Before you start

Passport for prepaid registration
Personnummer and a Swedish payment method for a postpaid contract
An unlocked or eSIM-capable handset
The building's network operator, for home broadband

Step-by-step

1
Buy and register a prepaid SIM on arrival
Available in supermarkets, convenience stores and operator shops. Registration with identification is compulsory since 2022 and can be done with a passport, which makes prepaid the way to have a working Swedish number before you are registered as resident.
In personWho: YouDay 1
2
Move to a contract once you have a personnummer
Postpaid plans are cheaper for the same data and run a credit check against your personnummer. Anyone with a payment remark will struggle here, which is another reason the first bills matter.
OnlineWho: YouMonth 1–2
3
Check the building's broadband arrangement before ordering
Many Stockholm buildings are connected to an open fibre network — Stokab's dark fibre underlies much of the city — where you choose a service provider from a list at the building's portal rather than ordering directly from an operator. Ordering from the wrong place is the usual delay.
OnlineWho: You
4
Ask whether broadband is included in the rent
A great many Swedish rental buildings include a group broadband subscription in the monthly charge, at a speed that is usually sufficient. Paying separately for a second connection is a common and avoidable waste.
Via employerWho: Your landlord or housing association
5
Keep your number when you switch
Number portability is straightforward and free in Sweden. Start the switch with the new operator and never cancel the old contract first — cancelling first releases the number and you lose it.
OnlineWho: You
6
Expect to be asked for BankID rather than a password
Operator self-service portals, contract signing and even SIM replacement authenticate with BankID. Without it you are pushed to a physical shop for everything.
Mobile appWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport, for prepaid registration
Personnummer, for a postpaid contract
Swedish bank details or card
Proof of address, for home broadband

Things most newcomers don’t know

Anonymous prepaid SIMs no longer exist in Sweden, but prepaid is still the newcomer's route in.

Registration with identification has been compulsory since 2022 and unregistered cards are blocked. The practical consequence for arrivals is the opposite of what it sounds: because prepaid can be registered on a passport, it is the one telecom product you can obtain before you have a personnummer, which makes it the bridge across your first weeks.

Source: Post- och telestyrelsen

The city's fibre sits on a municipal dark-fibre network, which is why competition is real here.

Stockholm's Stokab network, owned by the city, leases dark fibre to any operator on equal terms. The result is that most buildings offer a genuine choice of service provider through an open network portal, at prices well below what a vertically integrated monopoly produces. It also means the right question to a landlord is which network the building is on, not which operator.

Source: Stokab / City of Stockholm

Your Swedish mobile plan roams free in Norway and Iceland, which is not obvious.

EU roam-like-at-home covers the whole EEA, and Norway and Iceland are in the EEA despite not being in the EU. So a Swedish SIM works at domestic rates on a weekend in Oslo or a week in Reykjavík, while the same plan in Switzerland or the UK does not. People routinely buy unnecessary travel eSIMs for Norway and unnecessarily assume coverage in Britain.

Source: Post- och telestyrelsen

A payment remark will block a phone contract, and that is often how people discover they have one.

Postpaid plans run a credit check against the personnummer, and a betalningsanmärkning from an unpaid bill referred to Kronofogden causes an outright refusal. Because the remark itself is not announced to you, a rejected phone contract is frequently the first anyone hears of it. If a contract is refused for no obvious reason, request your credit file rather than trying another operator.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Buying a SIM and not completing the compulsory registration, then finding it blocked.
Ordering broadband from an operator when the building runs an open network portal.
Paying for a private connection when the rent already includes group broadband.
Cancelling an old contract before porting the number, and losing it.
Assuming a contract refusal is bureaucratic when it is a credit remark.

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