Equipping a team with eSIMs takes one round of setup, then each trip is ordered in a few minutes. You check the phones, open an account, add your people and order for each trip. Each employee gets their eSIM by email and installs it themselves before leaving. You then follow everyone's data use and download a monthly statement for your accounts team. Here is each step as it appears in Terudo Business.
1. Check the phones first
An eSIM only helps if the phone accepts it. Many recent smartphones do, but the exact model matters. Ask each traveller for two ten-second checks:
- Dial *#06#. If an EID number appears, the phone supports eSIM.
- Open the settings. On iPhone: Settings, then Mobile Data (or Cellular). On Android: Settings, then Network & internet (or Connections), then SIM. There should be an option to add an eSIM.
The trap is locked phones. A phone bought on a contract may be locked to its network and refuse any other eSIM, even if the hardware supports it. For a company fleet, ask your network or leasing company whether the handsets are unlocked. If your phones are managed with a mobile device management (MDM) tool, also check with IT that no policy blocks adding an eSIM.
The same checks apply to personal phones. If an eSIM turns out not to be installable, it is cancelled on request and its price goes back to your credit.
2. Create the account and top up the credit
Sign up online from the Business page with your company name, work email and company number. For French companies, the SIREN number is checked in the national business register and the VAT number is verified. Elsewhere in the EU, the VAT number is verified. You get an activation link by email, accept the Terudo Business terms, and your space opens.
Terudo Business is prepaid only. You top up a credit by card from the Billing page, from 20 to 5,000 euros per payment. Each eSIM and each top-up is taken from it when ordered. An order the credit does not cover is refused, so there are no surprise invoices and no overdraft. For a large amount, a bank transfer is possible by arrangement, and the credit is added once the money arrives.
Until we have verified a company that signed up online, a credit top-up is limited to 500 euros, and to 1,000 euros over 30 days. This protects against stolen cards.
The dashboard then shows a step-by-step “Getting started” list. Start with billing: that email address receives statements and alerts.
3. Add your employees
Under Employees, add each person with their name, work email, team or cost centre (optional), email language (French or English) and, if you want one, a monthly budget including VAT. To go faster, paste a list from a spreadsheet: one person per line, with name, email and team separated by a comma or semicolon. Up to 500 lines go in at once, and any line with an error is flagged with its number.
Take care with the team field: it splits spending in the statement. Use the same labels as your accounts.
4. Order for a trip
The Equip page comes down to three choices: the destination (a country or a region), the plan, then the people travelling. Each plan shows its price per employee, before and after VAT, with your discount applied. Before you confirm, the summary shows the total and your available credit. One order can equip up to 100 people.
Example: four sales staff spend a week in Morocco. On the Pricing page, the public price of a Morocco plan with 10 GB for 30 days is 29.99 euros including VAT. With no discount, the order costs 4 × 29.99 = 119.96 euros, taken from the credit. If one of them has a monthly budget of 25 euros, the order is refused and their name is shown. You raise their budget, or pick the 3 GB plan at 15.99 euros.
| Order | Public price per person, incl. VAT | Total for 4 people, incl. VAT |
|---|---|---|
| Morocco, 3 GB, 30 days | €15.99 | €63.96 |
| Morocco, 10 GB, 30 days | €29.99 | €119.96 |
If you are unsure about the size, pick the smaller plan and switch on automatic top-up (step 6): whoever uses more gets the same plan again, within your limits. An email confirmation follows, with the remaining credit.
5. What the employee receives, and how they install it
A few minutes after the order, each employee gets an email in their name and language. It states the plan (for example Morocco, 10 GB, 30 days), says the eSIM is provided by your company with Terudo Business, and gives a link to their “My eSIM” page and their activation code. Neither the email nor the page contains any sales offer or payment button: top-ups are yours to manage.
From that page, the employee installs the eSIM in one tap on their phone, scans the QR code shown on another screen, or types the details in by hand. Instructions for iPhone and Android are on the same page. Three rules to pass on:
- Install before leaving, with an internet connection. Office or home Wi-Fi is fine.
- Keep the usual line for calls and texts: the eSIM carries data only.
- On arrival, select the eSIM for mobile data and turn on data roaming for it.
An eSIM installs once, on one phone. Ask your people not to delete it while it is still valid: a deleted eSIM usually cannot be recovered. Anyone who has not installed their eSIM 24 hours after it was sent gets an email reminder.
On the eSIM page of your space, the status changes to “Installed” as soon as the profile is downloaded to the phone. An eSIM still showing “Not installed yet” the day before departure is worth a message to the traveller.
6. Follow data use, top-ups and budgets
The eSIM page lists every eSIM: date, employee and team, plan, status, share of data used and price. You can search by name, team or destination. Usage is updated by the network every 1 to 3 hours. The plan name opens the page the employee sees.
When an eSIM reaches 80% of its data, it appears under “Running low” on the dashboard. You choose what happens next, in Billing:
- Automatic top-up: the same plan is added at the same price, within the number of top-ups per eSIM (0 to 5), the employee's budget and the monthly cap. You get an email for each top-up.
- No automatic top-up: you get an email and top up in one click from your space.
Either way, the top-up goes onto the eSIM already installed, so the employee has nothing to reinstall. The per-employee monthly budget and the account's monthly cap are both optional, and any order or top-up that would exceed them is refused. The account cap is set with Terudo: write to us to add or change it.
7. The monthly statement for your accounts
Under Billing, each month has its statement, downloadable as CSV. It has one line per eSIM or top-up: date, employee, email, team, plan, gigabytes, days, top-up (yes or no), net price, VAT rate, VAT and gross price. In a spreadsheet, a pivot table on the team column gives the split by cost centre. The credit history shows every card top-up, every order and every cancelled eSIM.
Your available credit is shown at the top of the Billing page. For how to record the prepaid credit in your books, check with your accountant.
When an eSIM is not needed
For trips inside the EU, most European mobile plans work as they do at home, so an eSIM adds nothing. Some plans also include data in countries outside the EU. Check what your company plans already cover before ordering for a destination.
The checklist
- Each traveller has checked their phone: *#06#, then the option to add an eSIM in settings.
- Company phones are unlocked, and your MDM tool does not block adding an eSIM.
- The usual mobile plan does not already cover the destination.
- The account is activated, with the billing email and VAT number filled in.
- The credit covers the order and any likely top-ups.
- Employees are added with the right team and language.
- Automatic top-up, budgets and the cap match your travel policy.
- The order goes out early enough for everyone to install calmly, on Wi-Fi.
- Every eSIM shows “Installed” the day before departure.
- The month's statement goes to your accounts team.
To get started, create your account from the Business page and equip one traveller first. That first trip tests the whole routine before you roll it out to the team.