iPad "Mobile Data Number" shows as "Unknown": Why?

[photeks]

As per the title, I have three new-ish iPads I own outright (two M4 Pro's, one Mini 7), and they all have pre-paid eSIMS in them from UK network Three – the "24 Gigs for 24-months" physical pSIMS you can buy online, that I had to call customer services, who then converted them all to eSIMS a couple of months ago (as the iPads only take eSIMS now).

I noticed that whilst data works fine on each iPad, annoyingly I cannot see the data eSIM's actual number in the settings where it used to show with previous identical pSIMS — under: General - About - Mobile Data Number, it simply says "Unknown" in that field.

While I know this is nothing to do with messages and related features which are pushed from my iPhone, it's still really annoying when I do something like phone Three's customer services or similar reasons like wanting to check my data allowance left, and cannot simply check the data phone number in this section anymore, because it's not there.

I first phoned Three a couple of times (who were clueless unfortunately, and they also refused to report it further up the chain as a bug, for reasons they wouldn't tell me, so is unlikely to see a fix accordingly?!) and they didn't have any ideas on why it was showing "Unknown" (my Network Provider above this section shows "Three 63.0" if that's pertinent here?).

Is there any way to get the number to show anymore? If not is there some reason for it to not show?

[photeks]

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@jr0 wrote:

 I hope you are special enough to have this petty fight/problem solved. After all, you are having the service promised/paid and not the user experience that you wish for.
By the tone of your arguments I think I can imagine how the conversations went with techinical support agents.
I reckon like in any other organization Three has bigger fish to fry.
Good luck

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Don't try gaslighting me as the victim. This is a problem caused by Three regardless of how serious you as a completely unrelated third-party feel about it. Myself and others are the ones with the issue, and I've been perfectly civil in my explanations here. 

Reported to moderator for gaslighting comment, irrelevant to the discussion. 

[jr0]

Have you tried to rule out the phone number by seeing the data usage from three app?

I saw your post on apple's communities, and someone suggested that data Sims do not need phone number to have data. That is my understanding too, and I don't know what Three does in these cases (data sim only) and whether the phone number is written in the esim.

I have a question. You said you got psims and then support converted the psims into esims. Was the psims phone number the same as is now in the esims?

[photeks]

@JonathanB wrote:

Hi @photeks,

[...]I'll check into this further and update you if we have any other explanations or potential solutions.[...] 

Thanks,
Jonathan

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@JonathanB – As everyone with this problem has gotten nowhere in resolving this on the phone to Three staff, have you checked this further to provide an explanation or potential solution? 

[JonathanB]

Hi @photeks,

I don't know that this is a particularly common issue, or that it's been reported to our phone teams? If there's other reports on the Community or elsewhere, please help us out with a link, and we'll be happy to highlight the feedback.

We've raised this issue to relevant contacts, and will let you know if we're able to give any further advice. but the cause of the issue remains to be determined, so I don't know how long it'll necessarily take to resolve this, if it is indeed an issue on our end.

Thanks,
Jonathan

[JonathanB]

Hi @photeks,

Thanks for raising this, really good questions. We've previously seen this on iPhones where a number port has taken place, as there can be a conflict between the number being moved to Three, and the temporary number that was originally on the SIM.

I assume there won't have been a port in here though, as you're using data SIMs?

When you say the info used to show with physical SIMs, that would have been older iOS devices or iPhones you've used to check that? (As you've mentioned you're using iPad models which don't support physical SIMs)

With an iPhone there's a "phone" section in settings, which you can update the phone number,  and I believe this can help resolve any conflicting information. I don't think you will find that in an iPad's settings, as there's no call/SMS support, but can you check for iMessage settings, and if there's an option to set the number there?

Failing this, resetting your network settings may help sync your SIM and device(s) back up with the network. Please note this does forget any saved Wi-Fi networks and Bluetooth devices, so probably best just to try this theory out on one device first.

More info here: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/ipad/ipad9a74dc01/ipados 

I'll check into this further and update you if we have any other explanations or potential solutions. Apple Support may also have some insight about the issue.

Thanks,
Jonathan

[photeks]

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@JonathanB wrote:

Thanks for raising this, really good questions. We've previously seen this on iPhones where a number port has taken place, as there can be a conflict between the number being moved to Three, and the temporary number that was originally on the SIM.

I assume there won't have been a port in here though, as you're using data SIMs?

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Don't think this is a number port issue... I bought these "24 Gigs for 24 months" pre-paid online, they arrive as pSIMs, then I had to phone Three customer services to get them swapped into eSIMs. 

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@JonathanB wrote:

When you say the info used to show with physical SIMs, that would have been older iOS devices or iPhones you've used to check that? (As you've mentioned you're using iPad models which don't support physical SIMs)

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Previous iPads that took the exact same data-only "24 Gigs for 24 months" as pSIMs always showed the phone number in this section. Other providers of data-only eSIMs also show the number, so this is likely an issue with Three's eSIMs, rather than all eSIMs.

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@JonathanB wrote:

With an iPhone there's a "phone" section in settings, which you can update the phone number,  and I believe this can help resolve any conflicting information. I don't think you will find that in an iPad's settings, as there's no call/SMS support, but can you check for iMessage settings, and if there's an option to set the number there?

Failing this, resetting your network settings may help sync your SIM and device(s) back up with the network. Please note this does forget any saved Wi-Fi networks and Bluetooth devices, so probably best just to try this theory out on one device first.

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Tested this just now on my iPad Mini 7 (2024 latest model):

• There's no option to manually add or set numbers anywhere on iPads (I checked iMessage settings too). 

• Selecting the option "Reset Network Settings" made nothing happened to fix the issue – still shows as "Unknown". 

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@JonathanB wrote:

I'll check into this further and update you if we have any other explanations or potential solutions. Apple Support may also have some insight about the issue.

Apple correctly say this is a carrier issue, as this info should be received from ones eSIM itself. That means Three's eSIMs should properly do this. 

Yes, please do 'check into this further and update you if we have any other explanations or potential solutions.' at the earliest, as this really shouldn't be happening, and if it does, then it must be a bug at Three's end that needs fixing and testing by your technical people or supplier who deals with eSIMs.

Especially given eSIMs are increasing going to be the way your customers use SIMs on their devices (phones and data-only) going forward over time. 

[photeks]

Re-ping: @JonathanB 

Per your Private Message: 

"I'll certainly have a look at the issue you've shared and do my best to help."

Any response then?

[photeks]

Screenshot: 

[photeks]

Pinging: @PeteG @JonathanB 

[photeks]

So, here I go again, and no answers from Three at all. Wow, kind of pointless forum you have here. 🙄