Before you start

Passport for prepaid; cédula de identidad for postpaid and fixed services
A Cuenca address for fibre installation
An unlocked or eSIM-capable handset
An Ecuadorian payment method for postpaid and for the ETAPA account

Step-by-step

1
Buy a prepaid SIM in the first days
Claro and Movistar sell prepaid in the shopping centres and on the main avenues, registered against your passport. Data packages are inexpensive and cover the period before your cédula exists.
In personWho: YouDay 1
2
Buy from an operator store rather than informally
SIM registration is mandatory in Ecuador. Lines bought informally are frequently registered to a third party, leaving you unable to port or recover the number and attached to whatever it was previously used for.
In personWho: You
3
Ask what fixed service the building already has, and who else reaches the street
ETAPA is the incumbent and often the installed option, but the national operators and independent fibre providers compete in much of the city. Ask the building administrator what is already in the risers — installing a new provider into an older historic-centre building is a slower and more constrained job than into a modern tower, because the façade is protected.
OnlineWho: You
4
Set the ETAPA account up as one relationship, not three
Because the same municipal company supplies water, sewerage and fixed telecoms, one account and one office covers all of it, and the ETAPA bill is the proof-of-address document banks and the municipality will ask for. Put it in your own name rather than leaving it in the landlord's, or you will not have one.
In personWho: You
5
Plan around power cuts if you work remotely
Ecuador's grid depends heavily on hydro and droughts have produced periods of scheduled load shedding. A UPS on the router and a mobile data plan on a different operator is the standard local defence. Unlike the coast, a cut here is not also a heat problem — but it is dark and cold by seven.
Mobile appWho: You
6
Port your number rather than starting over
Ecuador operates number portability. Do not cancel the old line before the port completes — your number is tied to bank authentication and delivery apps.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport for prepaid
Cédula de identidad for postpaid, fixed services and the ETAPA account
Proof of Cuenca address
Ecuadorian bank details or card

Things most newcomers don’t know

Your internet provider is also your water company, and that is unique in Ecuador.

ETAPA EP is owned by the municipality of Cuenca and supplies drinking water, sewerage, fixed telephony and fibre internet. Nowhere else in the country works this way. It means one bill, one office and one counterparty — and it means the ETAPA bill is the universal proof-of-address document here. It also means that the outlying parishes where the water network thins are the same places where the fibre does, so 'is there good internet' and 'is there good water' have a single answer at any given address.

Source: ETAPA EP

A protected façade is a broadband constraint, and newcomers only meet it after they have signed.

The historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage site and what may be fixed to, drilled through or run across a protected building is restricted. That makes bringing in a provider that is not already in the building slower and occasionally impossible, and it is exactly the sort of thing a charming colonial flat will not mention in its listing. Ask what is already installed before you sign, not after.

Source: community-reported

SIM registration is mandatory, and an informally bought line is somebody else's line.

Every line in Ecuador is registered against an identity document. Lines sold outside operator channels are frequently registered to a third party, which leaves you unable to port the number, unable to recover it if the handset is lost, and attached to its previous history. Buying at an operator store takes ten extra minutes and removes the problem entirely.

Source: ARCOTEL

Dollar pricing makes telecoms costs genuinely comparable year to year.

In most of Latin America a plan quoted at a local-currency price is a moving target. In Ecuador the price is in dollars and stays put, which makes it possible to compare operators honestly and to budget more than a few months ahead. For someone living on a fixed pension that is not a small thing — it compounds across every recurring cost you have here.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Leaving the ETAPA account in the landlord's name and then having no proof-of-address document.
Signing on a historic-centre flat without checking which fixed provider already reaches it.
Buying a SIM informally and inheriting someone else's registration.
Working remotely with no contingency for a scheduled power cut.
Cancelling a line before the number port completes.

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