o2 PAYG Fun and Games

For back-up purposes in case of FTTC problems and also for away from home, I have a Huawei E5776 and since my data requirement is extremely low, last year I obtained an o2 Classic SIM which theoretically keeps credit until it runs out, subject to it being used at least every six months. Data is charged at 1p per MB which is fine for my uses.

Anyway, back in late April this year I had FTTC Modem problems and used the E5776 for email etc. It is also very possible that I used it since as well.

Yesterday, mindful that I need to use it at least every six months, switched on only to find that there was no service. Nor did its number appear on my o2 on-line screen. This screen also shows my pay-monthly phone and my wife's PAYG phone.

Contacted o2 to be told that I hadn't used the SIM and therefore I had lost both the SIM and the credit! I pointed out that I HAD used the SIM well within the last six months. They must have seen that I was correct, since I was then told that my SIM would be reinstated within 24 hours.

When I checked a couple of hours later my E5776 was operative again. I went on to the o2 website and linked the SIM number (it had not changed) to my o2 management screen.

This evening found that whilst it is still operative, it has disappeared off the o2 screen.

The question is, how do I find out what credit I have left? If I use the Huawei's management screen, I can send a SMS to o2's 21202 with the word Balance but instead of receiving a SMS showing how much credit I have left, I am instead sent the Tariff Information of pence per UK minute, pence per text and pence per MB of data!

Google has given me a second number to text to: 20202 which I have tried and get the same result:-

"O2: You're on our Classic Pay As You Go sim. Calls within the UK cost 3p per minute, texts are 2p and data's 1pa MB"

Any ideas?

Cheers!