★ Cuba Travel Guide

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SIM Cards in Cuba

June 17, 2015

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Escape Hunter

Although SIM cards are only available for sale for locals, you can rent one - you will have to seek the Cubacel SIM cards at the ETECSA offices, which are found at larger airports.

Your passport is required when purchasing and the rental service costs 3 CUC/day. And the minimum rental period (ETECSA rules) is for 45 days.

In order for your Cubacel SIM card to work, you need to have an unlocked phone that operates on the 900 Mhz frequency. But, if you don't have a cellphone, you can sent one for 6 CUC/day.

After having rented out a SIM card, you will have to top up your account with cards.
Some sell for 10, 20 CUC.

As for roaming - it's better not to try, because costs are reported to be sky high - especially on calls.

US cellphone networks' roaming services don't work in Cuba.

As you can calculate, the costs of calling home from Cuba from a cellphone are very high. Roaming is terribly costly and you might not be able to predict how much a humble short call would cost. It's better to rent a SIM.

About the Author:

Escape Hunter, the young solo traveler in his early 30's explores the World driven by curiosity, thirst for adventure, deep passion for beauty, love for freedom and diversity.
With a nuanced, even humorous approach to travel, an obsession for art and design, Escape Hunter prefers to travel slowly, in order to learn and "soak up" the local atmosphere...