Can I make calls or send texts on a Fivebars eSIM?

No. These plans carry data only. They do not give you a phone number, and they cannot place ordinary calls or send SMS. Your own number stays on your normal SIM, and most phones hold both at once.

Your own number keeps working

Yes. A travel eSIM adds a data line; your home SIM stays in the phone for calls and messages. Turn data roaming off on the home line to avoid its charges.

What still works over data

Messaging and calling apps generally work over any data connection, the same as they would on hotel Wi-Fi. A small number of destinations restrict the CALL function of those apps by local law — whoever your provider is, and whichever SIM you are on. Where we have established that for a destination, that destination’s own page says so.

Pick the right line for data

On landing, make sure the travel eSIM — not your home SIM — is the line selected for mobile data, and that data roaming is off on the home line so it cannot bill you. That one setting is the most common cause of “it installed and there is no signal”, and the Install guide walks through it for each device family.