🇲🇽 Mexico

Internet in Mexico: where there is signal and where not

How to get online in Mexico without roaming: eSIM or a Telcel SIM, where there is signal and where there is not, apps for getting around safely and how much data to buy.

Updated on 30 August 2026 · 6 min read

Mexico is huge, and travelling it well depends on your phone more than it does in Europe: Uber to move around safely after dark, WhatsApp to book almost everything, maps for roads that no guidebook lists. What changes most from one region to another is coverage: Mexico City has more than enough, the Chiapas jungle has none. This guide covers how to have data from the moment you land, where it genuinely runs out, and how much to buy.

Ways to get online in Mexico

Roaming on your home plan

Mexico is an extra-cost zone on most foreign tariffs: either a daily bundle with a few hundred megabytes, or per-megabyte billing. For a long weekend in Cancún a bundle can be defensible; for a two-week road trip it almost never is. Check your specific tariff before you leave.

A Telcel SIM from an OXXO

Telcel sells prepaid “Amigo” SIMs in any OXXO, pharmacy or Telcel shop, with 30-day data packages for a few hundred pesos that include a decent allowance and social apps that do not count against it. It is the choice for anyone staying for months. The catches: they may ask for ID, activation on a foreign handset sometimes stalls, and your home SIM comes out of the phone.

A travel eSIM

You buy the days you will be there, install the QR at home on wifi, and land connected to Telcel or AT&T Mexico. Your home line stays in the phone for calls and verification texts, with data off. For one-to-four-week trips it is the easiest option, and if your route continues into Guatemala or the United States there are regional plans covering both.

Real coverage: who covers what, and where it ends

Two networks matter: Telcel, the incumbent, with the widest reach in the country, and AT&T Mexico, strong in cities and on toll highways. Movistar and the budget brands ride on other people’s networks, which for a traveller makes no practical difference. Travel eSIMs use one of the two big ones.

Good coverage, with fast 4G and 5G in the large cities: Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Querétaro, Oaxaca city, Mérida, Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Vallarta, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. Also good along the toll highways.

Where it drops, whichever network you are on:

Chiapas beyond San Cristóbal and Palenque: the roads to the waterfalls, the Lacandon jungle, the inland villages.
The Oaxaca coast between towns: there is signal in Puerto Escondido, Mazunte and Zipolite, but long dead stretches on the mountain road down from the city.
Baja California: the transpeninsular highway has hundred-kilometre stretches with nothing; the towns, La Paz and Los Cabos are fine.
Inland Yucatán and Quintana Roo: cenotes, minor ruins and the Tulum hotel zone are all patchy.
The Sierra Tarahumara and the Chepe train: spectacular, and largely without coverage.

Download the maps for rural areas before you leave the city, and share your route. This is not a plan problem — there is no mast. It applies to every provider, ours included.

How much data you need

Mexico is an Uber, WhatsApp and maps destination, with decent wifi in city hostels and cafés and weaker wifi on the coast. What drains a plan is uploading video and watching things on the long-distance buses — and in Mexico the buses are very long.

Kind of trip	Typical use	Plan that fits
Cities, Uber, maps, messages, the odd photo	300-500 MB a day	5 GB for one or two weeks
The above plus daily social media and stories	700 MB - 1 GB a day	10 GB for two weeks, or unlimited
Video, video calls, tethering a laptop	Over 1.5 GB a day	Unlimited by the day

The per-app table with numbers is in the Spanish guide ¿Cuántos GB necesito para viajar?.

Installing the eSIM and landing connected

Compatibility: dial *#06# and look for the EID; the phone must be carrier-unlocked. The list by brand is on the compatibility page.
Buy your travel dates: validity starts with the first connection in Mexico.
Install at home on wifi: iPhone → Settings → Mobile Data → Add eSIM; Android → Settings → Connections → SIM manager → Add eSIM. Name it “Mexico”.
Lines: home SIM for calls and texts with data off; eSIM as the mobile data line with roaming on.
On landing: turn off airplane mode, wait for “Telcel” or “AT&T” and open the map. If nothing happens, toggle airplane mode; if it persists, recheck step 4.

Every menu, step by step, is in What is an eSIM and how does it work?.

Apps for getting around, and getting around safely

Uber and DiDi: have both, they undercut each other depending on the hour. At night, always an app rather than a street taxi. Cancún airport only allows authorised taxis; Mexico City airport has marked Uber pickup zones.
Google Maps with the regions downloaded, and transit mode for the capital’s Metro and Metrobús (both paid with a rechargeable card, not your phone).
WhatsApp: everything gets booked on WhatsApp here, from the hostel to the cenote tour. Your home number works fine.
ADO for buses in the south and east (Yucatán, Oaxaca, Chiapas); Primera Plus and ETN for the centre and north. Bookable in-app with a foreign card.
Rappi for food delivery; Booking, Airbnb and Hostelworld for beds.
Paying: card in cities and tourist areas, cash in markets, street stalls, taxis and villages. Withdraw from bank ATMs (BBVA, Banorte, Santander) rather than the standalone machines in shops, and always decline the ATM’s offer to convert to your own currency — it is a worse rate every time.

Connectivity tips for Mexico

Before heading into the sierra or the jungle: map downloaded, accommodation messaged on WhatsApp, power bank charged.
On long-distance buses the wifi is a lottery. Download the episode first.
SMS verification (banking, apps) arrives on your home line, which stays active; receiving texts is free.
Calling a Mexican number from your home line costs money. Almost everything, including businesses, is handled on WhatsApp instead.
The Guatemala or Belize border: a Mexico-only eSIM stops there. For a Central America route, take a regional plan.

What it costs

The price block at the top shows today’s real price for a Mexico eSIM in the MovaSim catalogue, with the unlimited-by-day option and the cheapest per-GB one; the Mexico page lists every plan and the countries each one covers. And if you end up buying the Telcel SIM in an OXXO instead, the coverage and app advice here still applies.

Frequently asked questions

Which network covers Mexico best?

Telcel, by a distance: it is the network with the widest reach, especially outside the cities. AT&T Mexico is good in cities and on main highways. Most travel eSIMs use one of the two, and the plan page says which.

Is there coverage in the Riviera Maya and Tulum?

In Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Tulum town, yes, good. In the Tulum hotel zone and at the inland cenotes it is patchy, and in Bacalar or Holbox it varies street by street.

Can I use Uber and DiDi with the eSIM?

Yes, with your usual account and card. It is the safest way to move around Mexico City, Guadalajara or Oaxaca at night. At Cancún airport only authorised taxis are allowed to pick up.

Does a Mexico eSIM work in the United States or Guatemala?

A local plan does not. If your route crosses into Guatemala, Belize or the US, pick a regional plan that includes both countries; the plan page lists them.

How much data for two weeks in Mexico?

With maps, Uber, messages and daily social media, 5 to 10 GB. With a lot of video and video calls, an unlimited daily plan.

Do I have to register the SIM or hand over my details?

Mexican SIMs can ask for ID when you buy or activate them. A travel eSIM bought abroad arrives already active and needs no paperwork in Mexico.