Before you start

Passport for prepaid; cédula de identidad for postpaid and fixed services
A Guayaquil address for fibre installation
An unlocked or eSIM-capable handset
An Ecuadorian payment method for postpaid

Step-by-step

1
Buy a prepaid SIM in the first days
Claro and Movistar sell prepaid at the airport and in the shopping centres, registered against your passport. Data packages are inexpensive and cover the period before your cédula exists.
In personWho: YouDay 1
2
Buy from an operator store rather than informally
SIM registration is mandatory in Ecuador. Lines bought informally are frequently registered to someone else, which means you cannot port the number or recover it if the handset is lost, and you inherit whatever the line was previously used for. In this city that last point is not a hypothetical concern.
In personWho: You
3
Switch to postpaid once you hold a cédula
Postpaid plans need an Ecuadorian identity document and a local payment method. They are cheaper per gigabyte and usually bundle regional roaming, which matters if you travel to Colombia or Peru.
In personWho: You
4
Compare fibre providers properly, because here you actually have a choice
CNT, Claro, Netlife and others compete street by street in the northern suburbs and across the river in Samborondón, and the flat grid means the footprints genuinely overlap rather than following ridgelines. Ask the building administrator which providers are already installed and negotiate — competition is real in a way it is not in the hill cities.
OnlineWho: You
5
Plan for power cuts, not for signal loss
Ecuador has experienced periods of scheduled electricity rationing during droughts affecting hydro generation. A UPS on the router and a mobile data plan on a different operator is the standard local defence. In a city where air conditioning is not optional, a cut is also a comfort problem — ask whether the building has a generator and whether it covers the flats or only the lifts and the lobby.
Mobile appWho: You
6
Port your number rather than starting over
Ecuador operates number portability. Do not cancel the old line before the port completes — your number is tied to bank authentication and delivery apps.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport for prepaid
Cédula de identidad for postpaid and fixed services
Proof of Guayaquil address
Ecuadorian bank details or card

Things most newcomers don’t know

Flat ground is worth more than money here, and it is the reverse of Quito.

Quito's best addresses are on hillsides and its hillsides have real mobile and fibre dead spots, so an expensive view is often a worse connection. Guayaquil is built on a flat river plain in a grid: coverage is even, several providers reach the same street, and you can genuinely shop between them. If you have worked remotely from the capital and found the connection a lottery, this is one thing the coast does better.

Source: community-reported

Electricity rationing has been a real feature of recent years, and here it also takes your air conditioning.

The grid depends heavily on hydro and droughts have produced periods of scheduled load shedding with cuts of several hours. In Quito that is an inconvenience; at a 26.4°C annual mean with high humidity it is also a question of whether your flat is habitable during the cut. Buildings with a generator that covers the units, not just the common areas, are worth paying for, and a UPS on the router is standard.

Source: community-reported

SIM registration is mandatory, and an informally bought line is somebody else's line.

Every line in Ecuador is registered against an identity document. Lines sold outside operator channels are frequently registered to a third party, leaving you unable to port or recover the number and attached to its previous history. Buying at an operator store takes ten extra minutes and removes the problem entirely.

Source: ARCOTEL

Dollar pricing makes telecoms costs genuinely comparable year to year.

In most of Latin America a plan quoted at a local-currency price is a moving target. In Ecuador the price is in dollars and stays put, which makes it possible to compare operators honestly and to budget more than a few months ahead. It is a small thing that compounds across every recurring cost you have here.

Source: community-reported