eSIM installed but no data abroad — what to check, in order

Almost every “eSIM not working abroad” case comes down to one of two settings, not a broken profile: either data roaming is switched off for that specific line, or your phone is still sending data through the wrong SIM. Check those two things first, in that order, before assuming the eSIM itself failed.

Both are easy to fix from your own phone in under a minute, and both are far more common than an actual defective profile or a coverage gap. It’s worth ruling them out fully before contacting support or assuming you need to reinstall anything — a reinstall doesn’t fix either of these, since the problem isn’t the profile, it’s which settings are pointed at it.

Data roaming, checked per line, not just once

Modern phones let you turn data roaming on or off separately for each SIM, including each eSIM profile. It’s common to switch it on once, for your home line, and never realize the travel eSIM has its own separate toggle that’s still off by default. Go into your phone’s cellular or mobile network settings, select the travel eSIM specifically, and confirm data roaming is on for that line — not just for the phone in general.

The wrong line set as your data line

The second cause is more common than people expect: your phone has two active lines, but the one actually carrying data traffic is still your Tunisian line, not the travel eSIM. Phones default to whichever line was active last, or to your primary line, unless you manually set the travel eSIM as the one handling mobile data. Check your cellular settings for a “mobile data” or “cellular data” selector and confirm it points at the travel line, not your home number. This is the setting people most often get wrong precisely because it’s the same one they never had to touch at home, where only one line ever carried data in the first place.

The two-minute checklist, in order

Check	Setting to look for	Fixes
Roaming on the right line	Cellular → [travel eSIM] → Data roaming	Line has no roaming permission
Correct data line selected	Cellular → Mobile data → select travel eSIM	Data routing to wrong SIM
Airplane mode toggle	Turn on, wait 10 seconds, turn off	Forces a fresh network search
Network selection	Set to automatic, not manual	Phone stuck on a weak or wrong tower
Profile still installed	Settings → Cellular → confirm plan is listed	Accidental deletion or install failure

If both settings are already correct

Toggle airplane mode on and off once you’ve confirmed both settings — this forces the phone to re-search for a network rather than staying latched to whatever it found on landing, which is sometimes a weak signal from a tower it locked onto before you’d cleared the runway. If that doesn’t resolve it, check that network selection is set to automatic rather than manual; a manually selected network from a previous trip can silently block a new one from connecting.

When it’s a coverage problem, not a settings problem

If you’ve checked all of the above and there’s still no data, it’s worth ruling out an actual coverage gap — dense old-city centers, some cross-border train routes, and remote areas can have genuinely weak signal regardless of your settings. This is different from an activation or settings issue, and no toggle fixes it; moving to an open area or waiting until you reach denser coverage is the only real answer. A quick way to tell them apart: if a phone next to you on the same national network also shows no bars, it’s coverage; if it shows full signal and yours doesn’t, it’s almost certainly one of the two settings above.

Confirming your plan is still active

An empty data balance looks identical to a settings problem from the phone’s side — no connection, same symptoms. Before assuming it’s a bug, confirm your plan hasn’t run out; what happens when your plan runs out explains how to check remaining data and what to do if you’re short mid-trip.

Fewer places for this to go wrong

The Simtegre app shows your plan’s status and remaining data in one screen, and the install itself is designed to set the right line as your data line automatically rather than leaving it to a phone’s default guess — which is most of why this checklist exists in the first place for other providers. If you’re setting up before you travel rather than mid-trip, the device guides walk through install and activation for your exact phone so these two settings are right from the start, and current plans are worth checking if what looks like a settings issue turns out to be an empty balance instead.