Will my phone work in Cuba?

You can take your laptop to Cuba without complications, but connecting it to the internet is much more difficult than elsewhere (minimal bandwidth, limited service) and there’s no such a thing as free internet or WIFI.

The easiest way is to purchase a WIFI NAUTA card and connect to the internet at airports, hotels (usually best internet connections) and public Wi-Fi hotspots (public parks, plazas).

You can purchase a WIFI NAUTA Card at your hotel or at any of the offices of the Cuba’s Telecommunication Company SA (ETECSA). 1-hour cards sell for 25 Cuban pesos (CUP) while a 5-hour card costs 125 CUP. Please, do keep in mind that long lines are common place and sometimes cards are sold out at the ETECSA offices. So it is not unusual for locals to resell them at higher prices to foreign visitors.

The easiest way to call home is using your smart phone or mobile phone. Some North American companies such as Sprint and Verizon (USA) and Rogers and Bell (Canada) now offer international roaming services for their customers while in Cuba at premium rates. So please check with your carrier about any additional charges for voice calls, data, roaming, and text messages that you may incur during your trip.

You can also connect to the internet using your smart phone if you purchase a WIFI NAUTA Card. So you could access your emails and use applications such as WhatsApp for phone and video calls.

We strongly discourage the use of hotel room phones for local or long distance calls – it can prove costly! If you call North America collect, the connection fee is about $10.00 plus $3.50 per minute.