Getting cell phone services in Colombia is a bit of a hustle, but here we tell you how you can do it the best way.
Gettin Cell Phone Services in Colombia
- It’s essential to note. You must have your cell unlocked and register here to have a local carrier in your cell if you bring it from overseas.
- Our recommendation is straightforward. If you are going to retire here, you will live here. You will need cellphone service. It is not a recommendation for ex-pats (i consider them to be in another category )
- Buy a cell phone here to use here. You are going to live here, mind you. You can also get a cell phone here; you don’t need a plan, just the phone at a recognized store. This way, you will save yourself tons of headaches.
- If you must use one here from overseas, make sure you unlock the phone with your provider in Canada or the USA and or only use it with your overseas number
Cell phone services in Colombia are a bit of a hustle, but here we tell you how you can do it the best way.

What I recommend to anyone moving here is to buy a cell phone here, or if you are going to bring it from up north, do yourself a favor and make sure that it is entirely unlocked
More information for you
Connecting Cell Services
In Colombia, the easiest thing you can do to have cell phone service is to buy a sim card from any operator (personally, it has worked wonders for me with Movistar and very harshly with Claro – other people have the opposite experience)
It’s straightforward, you have to go to any large-scale store, and with them, you will surely be able to buy a sim car. The most important thing and I have already said it several times in this post, is that your cell phone is to be unlocked in your country of origin, that way you will not suffer because if your cell is not opened at any time here, it will be blocked, and that means that you will have a very lovely calculator with WhatsApp when you have a wifi signal.
In summary
1. Cell unlocked in your country of origin
2. Sim car of a regular operator in Colombia
3. Enjoy (here, cell phone services are very cheap)