eSIM Costa Rica
Costa Rica eSIM on the Claro and Liberty networks: prepaid data packs with no contract and no sign-up — scan the QR code and you're online the minute you land in San José.
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 Costa Rica?
Get connected in under 2 minutes
Ready before you pack
Right after checkout an email arrives with your personal link. Tap it once and the eSIM installs itself, taking its place beside your usual card in the phone. The plan does not start yet — set it up calmly at the kitchen table before you even pack.
One switch when you land
When you arrive in San José, Liberia or Tamarindo, turn on data roaming for the Simbye line — nothing else. Your phone registers on the better of the two local networks by itself, usually before you leave the plane. The setting sits under mobile data; it takes seconds.
Keep your number, top up anytime
Your own SIM stays right where it is, so calls and texts to your usual number keep arriving while the Simbye line handles the data. If the volume runs low mid-trip, top up in the app in moments — the eSIM stays installed, nothing to scan again.
Check Device Compatibility
Make sure your device supports eSIM before purchasing
Which networks will you be on in Costa Rica?
Your phone takes whichever Costa Rican network reaches you best where you are standing — Claro Costa Rica or Liberty Costa Rica.
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 are not tied to one operator here. The line reads both Claro Costa Rica and Liberty Costa Rica and stays on whichever one is actually reaching your corner of the country. Land at Juan Santamaría outside San José or at Daniel Oduber in Liberia and the phone is usually registered before you have collected your bag, which matters when the shuttle driver is calling. Nothing needs configuring: no APN, no profile to choose, no app to open first. If you end up staring at an empty bar, put the phone into airplane mode for roughly ten seconds and let it look again. If that changes nothing, turn off automatic network selection and pick the other Costa Rican network by hand.
San José, Liberia, Alajuela and the whole Central Valley are solid, and the tourist spine holds: La Fortuna under Arenal, Monteverde's village, Manuel Antonio, Jacó, Tamarindo, Nosara, Santa Teresa and Puerto Viejo. Then it drops away fast. The Osa Peninsula is the real gap — inside Corcovado and around Drake Bay you should assume nothing, and the boat from Sierpe is quiet the whole way. Tortuguero's canals are much the same once you leave the village. Height and forest do the rest: the cloud forest trails above Monteverde, the climb to Chirripó, and the pass over the Cerro de la Muerte on Route 2 all cut out. Where one network has nothing, the other often still holds — switch off automatic selection and choose it manually.
Your eSIM in Costa Rica at a glance
- Networks
- Claro Costa Rica + Telefonica (Movistar) Costa Rica
- 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 Costa Rica eSIM
Data, calls, real phone numbers, top-ups and setup — everything you need to know before you buy a Simbye eSIM.
