activating a esim phone overseas

[apatel83]

hi, I recently switched over from tmobile to verizon. I got 4 lines, but one of the lines is my sister's line and she is currently traveling internationally. I'm trying to help her activate esim but it seems we're getting errors doing it via the myverizon app and I've seen other posts saying it's not possible. 

what is the solution? she won't be back for another 2-3 months.

1. I can't have her mail her phone back, activate it here and then mail it back, that'll take a ton of time, money and risk of losing the package in transit. 
2. I don't want to keep paying for both verizon and tmobile and since I told verizon I'm going to active 4 lines, how long do I have to even activate this 4th line?

[vzw_customer_support]

We know how important it is to stay connected, we'll be glad to help out. In this case, it is only possible to activate a phone while in the United States. You can attempt to activate the phone while connected to Wi-Fi, but we can't guarantee that the activation will go through outside the country, as you need to be connected to the Verizon network.

~Freddy

[SynthpopAddict]

I read another thread several months ago about eSIM activation issues overseas.  The problem is that the first "startup" of the eSIM, it has to be on Verizon for things to work, and if you are overseas, that's not an option. 😞 I had heard that this is something being worked on, as phones break or get lost/stolen all the time, and it could happen anywhere, but don't know if the issue has been sorted out.  If your sister's line cannot be activated on Verizon due to her being out of the country, you might be better off not having that line in your account for the time being and adding it back to your account when she returns to the US.  However, if your sister's phone was obtained under some promotion, then you're in a bit of a pickle, because it's a contract and the phone cannot easily be returned due to the situation.  Then, I'd try a vacation suspension on that line since a line can be suspended for up to 90 days per calendar year.

If there is no way to activate your sister's phone, your sister will have to buy service from a local carrier if her phone is an unlocked bring your own device and not a new phone purchased through Verizon to get her phone to work, or buy a "burner phone" to use with a local carrier if her phone is a Verizon phone, as the Verizon phone is locked until it's been used on Verizon for 60 days.

International Services Support may be able to provide some more input for you: 1-908-559-4899.  Your sister may be able to use a landline and call a toll-free number depending on what country she's in, but the (908) number I think is if you're in the US and have a question about international service.