Your eSIM says No Service: work through this before you panic

1. Give it three minutes

A newly activated profile has to find a partner network and register on it. On a busy arrivals stand, with thousands of handsets doing the same thing, that can take a few minutes rather than a few seconds.

Put the phone in airplane mode for ten seconds and take it out again. Then wait. Walking towards the terminal windows helps more than you would think.

2. Is the line actually switched on?

Most people install the eSIM at home and deliberately leave the line off so the package does not start early. Then they forget.

• iPhone: Settings → Mobile Data (Cellular in the US) → tap the travel line → Turn On This Line.
• Android: Settings → Network & internet → SIMs → pick the travel eSIM → turn it on.

3. Data roaming must be ON for the travel line

This is the big one. A travel eSIM is a foreign profile using a local partner network, which means it is technically roaming — always. If data roaming is off for that line, it will not carry data, and on some handsets it will not register at all.

Turn data roaming on for the travel line, and off for your home SIM. Both switches are per-line, on the line's own settings page.

4. Is the travel line selected for mobile data?

Turning a line on is not the same as choosing it for data. On a dual-SIM phone there is a separate setting for which line carries mobile data.

• iPhone: Settings → Mobile Data → Mobile Data → select the travel line.
• Android: Settings → Network & internet → SIMs → Mobile data → select the travel eSIM.

5. Are you in a country the package covers?

Regional packages cover a list of countries, not a continent in the abstract. If you have connected through a third country, or you are on a border, or you bought a package for a region that does not include where you are standing, there will be no service and nothing is wrong.

Check the package's country list against where you actually are.

6. Has the package started, and does it have data left?

A package starts the first time the eSIM connects to a network in a covered country — even with mobile data switched off. If you tested the line at home and your home country happens to be covered, the clock started then.

Check your remaining data and validity in the app or on your order page over Wi-Fi.

7. Try a manual network selection

If the automatic search is not settling on a partner:

• iPhone: Settings → Mobile Data → the travel line → Network Selection → turn off Automatic, wait for the list, and pick one of the local operators.
• Android: Settings → Network & internet → SIMs → the travel eSIM → Automatically select network → off, then choose.

If the first one fails, try the next. Turning Automatic back on afterwards is fine.

8. Drop from 5G to 4G

Some partner agreements do not include 5G, and a handset that insists on 5G-only can end up with nothing. Set the line to 4G/LTE and see whether it registers. This is a common fix in countries where the local 5G rollout is new.

9. Restart the phone

Properly off and on again, not just airplane mode. This clears a stuck radio state more often than it has any right to.

The one thing not to do

Do not delete the eSIM profile.

An eSIM profile can usually only be installed once. Deleting it to "start fresh" does not give you a clean slate — it can leave you with nothing to reinstall, and recovering it needs support and time you do not have in an arrivals hall.

If you have worked through everything above and the line still will not register, message support with your order reference over the airport Wi-Fi. Keep the profile where it is until someone tells you otherwise.

While you are sorting it out

Airport Wi-Fi is enough to reach a support chat, load your order page and check your package. It is also enough to call a taxi.