Can I get local pre paid cell phone number and USB modem in SD?

expat749

New member
Mar 10, 2013
6
0
0
Hello,
I am going to stay 4 weeks in SD. Can I buy pre paid local chip to use in my phone? Can I buy it with my passport or do I need any other documents?
 

Tamborista

hasta la tambora
Apr 4, 2005
11,747
1,343
113
All you need is your passport, a good copy usually works.
Make sure phone is unlocked, and quad-band.
 

expat749

New member
Mar 10, 2013
6
0
0
Thanks. Which phone company have the best coverage and speed? (I am going to stay in SD and Santiago).
 

agw

Member
Feb 14, 2010
156
2
18
Generally, I'd say Claro. I just had both sim card and USB stick with Claro this past month and no problems anywhere we went - North Coast, East Coast, South coast. We also had another phone with an Orange card and it was very temperamental. Sometimes it would let us call Canada, sometimes not. Sometimes the call would go through, but they could not hear us although we could hear them just fine. Didn't matter which phone we put the Orange card into, including the one we bought from Orange last year. We used an Alcatel from T-Mobile (US phone) that I unlocked with a code I bought online, and a new unlocked Samsung I bought online here in Canada. Claro card worked very well in both.

The Claro USB stick was fine during the daytime, often couldn't get on between 7 and 10 pm and when we did it was so slow at that time to be useless. Rest of the day was ok to very good in terms of speed. We bought the 30 day deal and got double the gb for February with the promotion they had running. They said they might be extending it, so ask.

ETA: all you need is your passport to get either one.