1 GB
Valid for 7 days
$6.99
$6.99 per GB
eSIM for El Salvador
El Salvador is small and fast to cross. You can land at San Óscar Arnulfo Romero airport, be in the water at El Tunco in 35 minutes, and stand on the crater rim of Santa Ana volcano the next morning. The country runs on the US dollar, so there is no currency to change, and most of what you book on the road happens through WhatsApp: a shuttle to Suchitoto, a surf lesson at El Zonte, a room in Juayúa on a Saturday when the food festival fills the square.
The thing that catches people out is the border. El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua share the CA-4 agreement, which means one 90-day entry stamp is spent across all four countries, not renewed by hopping between them. Plan your Central America route with that in mind, and keep your entry stamp photographed on your phone. Some nationalities also pay a small tourist card fee on arrival, usually in cash dollars, so keep a few notes handy.
A FairSIM eSIM connects to Tigo, Claro, Movistar or Digicel on 4G LTE, at wholesale rates rather than your home carrier's daily roaming price. You install it over Wi-Fi before you fly, switch it on when you land, and skip the queue at the arrivals hall entirely. There are four plan sizes on sale for El Salvador, so you can match a long weekend of surfing to a month of remote work.
El Salvador eSIM plans
Wholesale rates in US dollars, with nothing added at checkout. Buy in the FairSIM app and the plan is on your phone in seconds.
How long is your trip?
All plans. Pick a trip length to narrow the list.
- Get it in the app for El Salvador
3 GB
Valid for 30 days
Get it in the app for El Salvador$14.99
$5.00 per GB
- Best value
10 GB
Valid for 30 days
Get it in the app for El Salvador$29.99
$3.00 per GB
Unlimited
Valid for 15 days
Get it in the app for El Salvador$69.99
Speed policy shown in the app
Coverage in El Salvador
- 4G LTE
- 5G
- TigoThe largest network in El Salvador, with the widest 4G LTE footprint across the coast, the volcano belt and the eastern departments. The usual first choice for a travel eSIM.
- DigicelA smaller network here, live on 2G and 3G only. Useful as a fallback for messages in a few rural spots, but do not plan on it for video or uploads.
- ClaroOperated by CTE Telecom Personal, with strong 4G in San Salvador, Santa Ana, San Miguel and along the main highways.
- MovistarSolid 4G in the cities and along the Pacific coast road, with reasonable reach into the Ruta de las Flores towns.
Typical speed: Expect normal LTE speeds in San Salvador, Santa Tecla, Santa Ana and the Surf City coast: comfortable for maps, calls, streaming and hotspot work. Speeds drop on 3G in the highlands and mangroves.
Coverage follows the population. San Salvador and its suburbs, the CA-2 coast road, El Tunco, El Zonte, El Cuco, Santa Ana, Lake Coatepeque, Suchitoto and the Ruta de las Flores towns are all well served. Signal thins in the Morazán highlands, inside El Imposible national park, on the back roads above Perquín and around the Bahía de Jiquilisco channels. Download offline maps before those days.
How much data do you need in El Salvador?
It depends on how you travel. Find your trip below, then pick the plan that matches. You can always top up in the app.
Surf trip to Surf City
A week or two based in El Tunco, El Zonte or Las Flores.
Why data matters: Swell and tide forecasts every morning, WhatsApp with instructors and board rental, Uber back from San Salvador at night, and clips uploaded from the beach.
- 7 days
- 5 GB
- 14 days
- 10 GB
- 30 days
- 20 GB
Volcanoes and Ruta de las Flores road trip
A rental car through Santa Ana, Coatepeque, Ataco and Juayúa.
Why data matters: Live navigation on mountain roads, hotel check-ins, guide bookings for the Santa Ana hike, and photos backed up each evening.
- 7 days
- 5 GB
- 14 days
- 10 GB
- 30 days
- 20 GB
Remote work month
Coworking in San Salvador or a long stay in El Zonte.
Why data matters: Video calls when the café Wi-Fi drops, Personal Hotspot for the laptop during power cuts, and cloud sync all day.
- 7 days
- 20 GB
- 14 days
- Unlimited
- 30 days
- Unlimited
Central America overland
El Salvador as one leg between Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
Why data matters: Shuttle bookings, border paperwork, CA-4 stamp checks and currency conversions, plus a new plan bought from the same app at each border.
- 7 days
- 5 GB
- 14 days
- 10 GB
- 30 days
- 20 GB
Family and heritage visit
Seeing relatives in San Salvador, San Miguel or Sonsonate.
Why data matters: Video calls home, ride apps across the city, and enough data for kids' streaming on long drives.
- 7 days
- 10 GB
- 14 days
- 20 GB
- 30 days
- Unlimited
What your home carrier charges in El Salvador
Daily roaming passes look small until you multiply them by the length of the trip. FairSIM plans for El Salvador start at $6.99 and never bill per day.
Central America usually sits outside the cheap roaming zones sold by European carriers, so the fallback rates can be steep. Check your own plan's destination list rather than assuming a day pass applies.
| Carrier | Roaming charge | FairSIM |
|---|---|---|
| AT&T International Day Pass (US) | $12 per day per line, $6 for each extra line on the account | from $6.99, no daily fee |
| Verizon TravelPass (US) | $12 per day in most destinations outside Canada and Mexico; confirm El Salvador on Verizon's country list | from $6.99, no daily fee |
| T-Mobile International Pass (US) | $5 for 1 day and 512 MB, $35 for 10 days and 5 GB, $50 for 30 days and 15 GB | from $6.99, no daily fee |
| EE (UK) | El Salvador is not in EE's travel data pass destinations, so standard out-of-zone roaming rates apply. Check before you fly | from $6.99, no daily fee |
| Vodafone UK | £6 per day where Global Roaming Plus applies; El Salvador is outside the usual list, so standard rates apply unless Vodafone confirms otherwise | from $6.99, no daily fee |
| Telekom (Germany) | El Salvador falls in Telekom's world zone, where day and volume passes are sold separately from EU roaming and are far dearer per GB | from $6.99, no daily fee |
| Telstra International Day Pass (Australia) | A$10 per day for 2 GB in included destinations; confirm El Salvador is on Telstra's list | from $6.99, no daily fee |
Carrier prices as published on their roaming pages at the time of writing. They change often; check your own plan before you fly.
How FairSIM works
- 1
Pick a destination and a plan
Choose the country or region and the data you need. The price you see is the price you pay.
- 2
Tap install
On iPhone (iOS 17.4+) the eSIM installs in one tap, no QR code. Do it at home while you still have Wi-Fi.
- 3
Land and connect
Turn on data roaming for the FairSIM line when you arrive. Your plan starts when it first connects.
Connectivity tips for El Salvador
Install the eSIM over Wi-Fi before you leave home, then turn the line and data roaming on after landing at SAL. Validity typically starts at the first connection to a Salvadoran network.
Photograph your passport stamp. The CA-4 zone shares one 90-day allowance across El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, so crossing a border does not reset it.
Carry small dollar bills. Buses, pupusa stands and market stalls are cash only and change for large notes is scarce.
Download Google Maps offline for the west (Santa Ana, Ahuachapán, Sonsonate) and the east (Morazán, La Unión) before you drive out of the city.
Use Uber or inDrive after dark in San Salvador rather than flagging a taxi, and share your trip in WhatsApp.
Keep your phone out of sight in crowded markets and on public buses, and use a strap or dry pouch on the coast; humidity and salt kill charging ports.
Power cuts are common in the rainy season. A power bank keeps your eSIM line, and your hotspot, alive when the router dies.
Heading on to Guatemala, Honduras or Nicaragua? Buy the next country plan, or a regional plan, in the same app before you reach the border post.
Apps you will actually use
- Uber the main ride app in San Salvador and Santa Tecla, and a common way to get to and from the airport.
- inDrive widely used locally; you propose the fare and drivers accept or counter.
- Google Maps reliable for cities and main roads. Download the western and eastern regions offline before volcano and coast days.
- WhatsApp how hotels, guides, shuttle drivers and surf schools actually take bookings.
- PedidosYa food and grocery delivery in San Salvador and the larger towns.
- Windy swell, wind and tide for the Pacific breaks, plus storm tracking in the rainy season.
- Google Translate Spanish is the working language outside tourist spots; download the offline pack.
- Blink a lightning wallet still used by some businesses in El Zonte if you want to pay in bitcoin.
Bitcoin stopped being legal tender in January 2025, so acceptance is now voluntary and patchy outside El Zonte. Carry small dollar bills: many buses, pupuserías and market stalls are cash only, and drivers rarely have change for a twenty.
Can you rely on free Wi-Fi?
Hotels, hostels, coworking spaces and cafés in San Salvador, Santa Tecla, Suchitoto and the surf towns nearly all have Wi-Fi, and it is usually fine for email and messages. It is less dependable than it looks: beach-town connections share one link across a full guesthouse, rainy season storms knock out power and with it the router, and rural lodges near Santa Ana or Perquín often run on a weak fixed-wireless link. If you have a call that matters or files to upload, use the FairSIM line and treat Wi-Fi as the backup rather than the plan.
Local SIM card or eSIM in El Salvador?
Tigo, Claro and Movistar all sell prepaid SIMs, and you will find shops in Metrocentro, Multiplaza and most Super Selectos supermarkets, plus counters at the airport that keep limited hours. Prepaid lines are registered, so bring your passport and expect the assistant to take a copy. Top-ups and data paquetes are sold everywhere, including corner shops, and you activate them by USSD code or in the operator app, which is in Spanish. Prices are in dollars and are low by international standards.
The friction is timing and paperwork, not cost. If you land late, if the airport counter has closed, or if you are heading straight to El Tunco, you can lose half a day to a SIM run in San Salvador. A FairSIM eSIM is installed at home over Wi-Fi, roams onto the same Tigo, Claro, Movistar or Digicel towers, keeps your home number live for bank codes, and works the moment you leave the aircraft. For a CA-4 loop through Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, it also means one app instead of four counters.
Good to know before you land in El Salvador
- Currency
- US dollar (USD). Bitcoin was legal tender from 2021 until a January 2025 reform made accepting it voluntary; a few businesses in El Zonte still take it.
- Plug type
- Type A and Type B (US two- and three-pin)
- Voltage
- 115 V, 60 Hz
- Emergency number
- 911 for police, fire and ambulance
- Language
- Spanish; English in surf towns and larger hotels
- Time zone
- UTC-6, no daylight saving
- Capital
- San Salvador
El Salvador eSIM questions
Does eSIM work in El Salvador?
Yes. An unlocked eSIM-capable phone connects to Tigo, Claro, Movistar or Digicel with a travel eSIM. On iPhone that means XS, XR or newer, and iOS 17.4 or later for the one-tap install.
Which network will my El Salvador eSIM use?
Tigo, Claro, Movistar or Digicel, depending on the plan and where you are standing. Tigo and Claro have the widest 4G reach; Digicel is 2G and 3G only. The app shows the network for each plan.
Is there 5G on the FairSIM plan in El Salvador?
No. The networks available to the FairSIM eSIM here run 4G LTE and below, so plan on fast 4G in the cities and along the coast, with 3G in remote areas.
Can I use Personal Hotspot?
Yes. Every FairSIM plan supports Personal Hotspot with no separate cap, which is useful when a guesthouse Wi-Fi link gives out.
How much data do I need for a week in El Salvador?
A week of maps, WhatsApp and photo uploads runs about 5 GB. Two weeks of surf clips and streaming is closer to 10 GB. A month of remote work needs 20 GB or Unlimited.
Do I need to register the eSIM with my passport?
No. Registration rules apply to local prepaid SIMs bought in country. A travel eSIM is bought in the app and needs no paperwork on arrival.
Do WhatsApp and FaceTime calls work?
Yes. El Salvador does not restrict internet calling, so WhatsApp, FaceTime and Zoom all work over the eSIM as normal.
Can I still keep my home number?
Yes. The eSIM runs alongside your physical SIM. Leave the home line on for SMS bank codes, with its data roaming switched off so it cannot charge you.
Local SIM or travel eSIM for El Salvador?
A local SIM is cheap but needs your passport, a shop visit and Spanish to load a data bundle. A travel eSIM installs before you fly, uses the same towers, and covers neighbouring countries from the same app if you are doing a CA-4 loop.
What is an eSIM?
A SIM card built into your phone. Instead of a plastic chip, you download a profile. Every iPhone since the XS has one next to the physical SIM slot, so your home number stays put while FairSIM supplies the data.
Is my phone compatible?
FairSIM works with eSIM-compatible, carrier-unlocked iPhones: the XS, XR and everything newer, on iOS 17.4 or later for the one-tap install with no QR code. iPhones bought in mainland China do not support eSIM at all, even when unlocked. Not sure yours is unlocked? Check Settings, General, About, Carrier Lock, or ask your carrier. The full list is on the How it works page.
When should I install my eSIM?
Before you travel, while you still have Wi-Fi. Installing does not start your plan; the validity typically starts when the eSIM first connects to a network at your destination.
Do FairSIM eSIMs come with a phone number?
No. FairSIM eSIMs are data-only by design, which keeps costs low. For calls and texts, your physical SIM stays active so you keep your existing number, and WhatsApp, FaceTime and iMessage work over data.
Traveling beyond El Salvador?
Get your El Salvador eSIM in the app
Plans from $6.99. Install before you fly, track your data live, and top up in seconds if you need more.
Download on theApp Store
iPhone XS or later · iOS 17.4+ for one-tap install
