Roaming out of country with an eSIM from another carrier

[Kelly Dalton]

When I activate my eSIM for out of country and it’s just for data do I turn cellular data off to avoid roaming charges? The eSIM does not include phone calls and text.

[WelshTerrier · Accepted solution]

Good Day.

I trust you have a Bell SIM & you are going to activate an eSIM for out of country. To avoid any roaming charges remove your Bell SIM before turning on your device. Activating an eSIM with a a Bell SIM in place when out of country will result in Roaming charges.

If you are out of country & you do not have an out of country eSIM, your safest & best method to avoid all Roaming charges is to turn Airplane mode on and / or remove your Bell Mobility SIM from the device before leaving Canada.

Enjoy your trip.

Take care.

[Nomi]

Actually i activated roam better feature last time in September when i travelled outside Canada. I did confirm with Bell Call centre that i won’t be charged for receiving messages and i would be only charged if i make calls , receive calls, use data or send messages. But i still got a hefty bill which took lot of time to resolve and i end up paying extra. I was told that because of E-sim there might be some mobile data leakages which resulted in Payment. I am again traveling outside Canada and i want to use roam better service for just receiving messages. I have removed E-sim and currently using physical sim. I am worried that i would be charged again. What should i do ?

[traveller2]

I went to Europe for 2 weeks, had a e-sim card specific for the countries I travelled in.  Had everything turned off and by surprise now have two days of roaming charges. Interesting though when you look at the details duration " 0"

Truly did not use the roaming functions at all, but still being charged while being even on wifi as back up is not acceptable, also did not even get a message on my phone as in the past you have arrived in ....and typical you would have that countries tele-comunication activate the line. None of this happens. To me the algorithm's for picking up when roaming is activated is not solid.

[WelshTerrier]

Good Day & Welcome to the Bell Community Forum.

Roaming is only activated once your SIM card connects to a network outside of Canada. Therefore, if you remove your SIM card prior to arriving in the country and connecting to their network, roaming will not be activated. If your device is in Airplane mode, you can also connect to a Wi-Fi network & Bluetooth manually. You should have removed your SIM card prior to leaving Canada & going to Europe. In the event there is any mobile network connection active on the phone, once the SIM card is inserted and its able to connect, Roam Better is initiated.

Roam Better FAQ | Bell Mobility | Bell Canada

Thank you for posting your question.

Take care.