El Salvador eSIM
Data for El Salvador on Tigo and Claro, from $9.89. It never expires, tethering is included, and refills land on the line you already have, with nothing new to install.
- Networks
- Tigo and Claro
- Typical speed
- 34 Mbps typical, 8 Mbps at busy times
- 5G
- 4G only
- Throttle
- None on metered plans
- Tethering
- Allowed on every plan
Plans for El Salvador
| Data | Validity | Price per GB | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Never expires | $9.89 | $9.89 | |
| 3 GB | Never expires | $7.63 | $22.89 | |
| 5 GBMost travellers | Never expires | $7.58 | $37.89 |
Every plan works the moment you land. Unused data returns to your wallet when the line closes, and customers get at least 100 MB of free rescue data a month even at zero balance.
What 34 Mbps actually means in El Salvador
Typical download speed on Orbislo in El Salvador: 34 Mbps. That sits close to the North America median of 34 Mbps, which makes El Salvador an unremarkable place to be connected, in the good sense.
The tenth percentile is 8 Mbps. That gap between the median and the floor is normal and it is where the frustration lives: the connection is quick most of the time and noticeably slow in the busiest few percent of moments, typically at transport hubs at peak hour.
Maps, messaging, ride hailing and payment apps all work without complaint. Video calls connect but will drop resolution, and streaming is better set to standard definition than left on automatic. Tethering a laptop works for email and documents rather than for calls.
Which networks you will be on
Orbislo carries traffic in El Salvador on Tigo and Claro. Your phone is not tied to one of them. When the network you are attached to congests or drops, the profile moves you to the other, and it happens without a prompt and without you noticing anything except that the connection kept working.
This matters more than the headline speed. Almost every travel eSIM sold today resells a single upstream agreement per country, so when that one network has a bad hour you have a bad hour with it and your only option is to buy a second eSIM from somebody else. A profile with more than one network behind it can make a decision you never see.
5G in El Salvador: 4G only. A well provisioned 4G cell comfortably outruns a congested 5G one, which is why the figure above is throughput rather than a network generation.
What data costs in El Salvador
A 100 MB plan for El Salvador starts at $0.57, which is $0.01 a gigabyte. That is the number to compare between providers, because a headline price attached to a different allowance tells you nothing.
The comparison most providers would rather you did not run is cost per gigabyte actually used. Independent surveys of travel data put the share of purchased data lost to expiry between 20 and 35 percent, because a plan that expires on day thirty deletes what you did not get through. Orbislo data has no expiry date, so the gigabyte you paid for is still there on the next trip. At the same headline price that is 25 to 40 percent more usable data, and in El Salvador it means the effective cost is nearer $0.00 a gigabyte than $0.01.
Because nothing expires, the cheapest way to buy for El Salvador is to buy slightly less than you think you need and top up if you run out. Topping up takes about ten seconds and does not involve installing anything. Buying too much is the expensive mistake everywhere else and merely a neutral one here.
Landing in El Salvador
Install before you fly, on your home wifi. The profile downloads while you still have a connection you trust, then sits dormant until you land in El Salvador and it attaches to Tigo.
On landing there is one thing to check: data roaming has to be switched on for the Orbislo line. It is off by default on both iOS and Android, and it has nothing to do with roaming charges here, because the plan is prepaid and there is no bill to run up. Turn it on for the Orbislo line and leave it off for your home line, and your home number keeps working for calls and bank codes without costing anything.
Getting a local SIM in El Salvador
Operators must keep a reliable register of every user, prepaid included, and must capture and store an image of the identity document showing the face of whoever buys the service. The operator also records the place where the line first shows activity on its network.
What is restricted in El Salvador
- No signal at prisons: The Special Law against Extortion bars every mobile operator from carrying any voice or data traffic inside prisons, prison farms and juvenile detention centres. Operators are not liable for service lost in areas near those perimeters, so a phone can drop out close to a prison.
- Line suspension on prosecutor request: Operators must immediately cut off any line the Attorney General's office says is being used for extortion, and it cannot be reactivated or reassigned until the authorities allow it. A judge has 72 hours to ratify the order, and silence counts as approval.
- Call records kept ten years: Under the Special Law for the Interception of Telecommunications, operators must keep call, origin and email records for at least ten years, and must hand a line's registration data to prosecutors within 24 hours of a reasoned request.
Worth knowing about El Salvador
- A prepaid balance has unlimited validity by law, but the telephone line itself lapses if it records no incoming or outgoing call for at least six calendar months, which matters for a number kept between trips.
- Users have a statutory right to choose the period during which voice and data roaming stays switched on, so an operator cannot leave it enabled against the customer's wishes.
- Operators have to keep an electronic register of subscribers' handset IMEI numbers so that a handset can be blocked as soon as a crime is reported, and they may not carry voice or data on a mobile that carries a theft or robbery report. The ban reaches their affiliates and correspondents too.
- The quality regulation issued by SIGET requires every prepaid operator to offer at least one free way of checking the remaining balance.
- For an emergency, dial 911 for the National Civil Police or 913 for the fire brigade, which can also be reached on (503) 2527-7300.
- Every telephone service charged by time must by law be billed to the exact second, unless the operator and the user agree a different scheme that works in the user's favour.
- Phones must be sold without locks that tie them to one network. A handset bought on an instalment contract may stay locked only for the contract term, never longer than 18 months, and must then be unlocked free of charge.
- Keeping a Salvadoran number while switching operator is a legal right and costs nothing. The operator being left has to handle the whole transfer quickly and at no charge to the user.
- An operator has five working days to resolve a complaint free of charge, including one about roaming or data. While a complaint is pending with the operator, SIGET or the consumer ombudsman, it may not demand payment, add surcharges or cut the service.
- The 5 percent security contribution added to every top up, phone plan and handset from November 2015 expired at midnight on 4 November 2020, so a prepaid recharge no longer carries it.
- In March 2018 El Salvador and 18 other American states signed the CITEL Declaration of Buenos Aires, committing to remove extra charges on international mobile roaming, with particular attention to border areas. SIGET called it a statement of intent still to be turned into public policy.
How El Salvador compares across North America
- Regional typical speed
- 33 Mbps
- Upstream networks
- 2, Tigo, Claro
- 5G
- 4G only
- Next fastest nearby
- Panama, 36 Mbps
- Next slowest nearby
- Guatemala, 32 Mbps
- Cities with their own page
- 1: San Salvador
