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Those of you that do not live in the United States are probably a bit puzzled by the title of this post. I extracted it from a famous marketing campaign executed by a large wireless carrier based in the States. At the core, its message was to promote the carrier's reliability and widespread coverage.
As you may have guessed, many folks travelling to El Salvador often have similar questions of the wireless coverage in the country. In a nutshell, there is a wide variety of available options, enough to suit anyone. Lets talk about this in more detail.
First, the question of whether or not it is possible to take one's phone. It is possible to take your current phone and activate it, given you meet certain rules. The first of these rules is that CDMA networks no longer exist in El Salvador. In the States, Sprint and Verizon are the primary CDMA providers. If you have a phone with either of those carriers, you won't be able to activate your phone in El Salvador.
So which phones can you activate? Those that use a GSM network such as AT&T, and usually contain a replaceable chip. That chip is your key.
Side note: If you are unsure if you have a CDMA or GSM phone, contact your wireless provider before heading out to El Salvador as locals will be of limited assistance in helping you answer that question.
Once you are in El Salvador you'll be able to purchase a chip that corresponds with one of the various local carriers and away you go. Note that your phone's contact list and other goodies you are accustomed to when you are at home are stored on your chip. Thus, replacing it means you lose access to that information, at least for the meantime.
The chips themselves are easy to replace and run about $5 a piece. In addition to the chip, you'll also want to buy airtime, which is sold in any denomination you like, starting at $1. Both are readily available at local neighborhood convenience stores and shopping malls. If you go to the latter, you can usually find places where they will help you replace the chip.
