Best Way to Handle eSIM for Study Abroad

[Mferg]

My daughter will be going to college in Italy next fall. She currently has an iPhone 14 Pro Max but we will probably upgrade before she leaves. Her phone appears to have room for a second eSIM. Is it possible to purchase an eSIM from an Italian provider long term? 
If this is possible, how do we install and make sure we’re not getting hammered with Verizon fees for the 9 months she’ll be out of the country?

[SynthpopAddict · Accepted solution]

First, whatever phone your daughter is using needs to be unlocked.  Verizon's device unlocking policy states that carrier devices must be activated and used on Verizon for at least 60 days and then it will automatically unlock.  Depending on when you decide to get a new phone, if it is going to be under 60 days, then buy a factory unlocked model direct from the manufacturer to avoid a network lock problem.

As for a second eSIM, so long as the phone is unlocked and supports dual SIM, you can have a Verizon eSIM and an Italian eSIM together on the phone.  Getting the foreign eSIM set up would be done by the Italian carrier when she arrives in Italy, as you don't want to try to install it here in the US (otherwise, that eSIM will detect it's not within its network and the Italian carrier will then be billing for international usage/roaming).

As for not racking up gigantic bills for international use on Verizon, the phone would have to be set so that the primary eSIM is the foreign one, not the Verizon one.  I would also disable roaming if you're really worried about the Verizon eSIM somehow coming on.  You do need to continue to pay for a line of service with Verizon even if overseas for a long period of time if you do not want to lose the US phone number.  To save money, may want to convert the line to the cheapest prepaid service plan (there is one which is talk/text only, no data at all) for the time your daughter is out of the US.  Prepaid lines only have a Travel Pass option for international service, and if you disable the Travel Pass option in My Verizon, the prepaid line will not work at all overseas.

[SynthpopAddict · Accepted solution]

First, whatever phone your daughter is using needs to be unlocked.  Verizon's device unlocking policy states that carrier devices must be activated and used on Verizon for at least 60 days and then it will automatically unlock.  Depending on when you decide to get a new phone, if it is going to be under 60 days, then buy a factory unlocked model direct from the manufacturer to avoid a network lock problem.

As for a second eSIM, so long as the phone is unlocked and supports dual SIM, you can have a Verizon eSIM and an Italian eSIM together on the phone.  Getting the foreign eSIM set up would be done by the Italian carrier when she arrives in Italy, as you don't want to try to install it here in the US (otherwise, that eSIM will detect it's not within its network and the Italian carrier will then be billing for international usage/roaming).

As for not racking up gigantic bills for international use on Verizon, the phone would have to be set so that the primary eSIM is the foreign one, not the Verizon one.  I would also disable roaming if you're really worried about the Verizon eSIM somehow coming on.  You do need to continue to pay for a line of service with Verizon even if overseas for a long period of time if you do not want to lose the US phone number.  To save money, may want to convert the line to the cheapest prepaid service plan (there is one which is talk/text only, no data at all) for the time your daughter is out of the US.  Prepaid lines only have a Travel Pass option for international service, and if you disable the Travel Pass option in My Verizon, the prepaid line will not work at all overseas.

[vzw_customer_support · Accepted solution]

Happy Monday! Our goal is to clear things up. Yes, you can use a second international eSIM on an iPhone 14 Pro Max. iPhones that support eSIM can have multiple eSIMs and use Dual SIM to have two active SIMs at the same time.

Let us know if this info helped.

~Gilbert