Argentina
Power & telecom standards in Argentina
Connectivity Overview
Tempest Telecom offered dial-up internet access, WiFi hotspot access, toll-free dial-up access and broadband ethernet access in Argentina. We also offered Iridium satellite Internet and Voice access in Argentina for communications in rural areas without infrastructure.
Argentina uses 220V at 50Hz. Power outlets are type C, I and telephone jacks are RJ-11.
Dial-up Internet Access
Tempest Telecom provided local dial-up access numbers in Argentina at $0.155/minute. Toll-free numbers were also available at $.30/minute. Travelers could connect using any standard modem with an RJ-11 telephone adapter.
WiFi Hotspot Access
Tempest Telecom provided WiFi hotspot access in Argentina at $19.95/day for unlimited browsing.
Adapters & Power
Travelers from North America will need a power plug adapter. European Type C/F adapters are widely compatible.
Standard RJ-11 jacks are used. Most international modems will connect without an adapter.
Argentina at a Glance
- Capital
- Buenos Aires
- Phone Code
- +54
- Voltage
- 220V / 50Hz
- Power Plug
- C, I
- Phone Jack
- RJ-11
- Currency
- Peso
- Dial-up
- $0.155/min
- WiFi
- $19.95/day
About connectivity in Argentina
Argentina uses 220V/50Hz with Type C and Type I outlets — the Argentine Type I variant inverts live/neutral compared to the Australian standard. The phone jack is RJ-11 in modern installations; older buildings retain the Argentine telephone connector. ENTel (Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones) was broken up and privatized in 1990, creating Telecom Argentina (initially France Telecom/STET-led, north) and Telefónica Argentina (Telefónica de España-led, south). Movistar, Claro (América Móvil), and Personal (Telecom Argentina) lead mobile.
Argentina's academic ARNET / RAN academic network opened the country's first international Internet connection in 1990. Commercial dial-up began through 1995-1996 with Ciudad Internet (Telecom Argentina's consumer ISP, later folded into Arnet), Fibertel (Cablevisión's cable Internet), Speedy (Telefónica), Datamarkets, and a long list of regional ISPs. Per-minute metered access through Telecom Argentina / Telefónica PSTN was the norm. ADSL from Speedy and Arnet rolled out from 2000-2002 and cable broadband from Fibertel competed across the 2000s. Argentine economic instability through the early 2000s (the 2001-2002 crisis) and again from the 2010s onward has periodically disrupted telecom investment and pricing.
The Argentine cardphone market followed the post-1990 ENTel privatization. Telecom Argentina and Telefónica Argentina each issued cardphone units across their regional zones, with both magnetic-stripe and chip cards in standard denominations. The Argentine prepaid international calling-card market through the 1990s and 2000s reflected the country's distinctive bidirectional migration history: historic Italian, Spanish, German, and Lebanese-Syrian inbound migration generated outbound calling-card demand, while the 2001-2002 economic crisis triggered substantial Argentine emigration to Spain, Italy, the US, Chile, and Israel that sustained calling-card demand into the 2010s. Argentine payphone fleets were progressively decommissioned through the 2010s.
Tempest Telecom served Argentina through dial-up POPs in Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Rosario, and Mendoza. Patagonian and Andean operations were a strong Iridium satphone market — energy-sector, expedition, and agricultural customers operating south of Bahía Blanca relied on Tempest's Iridium handsets. The Falklands/Malvinas dispute kept satellite communications strategically important for both Argentine and UK maritime operators in the South Atlantic.
Modern Argentina has solid 4G LTE coverage in populated areas, expanding FTTH from Telecentro and the major incumbents, and 5G rollout beginning in major metro markets.
Tempest's services across Argentina, 1997–2012
Tempest Telecommunications operated international connectivity services in Argentina between 1997 and 2012 under a unified prepaid account that absorbed multiple service types onto a single customer credential. Customers in Argentina drew from the same balance for pre-paid international voice calling, RADIUS-authenticated dial-up Internet roaming, metered Wi-Fi hotspot access, Iridium satellite voice, and Inmarsat BGAN data terminals. An attempted kiosk-payment federation (PATN, 1998) extended the same architecture to public Internet terminals but failed to reach scale.
Iridium satellite voice was available in Argentina from approximately 2001 (post-bankruptcy relaunch). Thuraya coverage did not extend to Argentina; Inmarsat BGAN data terminals filled the broadband gap from late 2005.
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