Before you start

Identity document for prepaid registration
Cédula and proof of address for postpaid or fixed-line contracts

Step-by-step

1
Buy a prepaid SIM on day one
Sold in operator shops, supermarkets and kiosks along the highway strip. No residence needed.
In personWho: YouDay one
2
Check fibre at the exact street address
This is the single most important telecom question in Capiatá. Coverage follows the corridor and the denser barrios rather than the whole district, so a house two streets further out can have a completely different answer. Ask a neighbour, not the operator's coverage map.
In personWho: YouBefore signing a lease
3
Register your handset's IMEI if you brought it from abroad
CONATEL runs a national IMEI register. Paraguay is a major importer and re-exporter of consumer electronics and the register keeps stolen and cloned handsets off the networks; a device that is not on it can be blocked.
OnlineWho: You
4
Move to postpaid once you have the cédula
Contracts, bundles and fixed lines require residence documentation.
In personWho: You
5
Have a mobile-data fallback if you work remotely
In a district where fibre is uneven, a second connection on a different network is cheap insurance rather than paranoia.
Mobile appWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport or cédula for prepaid registration
Cédula and proof of address for postpaid or fixed-line contracts

Things most newcomers don’t know

Fibre is a street question, and here it is the decisive one.

In Asunción poor coverage is an inconvenience; in a commuter city where the whole point may be working from home, it decides whether the move works at all.

CONATEL's IMEI register is real.

Paraguay's electronics trade makes handset provenance a regulatory concern, and an informally imported phone can simply fail to register on the networks.

Source: CONATEL — Registro de IMEI

Four operators keeps prepaid genuinely cheap.

There is no reason to commit to a contract before you know which network actually works at your address.

Common mistakes to avoid

Signing a lease on the strength of an operator coverage map rather than a neighbour's actual connection.
Buying an informally imported handset that will not register.
Expecting a postpaid contract or a fixed line without a cédula.

Some of this may be out of date.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