Before you start

Identity document for prepaid registration
Cédula and proof of address for postpaid or fixed-line contracts

Step-by-step

1
Buy a prepaid SIM on arrival
Available in operator shops, supermarkets and kiosks. It needs no residence and gets you working immediately.
In personWho: YouDay one
2
Check the IMEI before you buy a handset here
CONATEL runs a national IMEI register precisely because Paraguay is the region's electronics entrepôt. A phone bought cheaply from an informal seller may be barred from the networks, and Ciudad del Este is where that transaction is most likely to be offered to you.
OnlineWho: You
3
Turn off data roaming near the river
Brazilian networks reach across the Paraná and a phone will latch onto them without asking. Roaming charges accrued three hundred metres from home are a standard first-month surprise here.
Mobile appWho: YouDay one
4
Move to postpaid once you have the cédula
Contracts and bundles require residence documentation.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport or cédula for prepaid registration
Cédula and proof of address for postpaid or fixed-line contracts

Things most newcomers don’t know

The IMEI register matters more here than anywhere else in Paraguay.

This is the city the phones come through. A bargain handset with no clean import trail is exactly the device the register is designed to catch.

Source: CONATEL — Registro de IMEI

Cross-border roaming is a geography problem, not a settings problem.

Brazilian signal reaches well into the Paraguayan bank of the Paraná, so the fix is to disable data roaming rather than to move.

Four operators keeps prepaid genuinely cheap.

There is little reason to commit to a contract before you have the cédula and know which network works at your address.

Common mistakes to avoid

Buying an informally imported handset that will not register on the network.
Leaving data roaming on within sight of Brazil.
Expecting a postpaid contract without a cédula.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.

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