How do I choose a network by hand?

iPhone: Settings → Cellular → the travel line → Network Selection → turn Automatic off, then pick a network from the list.

Android: the SIM’s settings hold the same choice, usually as "Choose network automatically" with a list underneath.

Try the operators your plan lists for that destination. The plan page names the networks it uses where the network publishes them.

Switch Automatic back on when you move to another city or another country, or the phone will keep hunting for a network that is not there.

Related questions

Which networks will my eSIM use?

The local operators the plan lists. Where the network publishes their names, the plan page and the destination page show them.

Your phone picks whichever of them is strongest where you are standing, the same way a local phone does. You do not choose an operator when you buy.

If the automatic choice is picking badly, you can select a network by hand in your phone’s settings.

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I have no signal after landing. What now?

Wait up to two minutes. A new line looks for a network from scratch and that takes longer than a phone you have used here before.

Then turn flight mode on and off. That is the quickest way to make the phone start the search again.

If it is still empty, turn automatic network selection off and choose a network by hand.

Check the obvious one too: the travel line has to be switched on, with data roaming on for it.

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My eSIM is not connecting. What should I check?

Data roaming first. On an iPhone: Settings → Cellular → the travel line → Data Roaming on. On Android it sits under the SIM’s own settings. Without it a travel eSIM cannot use any network.

Then check that mobile data is set to the travel line rather than your home line, and that the travel line is switched on.

Then turn flight mode on and off, which makes the phone search again. Wait up to two minutes.

If all three are right and there is still nothing, pick a network by hand. If that fails too, write to us while you are still travelling.

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