Changing your name with EE

How do I change my name with EE?#

EE changes the full name on your account once it has seen one legal document proving the change. Its help page on life events gives three ways to get that document to it:

• By email. Scan or photograph the document and email it as an attachment to customer.changes@ee.co.uk. EE's tips for a readable photo: good light, daylight if possible, no glare or shadow, the document flat, and the phone held parallel to it and steady.
• By post. Send the document with a covering letter to Customer Administration, 6 Camberwell Way, Doxford Technology Park, Doxford, Sunderland, SR3 3XN.
• In an EE store. Take your documents to your nearest store, which EE's store finder shows, and an EE Guide can make the change for you there.

The page does not distinguish pay monthly from pay as you go, and EE's pages mention no fee for any of the three routes.

What EE asks to see#

One document, matched to the reason your name changed:

EE adds a warning: a passport, a utility bill or any other identity document cannot, on its own, be accepted as proof of a change of name after marriage, civil partnership or divorce. What EE wants is the document that made or records the change, not one that simply shows the new name.

Email, post or store?#

Email is the route that keeps your original at home, because EE asks for a scan or a photo. Its page does not say whether documents sent by post are returned, so if you post an original deed poll, ask EE first how it will come back, and keep a copy yourself. The original matters: HM Passport Office and DVLA both want to see it, as will organisations accept a photocopy or a PDF? explains.

EE does not say what the covering letter must contain. Your old and new names, your EE mobile number and your account number let it find the account; EE says the account number is at the top of your bill and on the Manage screen of the EE app. What to put in a change of name letter covers the rest, and every deed poll we draft comes with a cover letter template.

The name EE calls you is not the account name#

In your EE profile online you can edit "What should we call you?", which EE describes as your first or preferred name, the one it uses in emails and online. That changes the greeting, not the legal name on the account. EE's personal details page says that changing your full name needs official documents showing your new name, sent by post, taken to a store or emailed, as above.

Changing your name and address together#

The address is the quicker half, and it is done online. Log in to your EE account, choose Do More, then change your billing or postal address; EE sends a one-time PIN to your mobile to check that it is you, and says the new address can take between 1 and 24 hours to show. The name still needs your document by one of the three routes above, so send it at the same time.

EE broadband and home phone#

EE's broadband help has its own page on the account holder's name. For a change of name, giving marriage or separation as examples, it asks you to send a copy of the certificate showing the change through EE's contact page, with your current name, your home address and your landline number or account number. It speaks of "the certificate", the word EE's mobile page also uses for a deed poll.

Handing the account to someone else#

A new name for you is not a new account holder. Moving a mobile account to a friend, colleague or family member is a transfer, which EE arranges by phone with both of you together (contact EE). EE transfers a number only if it has been active on its network for three months and there is no outstanding balance. The new holder, if they have no EE account, needs a credit or debit card ready for a credit check, and any multi-plan discount on the line is removed. A broadband account is transferred the same way, with both of you on the call.

After the change#

• Verified ID. EE's Verified ID, set up in the EE app, helps you prove your age and identity when you order from EE, including in its stores. EE says the name and date of birth on your passport or driving licence must match your EE login, so expect it to fail while one is in your old name and the other in your new.
• A bill in your new name. When a deed poll is your evidence for a new driving licence, GOV.UK asks for one document in the new name issued in the last 12 months, and its list includes "a utility bill, including a mobile phone, broadband or streaming subscription bill". Changing your name with DVLA has the rest.
• What EE does not publish. Its pages do not say how long a change of name takes, or whether anything changes on your plan or your Direct Debit.

For other phone, broadband and energy companies, energy, water, phone and broadband compares what each one asks for.