With Simly to Chile

There are various options for making calls or using mobile data abroad. Some German and international mobile phone providers offer special rates that can be used when traveling abroad. These can be booked in advance or an extra SIM card can be ordered before the trip. Alternatively, you can purchase a suitable SIM card abroad. In Chile, there are two major mobile phone providers, Movistar and Entel. If you don’t necessarily need to make calls or send text messages and only want to use mobile data, you can use eSIMs, provided your mobile device supports them.

My travel companions had chosen Simly for our stay in Chile from late August to mid-September 2025. During many of my international trips, I had generally gotten along well with eSIMs.

Signing up with Simly was very easy: select a package, set the activation date, pay, and you’re done. The SIM card arrived on time and was inserted by my companions in Chile. So far, so good. But then came the disappointment. No mobile data. Text messages and calls worked fine. Although there were frequent delays in transmission, it was usable. So we set out to find a solution to the problem…

We waited a few days. After all, delays can occur in technical processes. However, we were unsuccessful. So we did some research. There were indications that we needed to configure a so-called access point in the cell phone. However, when we entered the settings recommended by Movistar or Entel, they were not accepted. Every attempt failed on several cell phones.

So we headed to the Movistar store in Pucón. The friendly staff pointed out that we had to register the devices on the Chilean network and gave us an email address to find out about the relevant providers and procedures. Unfortunately, we couldn’t access the website from our accommodation, either from my laptop or from three cell phones. So we went to the tourist information office and explained our problem. The website worked on the computers at the information center, and I took some pictures with my cell phone to at least visually save any portals and descriptions for later attempts. This helped us access the websites of specific providers responsible for registering cell phones on the Chilean network. At the same time, we also contacted Simly. We hadn’t actually expected to have to go to so much trouble ourselves.

My mother tried to register her cell phone on the Movistar/Entel network using her passport, IMEI, immigration documents, and other relevant information on a special Samsung website. She also received a response from Simly stating that Simly was not responsible for this type of problem. So, contrary to what had been advertised, it wasn’t simply a matter of inserting the SIM card and getting started. A friend received no response at all to her request to Simly and tried another provider to register her cell phone, which is on the Chilean mobile network. Both received positive feedback after a fairly short wait. Officially, the mobile devices were now registered on the network. Unfortunately, however, this did not change the mobile data situation. No internet.

What confused me until the very end was the fact that I didn’t have to register with the Chilean network using my eSIM and cell phone. Back in 2024, during my first visit to Chile, everything had worked smoothly.

We were also very annoyed that my mother and my girlfriend in Chile each received around 20 calls from unknown numbers. These were probably scam calls, often from the US.

To this day, I still don’t understand why we couldn’t access the Chilean government’s websites in Pucón. As mentioned above, the friendly employee at the Movistar store had referred us to a regeneration page where all the important information about the functionality of foreign cell phones in Chile was broken down. Interestingly, we were then able to access the site in Puerto Montt. Although this didn’t help us in the end, it would have provided us with a lot of valuable information at an early stage.

My conclusion is that Simly advertises that you just insert the SIM card and you’re ready to go. That was obviously not so easy. And explaining the situation and looking for solutions with my broken Spanish is a challenge. What’s more, we spent many hours over several days trying to solve this problem. Contrary to the description or advertising, Simly Support did not feel compelled to assist us. As a result, we essentially spent 50 Euros twice for almost nothing. The only positive aspect was that phone calls worked reasonably well.