eSIM Brazil
The Brazil eSIM runs on the TIM and Vivo networks with 1 to 10 GB or unlimited data, prepaid, no contract and no registration — online the moment you land in São Paulo.
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2GB highspeed/day, then unlimited at 1Mbps
Your Selection
Your plan only starts counting when the eSIM first connects at your destination — so you can buy today and travel in three weeks.
How does Simbye eSIM work for Brazil?
Get connected in under 2 minutes
Set it up before you fly
Buy the eSIM online and you get an email with a link and QR code right away. Install it at home on Wi-Fi — it takes two minutes. Leave data roaming for the eSIM switched off for now so nothing starts too early.
Land and switch on
After landing at São Paulo-Guarulhos (GRU), Rio de Janeiro-Galeão (GIG), Brasília (BSB), Belo Horizonte-Confins (CNF), Salvador (SSA), Recife (REC), Fortaleza (FOR), Foz do Iguaçu (IGU) or Manaus (MAO), turn on data roaming for the eSIM. It connects to TIM or Vivo by itself — no shop, no airport counter.
Validity and top-ups
Validity starts with your first connection in Brazil, not on the day you buy. If the data runs short on a longer trip, top up online at any time without setting the eSIM up again. Hotspot for a laptop or tablet is allowed.
Check Device Compatibility
Make sure your device supports eSIM before purchasing
Which networks will you be on in Brazil?
After you land, the eSIM picks the strongest available network on its own — TIM or Vivo.
Average measured mobile internet performance, nPerf barometer (measured 01.04.2025–31.03.2026). What you actually get depends on where you are, the time of day and your phone.
You travel as a guest on the Brazilian networks. After landing you switch on data roaming for the eSIM and it connects by itself — nothing to type in, nothing to configure. If reception is poor somewhere, set network selection to "manual" in your phone settings for a moment and pick the other network. You are back online after a few seconds.
Both networks cover all 27 state capitals. TIM says it has switched on 5G in more than 1,000 cities; according to the regulator Anatel, Vivo has 5G in around 700 municipalities. So you get fast data in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Salvador, Recife, Fortaleza, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Florianópolis and Manaus, on the well-known beaches from Copacabana to Ipanema, and in Foz do Iguaçu. Long overland stretches are a different story: along the BR highways, in the Pantanal, in the Chapada Diamantina, in the Lençóis Maranhenses, on the sand track to Jericoacoara and in the Amazon away from Manaus and Belém, expect dead spots. On a boat trip into the rainforest you will have no signal at all for stretches. Download maps, tickets and translations before you go there.
eSIM or a local SIM card in Brazil?
| Compared | Simbye eSIM | Local SIM card |
|---|---|---|
| ID and registration | No registration, no CPF, no address needed | Prepaid cards must be registered to a person. By law a passport plus your accommodation address is enough, but in practice staff often still ask for a CPF |
| When it works | Set up before departure, active from your first connection in Brazil | Only after you arrive: find a shop, queue, have the form filled in |
| At the airport | Nothing to do, you are online as you leave the plane | Shops at GRU and GIG have fixed opening hours and are closed on night arrivals |
| Language | Purchase and setup in your own language | In-store help is usually in Portuguese only |
| Payment | Online with the card you already use | In reais on the spot; foreign cards are not accepted everywhere |
| Phone number | No Brazilian number, data only | Brazilian number included, which also unlocks apps like iFood |
| Your home number | Keeps running alongside, so calls and SMS still reach you | You swap the SIM out or need a dual-SIM phone |
| Top-ups | Online at any time, done in minutes | Credit at a kiosk, a supermarket or in the operator's app in Portuguese |
Why your home contract gets expensive in Brazil
In Brazil your home operator bills its own foreign rates — a day pass, a small add-on bundle, or in the worst case a price per megabyte, depending on your contract. You usually find out which one applied when the bill arrives.
It stands out in Brazil because hardly anyone flies there for three days. Two weeks of Rio, Iguaçu, the Amazon and Salvador mean daily maps, ride apps, translations and video calls home. There is also a trap people only notice on the road: some plans cut off data roaming automatically once a fixed spending cap is reached. Then you are standing at the bus station in Salvador at night with no map and no ride app.
The data eSIM flips that around. You buy prepaid and without a contract, pick between 1 and 10 GB or an unlimited plan, and know before departure what data will cost you. Your normal contract still stays in the phone — you just switch its mobile data roaming off. That way SMS codes from your bank or airline still reach your usual number while the internet runs over the eSIM.
Where the networks actually reach
Brazil is a continent of its own, and you notice that in the coverage. In the cities things are good: both networks cover all 27 state capitals, TIM reports 5G in over 1,000 cities and around 75 percent of the urban population, and according to Anatel, Vivo has 5G in roughly 700 municipalities. For São Paulo, Rio, Brasília, Salvador, Recife, Fortaleza, Curitiba, Porto Alegre and Florianópolis that means fast data on the beach, in the taxi and in the café.
Between the cities it thins out. On the long BR highways, in the Pantanal, in the Chapada Diamantina, in the Lençóis Maranhenses and on the sand track to Jericoacoara the connection keeps dropping. In the Amazon, Manaus and Belém are well served, but as soon as the boat heads upriver you are offline — and no provider changes that.
In practice: download your region's map offline in Google Maps or Organic Maps, save boarding passes and bus tickets as files rather than in a browser tab, and message yourself your accommodation address once. That gets you through the hours without signal.
No CPF needed — but no Brazilian phone number either
Local prepaid cards in Brazil have to be registered to a person. By law a passport plus the address of your accommodation is enough, yet travellers repeatedly report that shop staff still ask for a CPF — the Brazilian tax number tourists normally do not have. With some operators the passport works; with others you get turned away. A travel eSIM skips all of it: you register nothing, walk into no shop, and are online the moment you land.
The price of that convenience is one limit you should know about: this is a data-only plan with no Brazilian phone number. Apps that insist on a local number at sign-up — the delivery service iFood above all — cannot be set up with it. PIX, Brazil's instant payment system, also requires an account at a Brazilian bank plus a CPF, and is rarely an option for visitors anyway. Uber, 99, WhatsApp, maps, banking and airline apps, on the other hand, run perfectly normally over the data connection with your existing account.
Your eSIM in Brazil at a glance
- Networks
- TIM Brazil + Vivo Brazil
- Setting it up
- A link in your email, or the QR code — one tap is enough
- Network technology
- 4G/LTE — and 5G where the network already offers it
- APN and settings
- Nothing to set. The eSIM brings everything with it
- Hotspot
- Allowed — for a laptop, tablet or a travel companion
- Adding more data
- Top up any time, without setting anything up again
- Calls and texts
- Not included — WhatsApp calls run over the data
- Your own number
- Stays in the phone and stays reachable
- Contract
- None. The plan ends by itself
- Worth knowing
- Roaming on your home contract gets billed here — this eSIM is prepaid, so nothing is added afterwards
Frequently Asked Questions about Brazil eSIM
Data, calls, real phone numbers, top-ups and setup — everything you need to know before you buy a Simbye eSIM.
