Your phone needs to support eSIM and be unlocked. Most phones sold since 2019 do: iPhone XS, XR and everything after; Google Pixel 3 and after; Samsung Galaxy S20, Note 20, Z series and after. The quickest check is to open Settings and look for Add eSIM or Add mobile plan. If it is not there, your phone cannot take one, and you should not buy.
Install it
Pick your phone. The steps below open on the kind you are reading this on.
- Open your Ringo email on the iPhone and tap Install on iPhone. iOS opens the eSIM installer with everything filled in.
- If you are reading the email elsewhere: Settings, Cellular, Add eSIM, Use QR Code, and scan the code in the email.
- Label the new line Ringo.
- When asked which line to use: keep your own number for calls and messages, and choose Ringo for cellular data.
- Go to Settings, Cellular, Ringo, and switch Data Roaming on.
- Settings, Network & internet, SIMs, Add eSIM. On Samsung: Settings, Connections, SIM manager, Add eSIM.
- Scan the QR code from your Ringo email. If the scan fails, choose enter code manually and type the activation code from the email.
- Name the new SIM Ringo.
- Set Ringo as your mobile data SIM. Leave calls and messages on your own SIM.
- Open the Ringo SIM's settings and switch Roaming on.
Data Roaming has to be on for the Ringo line. It sounds wrong, but that is how a travel eSIM attaches to a network. With it off you will see full signal and no internet. This is the cause nine times out of ten.
Your eSIM installs once. If you delete it from the phone it cannot be reinstalled from the same code. Between trips, just switch the Ringo line off instead of removing it. If you change phones, reply to your Ringo email before you wipe the old one.
If it is not working when you land
- Check Data Roaming is on for the Ringo line. Then check again.
- Check Ringo is the line selected for mobile data, not your home SIM.
- Turn flight mode on for ten seconds, then off, so the phone searches for networks again.
- If it still will not connect, choose a network manually: Settings, the Ringo line, Network selection, turn off automatic, and pick any that appears.
- Your data starts the first time the eSIM connects, so installing at home before you fly is fine. It will not use your allowance until you are on a network abroad.
Something else
Reply to any Ringo email, or write to us through the contact page. A person answers, same day while you are travelling. If you have no data at all, hotel or café Wi-Fi is enough to reach us.