Many people travel to Mexico every single year, particularly to the popular beach resort towns. American travelers make up the bulk of the international tourists that head to the country. Most of these travelers are actually going to have no issue using their regular plans to get coverage in the neighboring country.
If their stay, though, is going to be multi-weekly, then they could start thinking about ways to get coverage while on vacation. What we want to cover here is whether or not anyone can put a Mexican SIM card or eSIM in their iPhone. We also want to talk about why it could make sense to get yourself local coverage. As is the case with many of the articles on the site, the answer is going to be different for each person who makes the trip.
Since you could be in a very unique scenario, the answer to Can I put a Mexican SIM card in my iPhone may not be as straightforward as you were hoping. Technically, you could as long as your device is unlocked. If you don’t have an unlocked device, though, does it make sense to go through the trouble of unlocking it? There are also very recent rumors, particularly about American phones and Mexican local coverage. We’re going to be addressing those as well!
You Need to Have An Unlocked Phone
This is going to be the first step when you want to add an actual card to the phone. There are ways to get around this if you get an eSIM card. Especially if you’re going to be using one from an app like Airalo, in that situation, you may be able to bypass that unlocked phone issue.
How do you know if you have a locked phone? This one is actually pretty easy. Did you get your phone directly from the service provider? A lot of people do this so that they can trade in their phones every two years for a new one. When that’s the case, though, your phone is likely going to be locked to your service provider. You may need to go through a process to unlock it.
We’ve talked about the unlock process for iPhones a couple of times on this site already, so we’re going to link to that page instead of talking about the process. If your phone remains locked to your service provider, then there’s a chance that your answer to the main question of this article, which is: “Can I put a Mexican SIM card in my iPhone?” is going to be no.
You’d still have a chance to get coverage through an app like Airalo, which is something we mentioned already. All you have to do in that situation is download the Airalo app and buy eSIMs for Mexico. The version of their eSIMs that works in Mexico is called Chorro fon. We also have a review on that item if you want to check it out!
Does It Make Sense to Go Through the Process for a Short Trip?
Before you go down the rabbit hole of locked phones or eSIMs, you may want to ask yourself whether it even makes sense to get local coverage while in Mexico. As we mentioned, a lot of American wireless service providers are now offering coverage in Mexico and Canada as part of their regular plans. You want to read through the amount of coverage that you have access to while in Mexico before making the trip.
What’s the downside to sticking with your regular coverage while in Mexico? The biggest problem is that the coverage is probably going to be slower than you’re used to. That’s not a massive issue when you realize you’ll probably only have access to 4G speeds at the most on prepaid plans from local service providers. The 5G networks in Mexico are rather new and not widespread.
The other issue that you would have to contend with is using up the data or minutes that you have available for use in Mexico. Some plans do have unlimited data, but you can’t use your phone in Mexico on your local plan for more than 30 days. Knowing this, and going back to the original question, you may be okay with keeping your regular plan when in Mexico if you’re going on a short trip. For anything beyond 2 weeks, you may want to look at some of the options available with local coverage.
eSIM or Regular SIM Card
We’ve mentioned that an eSIM store like Airalo may allow you to bypass the unlocked phone situation. Some people may not want to take the risk of unlocking their phone because of fear of data loss. In this day and age, you’re probably going to have most of your data stored in the cloud anyway. With that in mind, unlocking your phone doesn’t feature some of the same risks that we saw even just a few years ago.
Regular SIM cards in Mexico, though, can be much cheaper than their eSIM counterparts. If you have a dual SIM phone, these can be a great option. You can head to any OXXO store in the country and tell them that you want a new “chip.” They’ll ask you if you want a Movistar or Telcel card. We recommend the Telcel card because it has a wider national network.
You may be able to find lower rates with Movistar, though, if you’re just staying in the big cities, the network won’t matter too much. Telcel has a 200 peso plan that features unlimited social media and 3GB for a month. That’s going to come with your local number and the right to call from your phone abroad or to let’s say, a local restaurant to make a reservation. If you want to make landline calls, this regular SIM card option may work best for you. Remember, however, that you need to have an unlocked phone!
How Much Can You Expect to Spend on Coverage?
If you were to purchase the Airalo option for 3GB, you’d be spending about 21 dollars. You can recharge if you need to through the app. People who decide to go through the regular SIM card option would be spending about 12 dollars for the same 3GB of coverage. Just looking at it when it comes to plain coverage, the regular SIM card option is more cost-effective. There’s no way around that.
As mentioned, however, you may have to jump through more hoops to be able to put a Mexican SIM card on your iPhone. If you use the Airalo software, all that you’re doing is adding another app to your phone. Most people won’t have too much trouble if they decide to do just that.
What happens if you decide that you want to stay on your regular plan? How much can you expect to pay extra? That’s going to depend on your plan and the limits that it has. If you end up being charged roaming fees, you could be spending 2 dollars for 50MB of usage. Those can pile up really quickly. This could end up being the most expensive way to get coverage if you’re not careful. If you’re on an unlimited plan, though, you could pay nothing extra. That’s especially the case if you don’t make long-distance calls.
Check Your Regular Plan if You Want to Stick With It
As mentioned, there are many US and Canadian wireless service providers that offer “free” coverage in Mexico. If that’s the case, then it makes sense to stick with your regular plan … right? There are a couple of things that you may want to be on the lookout for if this is the option that you want to take. There are usually limitations to the amount of high-speed that you can use when abroad.
What you’ll see as the day goes on is that your coverage is going to get considerably slower. To counter this issue, what a lot of these service providers have done is make their travel day pass more about speed than coverage. If you want more speed, you can pay for the 5-dollar day pass to get coverage in Mexico. When you’re in Mexico for about two weeks, those 5 dollars a day for coverage could start to pile up. This is not a major issue if you don’t use your phone 24/7, but let’s be honest: even older people are becoming more and more dependent on their phones.
Another thing that you may want to consider is longer trips. Some wireless service providers are going to cut off your international service if you’re abroad for longer than 30 days. That’s even if you’re buying the travel passes. We’ve tested this, and sometimes you get cut off right on the 30-day mark, and other times, they let you keep going. That’s another element, though, that you’ll want to keep in mind when you travel anywhere for an extended period.
Are The New Regulations True?
There’s this rumor going around that Mexico is trying to make it harder for US residents with phones purchased in that country to obtain a local SIM card in Mexico. So far, from what we’ve been able to tell, there are no regulations that have come into play. You still want to make sure, though, that you have an unlocked phone if you’re going to add a local SIM card to your phone.
If any new regulations limited your ability to use a local SIM card on your iPhone then Airalo would still be a viable option. Since it’s a third party app, it can bypass some of the traditional issues that people would face when trying to get coverage in another country. Again, making sure that the device is unlocked could be the best way forward. We don’t think that there are new regulations coming, but if that does happen, unlocking the device will still be the best way forward.
Can I Put a Mexican SIM Card in my iPhone? – Conclusion
If you have an unlocked phone, you’re going to have more options on what you can or cannot do. Getting a local SIM card in Mexico is one of the cheapest ways to get fast coverage abroad. You may be able to get coverage from your regular service provider. Just make sure that you check what the cap is on data and the speeds at which you can potentially get that coverage.
Getting an eSIM from a marketplace like Airalo is perhaps the easiest way to ensure that you’ll have coverage abroad. They have prepaid deals with very little data that you can have as a backup to your regular coverage. Perhaps the best thing about this option is that you don’t have to worry too much about the technical situation. You just need to make sure that your device is compatible with the app!