transferring texts to new sim

Haven't you got a teenager to call on?

Sadly no - they have all run away and left me to my own devices

Take both phones to the shop you bought the new one from.
I've always found the staff more than willing to show their expertise to their elders

I haven`t got a new phone.I have had to put a new sim in my old phone as I was on Orange and have moved to EE. EE advised me to do this as the Orange Pay As You Go is now very expensive.
Unfortunately the EE helpline isn`t helpful!
Unfortunately I don`t have an EE shop nearby

It's possible that your text messages were stored in your old phone's memory rather than on the SIM. You could try replacing your old SIM in your old phone and checking where your texts were stored. You may find that you are able to transfer them from your phone's memory to your old SIM, then across to the new phone with the SIM as you have done with your contacts. If that doesn't work, there are SIM readers that you would have to buy together with the software to run on a PC see - www.justaskgemalto.com/us/what-uicc-and-how-it-different-sim-card/ . It seems a bit like overkill though. I'm not sure if your phone provider can help with this, although I doubt it but you could try calling them. Also, older phones didn't store very many messages anyway and older messages were just deleted. You may have to open your old phone and just check through your texts making a note of important information the old-fashioned way.

When you set up your new phone, you could use a SMS backup type application on it. I have this set up on my Android phone and all my SMS texts are backed up to a folder in gmail - it's worth considering.

Thanks NMG - I think at the moment I am content with just hanging onto the old SIM and if there are any messages on it that I need to refer to I can put it back in the phone to read them.

this may all seem a bit over the top but we are on the brink of a nasty marital split between my son and his wife and I may need to refer back to some of the messages she sent me - she is likely to claim that she has said things that she hasn`t.

Hi eddiecat78, I didn't really understand your problem. I know it may sound like a silly suggestion but you could put each relevant text message up on the screen of your mobile and take a photograph of it. At least you'd have a record of the most important messages. Just a thought! I hope your son's situation eventually improves.

I would say try EE again if all else fails, you may have been unlucky. On any occasions I have had to call them they have been brilliantly helpful and pleasant. Mybe you got a grumpy operator .
Good Luck. I am sorry I don't know how to do that either so cannot help