Rio de Janeiro eSIM
In Rio de Janeiro you connect to Vivo or Claro, whichever is performing better where you are standing. The typical speed across the country is 49 Mbps. Your data starts working the moment you land, before you reach the immigration hall.
- Networks
- Vivo and Claro
- Typical speed in Brazil
- 49 Mbps typical, 12 Mbps at busy times
- 5G
- yes, non standalone
- Throttle
- None on metered plans
- Tethering
- Allowed on every plan
Plans that cover Rio de Janeiro
| Data | Validity | Price per GB | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Never expires | $7.89 | $7.89 | |
| 3 GB | Never expires | $4.96 | $14.89 | |
| 5 GBMost travellers | Never expires | $4.38 | $21.89 | |
| 10 GB | Never expires | $3.39 | $33.89 | |
| 20 GB | Never expires | $2.99 | $59.89 |
How Brazil compares across South America
- Regional typical speed
- 33.5 Mbps
- Upstream networks
- 2, Vivo, Claro
- 5G
- Yes, non standalone
- Next fastest nearby
- Chile, 52 Mbps
- Next slowest nearby
- Uruguay, 48 Mbps
- Cities with their own page
- 4: Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Salvador, Florianopolis
Landing at Rio de Janeiro/Galeao International Airport (GIG)
- Airport
- GIG / SBGL
- Distance
- 20 km from the centre of Rio de Janeiro
- Also serves
- Santos Dumont Airport (SDU)
Getting into Rio de Janeiro
- TransCarioca BRT to Madureira and Vicente de Carvalho (interchange with Metro Line 2) (GIG)
- Bus 760D, Galeao airport to Charitas in Niteroi (GIG)
- Executive (blue) and ordinary (yellow) airport taxis (GIG)
Underground and on the metro
Rio de Janeiro Metro runs 3 lines. It opened in 1979. The operator does not publish whether the tunnels carry a mobile signal, so we do not claim either way.
Worth knowing about Rio de Janeiro
- Santos Dumont sits next to Rio's financial centre but an ordinance restricts it to domestic flights, general aviation and air taxi, so international arrivals land at Galeao 20 km north instead.
- Santos Dumont closes between 23:00 and 06:00 and has been capped at 6.5 million passengers a year since 2024.
- There is no rail or metro line into Galeao airport; the connection is the TransCarioca BRT busway, which runs 24 hours and meets Metro Line 2 at Vicente de Carvalho.
- Rio's metro is nominally three lines but Lines 1 and 4 are operationally the same line, so it works as two lines across 41 stations.
- MetroRio finished installing a shared distributed antenna network in October 2022, bringing 4G to the tunnels, mezzanines and platforms of Lines 1, 2 and 4, including the tunnel sections at Maracana, Del Castilho and Maria da Graca.
- Metro turnstiles accept contactless Visa, Mastercard and Elo cards, phones and watches. If a dual debit and credit card is refused, MetroRio suggests asking your bank which function is enabled for tap payments.
- Single QR code metro tickets can be bought in the RecargaPay app or at partner shops. A ticket saved to your phone works offline, though a cracked or smudged screen can stop the reader scanning it.
- The rechargeable Giro card is sold at every station ticket office and machine. Registering it on the MetroRio app is optional but lets you top up online and block it if lost.
- Metro Lines 1, 2 and 4 run Monday to Saturday from 5am to midnight, and from 7am to 11pm on Sundays and holidays.
- Under a state law of 23 March 2026, one women-only car runs on every train all day. It is marked in pink and is the second car towards Zona Sul and the second last towards Tijuca and Pavuna.
- Line 1 and 4 trains show red side panels and Line 2 trains green ones. On weekdays Line 2 runs from Pavuna to Botafogo, so you can change lines anywhere between Central and Botafogo.
- Galeao has a dedicated Uber pick-up point on the arrivals level; turn left as you leave arrivals. Ordinary taxis load at ground floor door A and executive taxis at door B, both near domestic arrivals.
- From the metro at Jardim Oceanico, reaching Galeao means BRT line 2 to Terminal Alvorada, then line 38 Alvorada to Galeao Tom Jobim, an all-stops service.
- A special Mobi-Rio bus runs from Terminal 2 arrivals to Terminal Gentileza, and Auto Viacao 1001 runs coaches from the airport to Charitas in Niteroi, Buzios and Macae.
Sources for this page
Other cities in Brazil we cover
- Sao Paulo
- 360 km from Rio de Janeiro, nearest airport CGH
- Florianopolis
- 750 km from Rio de Janeiro, nearest airport FLN
- Salvador
- 1210 km from Rio de Janeiro, nearest airport SSA