Forum Discussion
Solved
Int'l trip to US — when to activate eSIM?
I live in Japan and will be traveling to CA next week, and I plan to buy a $50 prepaid eSIM mobile plan for my iPhone 15 Pro Max. My iPhone currently uses a physical SIM card because it was purchased in Japan. Since the only way to get the eSIM is to have an internet connection, it seems only logical I should put it on my phone now. But my question is, when should I activate it?
I would think that activating it the morning of my trip, before I depart, while I am still in Japan would make sense, because then it would be good to go when I arrive in the US later that day. But I would only want to activate it and not allow it to connect to the internet because if I am in Japan, it probably would switch to "Roaming" right? And I wouldn't want that to eat into my plan.
So is it okay to activate the eSIM on my iPhone 15 Pro Max the day of my trip while in Japan? And how should I go about that? Do I switch off Cellular, connect via WIFI, get the eSIM, then activate it? Or does cellular need to be active? If it needs to be active, then wouldn't there be a problem (eating into my plan due to roaming) because I am outside the US?
Any detailed advice you can offer on this point would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Thanks for the info. I'm still using my VPN to write this post. The problem is that the entire domain blocked my primary IP. So even if I try to access T-Mobile support pages (which have nothing to do with this forum), my IP is blocked. But for now, the VPN is a work around.
I contacted T-Mobile via Twitter. They said they couldn't access this forum thread (for reasons I don't understand), so I sent them my opening post and select replies from yourself and syaoran . They replied back to say activation can be done while I am still in Japan by way of using WI-FI alone.
Below is a copy/paste of what the T-Mobile support person on Twitter told me...
====================
Here is the guidance for activating your eSIM on an iPhone 15 Pro Max while in Japan before your travel to California:
Pre-Activation Steps:
• Ensure your iPhone is connected to Wi-Fi.
• Update your device software to the latest version. • Remove the physical SIM card if you will not be using dual SIM.
Activation Process:
• Go to Settings > Cellular > Add eSIM/Set Up Cellular on your iPhone.
• Follow the prompts to download and activate the eSIM profile.
Timing and Cellular Settings:
It’s recommended to activate the eSIM just before your trip. You can do this the morning of your departure while still connected to Wi-Fi in Japan.
To prevent roaming charges:
• Activate the eSIM while Wi-Fi is connected and ensure cellular data is turned off.
• Go to Settings > Cellular and disable Cellular Data or ensure the eSIM line is not set as the primary data line.
• Once your eSIM is activated, you can label it accurately for future ease of use, e.g., "Travel".
Important Considerations:
• Enabling Wi-Fi is crucial during the eSIM download process.
• Make sure not to actively use the eSIM for data or calls until you arrive in the United States to avoid potential roaming charges.
Troubleshooting:
• If activation issues arise, ensure the device is still connected to Wi-Fi and try re-downloading the eSIM profile from the settings.
• Should any errors persist, contact T-Mobile support for further assistance.
For further details, you may refer to: Your device settings and activation tutorials available on T-Mobile’s support page.
You can't activate on a foreign network but if your device supports T-Mobile's WiFi Calling. It usually is poaaiblw to activate it prior to arriving in the US.
syaoranThank you for your quick reply. I honestly didn't know "WIFI calling" was a thing, nor have I any idea how it is used.
Of course I know how to "call" others by using Skype voice, or FaceTime for video and audio, but it seems you are speaking about calling in a somewhat normal way, using your assigned phone number, yet via WIFI rather than cellular, which if true is rather intriguing.Please note that the specific plan I am considering buying is the $50 unlimited plan shown here, which gives me a phone number and SMS capability (which I think may be needed to get those rather infuriating CODES we have to deal with these days). It also mentions "Wi-Fi calling."
I would recommend activating when you land in California. When your plane touches down, you will have about 15 minutes before you can start deboarding. This is the perfect time in my opinion to activate your eSIM.
syaoran
I see. It could be you are unsure if I can or should activate in Japan the day of my departure, so you are offering the safest advice. Of course, I suspected as much prior to posting, but I just wanted to confirm if I could do it earlier, especially because things that I have never done before like this take me a lot of time, especially because I will inevitably do something wrong and need to space a huge amount of time working on my blunder. As a result, 15 minutes may sound fast and easy, but to me it's a stressful race against time.Even so, I read in another thread in this forum entitled "I accidentally deleted my ESIM" that Larry187 claims that activation "has to be done on T-Mobile towers."
It seems rather odd to me, but all manner of things are odd in this life, so who knows. Maybe that person is correct. And if so, it means it would be utterly impossible to activate outside the US or outside the presence of a T-Mobile tower. Which I guess means you can't activate on WIFI alone. Interesting.
If you Google Tmobile Sim activation it will state activation needs to be done on Tmobile towers.
