsequently, you will be contacted by Vodafone social care and you will be invited to continue the conversation privately, through DM. At that point, explain to the operator the fact that you want to reactivate your Vodafone SIM and indicate the telephone number of reference.
Both in the case of Facebook and in the case of Twitter, once the consultant you find yourself talking to has verified that the SIM has expired for less than 90 days, they will ask you for a alternative telephone number and will forward a request for reactivation. When the SIM is operational again (it may take a few days), you will come contacted from Vodafone customer service who will notify you of this.
If you need more explanations regarding the possibility of contacting Vodafone via social media, you can refer to my guide specifically dedicated to how to chat with a Vodafone operator.
Through a Vodafone dealer
If your Vodafone SIM has been deactivated by more than 90 days ma not for over a year, to be able to reactivate it you must necessarily go to a Vodafone dealer and request theactivation of a new SIM on which it will come later transferred the number of the old card.
So, in this case, first of all find the Vodafone dealer closest to your area by visiting the web page available on the Vodafone website containing a interactive map and the list of the operator's stores.
Once the page is displayed, reply affirmatively to the notice relating to theidentification of your current location which appears at the top. If no warning appears, type "manually" yours address in the search field at the top left and select the relevant result from the suggestions that appear.
After that, also select the option Authorized dealer placed on the left and you will be shown directly on the map all the Vodafone dealers available: by clicking on the various place card you will know the address.
Once you have found the Vodafone dealer closest to you and after having gone there, explain to the employee the fact that you want to reactivate your SIM that has expired for more than 90 days. At that point, this will carry out all the necessary checks, will ask you to fill in some specific documents and you will have to show your own valid identification document.
Once the operation is complete, a new SIM will be delivered to you and you will have to wait a few days for Vodafone to receive the request to reactivate your old number and pass the delivery from the expired card to the new one.
As for the credit possibly available on the expired SIM, you can retrieve it by filling out the appropriate form and sending it by fax to the number 800.034642. Credit recovery has a cost of 5 €, which is deducted from the sum recovered from the SIM.
Reactivate a blocked Vodafone SIM
You were not interested in understanding how to reactivate an expired Vodafone SIM but how to intervene in case of card locked? If the problem is that the card is "out of order" because you no longer remember its code PIN, I refer you to reading my tutorial focused specifically on how to recover the Vodafone PIN, to find out how to solve.
If, on the other hand, your problem is that you have entered the wrong PIN too many times in a row and therefore the card has been blocked and now you are asked to enter the relevant code PUK, you can cope with that by reading my post on how to recover Vodafone PUK.
For the sake of completeness of information, I would like to clarify the substantial differences between PIN and PUK. The first, acronym of “Personal Identification Number”, is the system used by telephone operators to protect access to the reference number by malicious people or in any case by unauthorized users. It consists of four digits, is automatically associated with each SIM card produced and can possibly be modified by the user.
The PUK, on the other hand, is the acronym for "Personal Unblocking Key" and is distinguished from the PIN code as this cannot be changed by the user: it is a secondary security code that allows the SIM to be unlocked in case you forget your PIN. It consists of eight digits and is provided directly by the network operator.
How to reactivate a Vodafone SIM
