Oaxaca eSIM
In Oaxaca you connect to Telcel or AT&T, whichever is performing better where you are standing. The median across the country is 44 Mbps. Your data starts working the moment you land, before you reach the immigration hall.
- Networks
- Telcel and AT&T
- Real speed in Mexico
- 44 Mbps median, 10 Mbps for the slowest tenth1,388 travellers across Mexico, rolling 90 days
- 5G
- yes, non standalone
- Throttle
- None on metered plans
- Tethering
- Allowed on every plan
Plans that cover Oaxaca
| Data | Validity | Price per GB | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Never expires | $8.89 | $8.89 | |
| 3 GB | Never expires | $5.63 | $16.89 | |
| 5 GBMost travellers | Never expires | $4.98 | $24.89 | |
| 10 GB | Never expires | $3.99 | $39.89 | |
| 20 GB | Never expires | $3.34 | $66.89 |
How Mexico compares across North America
- Speed rank
- 3 of 10 destinations we sell in North America
- Regional median
- 33 Mbps
- Consistency
- The slowest tenth still reaches 23 percent of the median
- Upstream networks
- 2, Telcel, AT&T
- 5G
- Yes, non standalone
- Next fastest nearby
- Canada, 58 Mbps
- Next slowest nearby
- Panama, 36 Mbps
- Cities with their own page
- 4: Mexico City, Cancun, Tulum, Oaxaca
- tenth percentile
- 10 Mbps
- Behind these figures
- 1388 travellers, rolling 90 days
Landing at Xoxocotlan International Airport (OAX)
- Airport
- OAX / MMOX
- Distance
- 7 km from the centre of Oaxaca
Getting into Oaxaca
- Autopista 150D/131D from Mexico City to Oaxaca
Worth knowing about Oaxaca
- Oaxaca has no passenger rail service; arrivals come by air to OAX, about 7 km south of downtown, or by highway from Mexico City.
- Most international flights to Oaxaca connect through Mexico City, with only a handful of direct US routes.
- Oaxaca City sits at 1,555 m altitude, which keeps it markedly cooler than the Mexican coast at the same latitude.
- Since 9 January 2026 every mobile line in Mexico must be linked to a named person. The rule comes from guidelines approved on 8 December 2025 by the Comision Reguladora de Telecomunicaciones.
- Article 20 of the guidelines lets a foreign person identify with a passport, or with a temporary CURP for foreigners. A passport alone is enough, so a visitor does not need a Mexican CURP.
- For a foreign customer the operator must record name, country of origin, passport number or temporary CURP, the telephone number and the result of the identity validation.
- Prepaid lines still not linked get a deadline set by the last digit of the number, falling between August and December 2026. Missing it brings a 72 hour suspension leaving only emergency calls.
- A Constancia Temporal de CURP for foreigners lasts 180 or 365 days but is only issued to people who have begun a residence or refugee procedure with INM or COMAR, so tourists rely on a passport.
- An earlier register, the Padron Nacional de Usuarios de Telefonia Movil, was struck down in full by Mexico's Supreme Court in Accion de Inconstitucionalidad 82/2021 for demanding biometric data.
- The state government put a free internet network in the Oaxaca city Zocalo and later activated it at Paseo Juarez El Llano. Users connect by scanning a QR code with a phone, tablet or laptop.
- Mexico's federal free wifi in public spaces is branded CFE Internet and is run by CFE Telecomunicaciones e Internet para Todos over 4.5G broadband.
- City buses run as BinniBus across 35 routes. The cash fare is 10 pesos and the general prepaid card fare is 8 pesos, and cash payment remains available, so a card is not essential for a visitor.
- BinniBus is the new name for the former CityBus service, rebranded as part of a restructuring of the city bus network.
- The Barranca Larga Ventanilla motorway opened on 4 February 2024. It runs 104.3 km with 10 bridges, 3 viaducts and 3 tunnels, cutting the state capital to coast drive to about 2.5 hours.
- That motorway was toll free until the end of September 2024. After that, tolls apply to visitors from other states and to freight, while Oaxacans continue to travel free.
- Oaxaca sits in the Zona Centro, referred to the meridian 90 degrees west of Greenwich. Mexico abolished summer time in October 2022 except in northern border municipalities, so clocks here do not change.
Sources for this page
Other cities in Mexico we cover
- Mexico City
- 366 km from Oaxaca, nearest airport MEX
- Tulum
- 1037 km from Oaxaca, nearest airport TQO
- Cancun
- 1134 km from Oaxaca, nearest airport CUN