eSIM bummer. A cautionary tale

I consulted an Apple support page for eSIM directions, and it didn't tell the whole story. Now I'm adrift.

I'm working in Mexico for an extended period. I arrived with a US AT&T number on a physical SIM. Later I bought a Mexico number as an eSIM. That was fine and both numbers were simultaneously active, but then I decided to get a third number from MVNO BAIT, which is super cheap. Apple says that two numbers can be active, so I anticipated turning off the BAIT number and leaving my original two lines active after I moved the US number from physical to eSIM. Bad mistake.

You can have two numbers active, but one of them must be on the physical SIM. So my US number is fine, but the Mexico eSIM number is off to accommodate the BAIT number on the physical SIM.

AT&T in the US tried to push my number back to the physical SIM, but couldn't do it. They told me to get a SIM from AT&T in Mexico, but I can't get a SIM without buying new service. Which of course means that the SIM would be in use and US AT&T could do nothing with it.

If Apple's web site told the full story — not on some page but on the page I found, I wouldn't be in this predicament.