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 purchase...
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.
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.
Being a man of specifics, I prefer exact URLs to the info you mention, and here's why. When I Google "T-Mobile eSIM activation" (not SIM, but eSIM, because eSIM applies to me), I am led to this page which makes no mention whatsoever (that I can see) of "towers:
https://www.t-mobile.com/support/account/prepaid-esim-activation#steps1Sorry about the crazy way to provide the URL, but this forum really ticks me off in terms of throwing errors when I try to link content, even to T-Mobile!
But forgetting those towers for a moment, one very concerning statement on that linked page is the following:
Your device will require a physical SIM card to activate service.
That is VERY ODD because I've read that most modern iPhones sold in the USA these days lack a physical SIM card slot! So either I am mistaken about the lack of SIM slots on modern iPhones, or that page is in error, which doesn't instill confidence in my about being able to activate. What a mess!
Even so, I live in Japan where freedom reigns supreme in that we still are allowed to have physical SIM card slots; and in fact, my iPhone 15 Pro Max has a physical SIM card installed, using Japan's AU network. But even if that seemingly error-filled T-Mobile web page above is correct about absolutely needing a physical SIM card installed (even from a non-US carrier), that would mean I would need to incur ROAMING charges on the AU network if I truly must have my AU physical SIM card active while activating the T-Mobile eSIM!
So at this point, I am a bit more confused than I was previously.
Any further clarity you are anyone else could provide on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
