Before you start

Passport for prepaid; cédula de identidad for postpaid and fixed services
A Manta 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 a third party, leaving you unable to port or recover the number and attached to whatever it was previously used for.
In personWho: You
3
Test the actual signal at the actual address before you sign a lease
This matters far more outside the city than in it. Coverage in the beach towns and along the coast road is genuinely uneven and the operators' maps are optimistic. Stand in the room you would work in, on your own phone, and if you can, borrow a handset on a different network and do it twice. Ask what the neighbours use and why.
In personWho: You
4
Ask which fixed provider already reaches the building
CNT, Claro and local independents have overlapping but not identical fibre footprints in Manta, and the difference between 'the district has fibre' and 'this building has fibre' is weeks of waiting. Ask the building administrator or the porter what is already in the risers rather than relying on a coverage map.
OnlineWho: You
5
Plan for power cuts and for the salt
Ecuador's grid depends heavily on hydro and droughts have produced periods of scheduled load shedding — a UPS on the router and a mobile plan on a second operator is the standard defence. Add a coastal one: salt air is hard on electronics, routers, aerials and outdoor equipment, and kit lives measurably shorter lives a block from the sea than it does inland.
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 Manta address
Ecuadorian bank details or card

Things most newcomers don’t know

The romantic version of coastal life and a reliable connection are in direct tension, and you have to choose consciously.

The reason people move to this coast is Santa Marianita, Crucita, San Lorenzo — and those are exactly the places where fibre is absent or marginal and where mobile coverage depends on which operator and which side of a headland. Living in Manta and driving out is a genuinely different proposition from living out there and commuting in, and for anyone whose income depends on a video call the honest answer is usually the city with weekends at the beach rather than the reverse. Decide this deliberately rather than discovering it in month two.

Source: community-reported

Salt air shortens the life of everything electronic, and nobody budgets for it.

Routers, laptops, aerials, air-conditioning units and outdoor equipment all corrode faster within a few hundred metres of the sea. Connectors oxidise, fans clog with salt-laden dust and boards fail early. Residents rinse and cover outdoor kit, keep equipment out of the direct sea breeze and simply replace things more often. It is a small recurring cost that turns up in no cost-of-living comparison of Ecuadorian cities.

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, which leaves you unable to port the number, unable to recover it if the handset is lost, 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 budget more than a few months ahead. It is a small thing that compounds across every recurring cost you have here.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Signing a lease in a beach town without testing the signal on your own phone, at that address.
Assuming a district's fibre coverage means the specific building is connected.
Buying a SIM informally and inheriting someone else's registration.
Working remotely with no contingency for a scheduled power cut.
Leaving electronics in the direct sea breeze and being surprised when they fail early.

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