Installing an eSIM needs an internet connection. That is why it is a job for before you go: if you wait, getting online requires already being online.
Why it has to happen at home
An arrivals hall is the worst place to discover that a phone is carrier-locked, or that the QR code needs a network to fetch the profile. Airport wifi means a captive portal and a queue, and the chat where you bought the plan cannot reach you through either.
Installing is not the same as using. Adding the profile puts a second line on the phone, switched off, and leaves it there until you say otherwise.
Before you leave
- Check the phone supports eSIM and is carrier-unlocked. These are two separate conditions and a locked phone will refuse the profile whatever its hardware can do.
- Buy the plan through WhatsApp or Telegram.
- Install the eSIM on reliable wifi. The iPhone guide and Android guide have the exact menu paths.
- Label the line Atli or Travel, so later settings screens are readable at a glance.
- Leave the line switched off until you arrive.
Check that it installed, then leave it alone. Run through the pre-travel phone checklist for the other offline prep to handle at home. Switching a line off is reversible and costs nothing. Deleting the profile is not the same thing, and getting it back takes help you may not be able to reach quickly.
When the plan actually starts
An Atli plan starts counting on whichever of these happens first: the eSIM connects to a network in the country your plan covers, or 30 days pass from the moment you bought it.
Most people expect the first half. The second is the one that costs them. Buy a plan three months before the trip and it will have started, and probably ended, before you pack. Buy inside 30 days of departure and that cannot happen.
Installing is not what starts it. Put the profile on the phone the day you buy, leave the line off for a fortnight, and nothing has been used.
When you arrive
Turn off airplane mode, then work through these in order:
- Turn on the Atli line.
- Select it for Mobile Data or Cellular Data.
- Enable Data Roaming for the Atli line. A travel eSIM is roaming by design, so this switch has to be on. It does not add a fee from Atli.
- Turn data roaming off for your home SIM, which is what keeps your carrier out of the bill.
- Switch off automatic data switching, including the Android setting that borrows another SIM’s data during calls.
Registering on a foreign network takes longer than it does at home, so give it a minute before deciding something is wrong. If nothing loads after that, toggle airplane mode once and restart the phone. Those two fix most of it. If they do not, the no-data checklist works through the rest in order, and none of its steps involve deleting anything.
Your number is not part of this
Atli carries data and nothing else: no phone number, no SMS, no cellular voice. Your own number stays on your home SIM and stays reachable if you leave that line switched on, which is the point of running the two together.
Calls and texts remain your carrier’s service at your carrier’s roaming prices, and some plans bill for received messages too. The dual SIM guide sets both lines up properly.
Keep the profile when the trip ends
Switch mobile data back to your home SIM, turn the Atli line off, and stop there. You install one profile, once. Plans expire; the profile does not, and the next one you buy is added to the same eSIM automatically, with no second QR code and nothing to reinstall.
Checked against Apple and Google eSIM guidance and Atli’s install flow, August 2026.
