If your travel eSIM is installed but you have no data, check two things: that the travel eSIM is chosen as your mobile data line, and that data roaming is turned on for it. Both are required. Then wait: the first connection can take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour. If it still will not connect, restart the phone.
First: have you arrived?
The eSIM connects when you arrive at your destination, not before. At home or on the plane it is normal for it to have no data.
The plan starts counting at your first connection to a network at your destination, not when you buy it and not when you install it.
What to check, in this order
1. Choose the travel eSIM for mobile data
- iPhone: Settings › Cellular › Cellular Data, and select the travel eSIM.
- Android: Settings › Network and internet › SIM, and pick the travel eSIM as your mobile data line. The exact menu name varies by manufacturer.
Check that line is switched on, too. Your usual line stays for calls and texts.
2. Turn data roaming on for the travel eSIM
With the travel eSIM selected, turn on "Data Roaming". It is required: without it there is no connection, however backwards that sounds.
Do it on the travel eSIM, not on your usual SIM. On your usual SIM, turn it off so your own carrier cannot charge you.
3. Wait for the first connection
The first connection can take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour. Look at the signal bars: if there are any, the phone is already attached to a tower.
4. No signal: restart the phone
If there are no bars at all, restart the phone for a fresh start.
5. Signal but no data
- Turn off any VPN.
- Turn the eSIM off and on again.
- Select the network by hand in settings.
It shows another operator's name
That is normal. The phone shows the network it is attached to, which is a local carrier in that country; you will never see "Bidaiesim" in the status bar. Before you arrive, or while it is attaching, it can even show a carrier from another country. Every destination page tells you which names to expect.
There is data, but an app thinks you are in another country
It is not a fault. Your traffic reaches the internet in the wholesale operator's country, not the one you are standing in. That is how every travel eSIM works, and it can affect streaming, banking and verification codes.
It was working and has stopped
- Whole-trip plan: you may have used up the data, or the plan may have ended. Your order page tells you, and from there you can top up the same eSIM without installing anything again.
- Daily plan: once you use today's high-speed data you stay connected, but at reduced speed until the next daily reset.
The order page receives usage a few hours late. For the exact usage, check your phone's data settings.
I cannot install it
If the problem is installing it rather than connecting, check this:
- The phone has to be free of carrier locks.
- The phone has to support eSIM.
- You need a solid connection: the profile is downloaded and it is not small.
- It will not work behind a firewall that blocks the download.
- The QR code must not already have been scanned on another phone.
The install steps for iPhone and Android are in the installation guide.
Do not delete the eSIM
A QR code installs once, on one phone. If you delete an eSIM you have already installed, there may be no way to get it back. Try everything above first.
If none of this works
Write to us from your order page, with the "Get help" button. Tell us what you have tried and what you see on screen. Never send us card details or the activation code.
If you do not have your order page to hand, use the contact form. There are more answers in the FAQ.