My pre purchased eSIM isnt activating at Colombo airport what to try

Common issue. eSIM activation on first land often glitches because of carrier handshake delays with local towers (Dialog or Mobitel depending on which the eSIM provider routes through). Standard checklist: (1) Make sure your phone is in dual-SIM mode and the eSIM is set as "data" with data roaming ON (many people leave roaming off). (2) Manually select the carrier (Settings > Cellular > Network Selection > switch from Automatic, scan, then pick Dialog or Mobitel manually). (3) Reboot the phone with airplane mode toggled off-on. (4) Disable Wi-Fi while doing this - the phone sometimes refuses to register on cellular if it sees Wi-Fi as a faster path. If after 20 minutes of trying you still have nothing, just buy a local Dialog SIM from the airport kiosk - it costs 1500-2500 LKR for a tourist package with generous data, takes 5 minutes including passport registration, and works the moment you walk out. The eSIM hassle is rarely worth fighting beyond the first 30 minutes.