El Salvador
Power & telecom standards in El Salvador
Connectivity Overview
Tempest Telecom offered dial-up internet access, WiFi hotspot access and broadband ethernet access in El Salvador. We also offered Iridium satellite Internet and Voice access in El Salvador for communications in rural areas without infrastructure.
El Salvador uses 120V at 60Hz. Power outlets are type A, B and telephone jacks are RJ-11.
Dial-up Internet Access
Tempest Telecom provided local dial-up access numbers in El Salvador at $0.155/minute. Travelers could connect using any standard modem with an RJ-11 telephone adapter.
WiFi Hotspot Access
Tempest Telecom provided WiFi hotspot access in El Salvador at $19.95/day for unlimited browsing.
Adapters & Power
North American (Type A/B) plugs are compatible. An adapter may not be needed for US travelers.
Standard RJ-11 jacks are used. Most international modems will connect without an adapter.
El Salvador at a Glance
- Capital
- San Salvador
- Phone Code
- +503
- Voltage
- 120V / 60Hz
- Power Plug
- A, B
- Phone Jack
- RJ-11
- Currency
- USD
- Dial-up
- $0.155/min
- WiFi
- $19.95/day
About connectivity in El Salvador
El Salvador uses 120V/60Hz with Type A and Type B outlets. The phone jack is RJ-11. Tigo El Salvador (Millicom) and Claro El Salvador (América Móvil) dominate the mobile market alongside Movistar El Salvador (Telefónica).
Salvadoran commercial Internet emerged in the mid-1990s. Per-minute metered dial-up dominated. ADSL rolled out through the 2000s; mobile data drove subsequent connectivity growth.
The Salvadoran prepaid international calling-card market through the 2000s served the very large Salvadoran outbound diaspora — concentrated in the United States (Salvadoran-Americans are one of the largest Central American communities, particularly in Los Angeles, the DC Metropolitan Area, Houston, and New York). Card brands targeting Salvadoran destinations sold heavily through Latin American grocery and convenience-store networks.
Tempest Telecom served El Salvador through dial-up POPs in San Salvador. Iridium satphones served the substantial post-civil-war humanitarian customer base, the Mayan archaeological-research operators, and the modest Pacific-coast maritime industry.
Modern El Salvador has expanding 4G LTE coverage with FTTH concentrated in San Salvador. The Bukele-era 2021 Bitcoin legal-tender experiment generated international attention but limited telecom-infrastructure impact.
Tempest's services across El Salvador, 1997–2012
Tempest Telecommunications operated international connectivity services in El Salvador between 1997 and 2012 under a unified prepaid account that absorbed multiple service types onto a single customer credential. Customers in El Salvador 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 El Salvador from approximately 2001 (post-bankruptcy relaunch). Thuraya coverage did not extend to El Salvador; Inmarsat BGAN data terminals filled the broadband gap from late 2005.
Nearby countries in Americas
Cuba · Dominica · Dominican Republic · Ecuador · French Guiana · Greenland · Grenada · Guadeloupe