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someplaceguy | on: Using eSIMs with devices that only have a physical SIM slot via a 9eSIM SIM car
Recently I tried to reinstall an eSIM on my Android phone while overseas but was told by my carrier that the eSIM can only be activated while connected to antennas located in the carrier's country, i.e. it can't be activated overseas, despite my plan supporting call roaming and both countries being in the EU.

I don't know whether this is carrier-specific or the same for all carriers.

Doohickey-d | parent | next
This worked for me, French carrier "Free", and install new eSIM while in Spain.

But now I have doubts, especially outside the EU: if it doesn't work, that would loose one of the advantages that I'd sort of expected eSIM to have: if your phone gets lost / stolen while abroad, you could just get a new eSIM from your carrier immediately, and set it up on your replacement phone.

In my case, my bank uses mandatory SMS 2FA for setting up their app on a new phone, thus making it impossible to make purchases with my card without having the being able to set up the app.

So I'd be back to the oldschool method of having a fried back at home set up the new eSIM, receive the 2FA code...

arccy | parent
I think almost all carriers require this. I've seen mentions that the Google Fi eSIM requires US towers to activate, but can be moved / reinstalled later without them (didn't test it though).
terinjokes | root | parent
Just an end user, so don't quote me on this, but I think that requirement was largely a legacy Sprint requirement.

I've purchased newer Pixel devices from my local shop and activated Google Fi just fine overseas. (with the caveat that I might not have all of T-Mobile's bands if I'm back in the US).