SIM-card Medellín

Introduction – SIM-card Medellín

You just arrived in Medellín and what is the first thing you notice? You don’t have data on your phone. Inconvenient to say the least, since you need this for getting reliable taxi’s, navigating to the hostel and to look things up on the internet.

Before you do anything else, remember to turn off the usage of data of your normal SIM-card. If you don’t, you may run into some unwanted high costs.

To get data on your phone in Medellin you have two good options. Either you are getting a local SIM-card that works everywhere in Colombia. Or you get an E-SIM. Both will be explained in this blog article, starting with a local SIM-card.

Local SIM-card

You can decide to buy a local SIM-card which will work everywhere in Colombia. There are two good SIM-card providers that go by the name of CLARO and TIGO.

1. Go to a official CLARO or TIGO store. Don’t go to local stores, they dont register your SIM-card correctly. You can find local stores on the CLARO and TIGO websites.

2. Choose how much data you want. If you are only using whatsapp and other apps that are not high-demanding of internet you can easily manage with 3GB a month. In general, images and videos in particular take up loads of data. You can turn off which apps use mobile data. For Iphone, you can find this under Settings > Mobile Network.

3. Here is an overview of prices. Keep in mind that prices change everyday, including the exchange rates for the euro and the dollar.

*CLARO includes a welcome package of 2GB on your first purchase.

     4. Register your SIM-Card, and make sure to have your passport and  IMEI number ready, which you can locate in your iPhone’s Settings under General > About > IMEI.

E-SIM

You can also decide to choose an E-SIM. E-SIM, short for “embedded subscriber identity module,” is a digital SIM card that is built directly into a device, such as a smartphone, tablet, or wearable. Unlike traditional physical SIM cards, E-SIMs do not require physical swapping or replacements when changing mobile carriers or traveling internationally. Instead, users can switch carriers and manage their cellular plans through software, making the process seamless and convenient. This is particularly useful if you are travelling to more countries in the area. One of the options you have is an E-SIM for whole South-America. You can obtain this via multiple providers, one of them which we personally have used and have great experience with is Maya.

E-SIMs are more expensive than local SIM-cards but can be more useful. If you have an E-SIM that works in whole South-America. You don’t have to worry about SIM-cards whenever you arrive in another country.