Panama
Power & telecom standards in Panama
Connectivity Overview
Tempest Telecom offered dial-up internet access, WiFi hotspot access and broadband ethernet access in Panama. We also offered Iridium satellite Internet and Voice access in Panama for communications in rural areas without infrastructure.
Panama 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 Panama 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 Panama 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.
Panama at a Glance
- Capital
- Panama City
- Phone Code
- +507
- Voltage
- 120V / 60Hz
- Power Plug
- A, B
- Phone Jack
- RJ-11
- Currency
- Balboa
- Dial-up
- $0.155/min
- WiFi
- $19.95/day
About connectivity in Panama
Panama uses 120V/60Hz with Type A and Type B outlets — the North American standard. The phone jack is RJ-11. Cable & Wireless Panama (now Más Móvil Panamá following the 2022 Liberty Global divestment), the post-1997 successor to INTEL (Instituto Nacional de Telecomunicaciones), holds substantial fixed-line market position. Tigo Panama (Millicom) and Digicel Panama compete in mobile.
Panamanian commercial Internet emerged in the early-to-mid 1990s through INTEL and several regional ISPs. The country's position as Latin America's premier banking and shipping hub (Panama Canal, Colón Free Trade Zone) generated substantial business-traveler and corporate connectivity demand from the 1990s onward. ADSL rolled out from C&W in the early 2000s with cable broadband from Cable Onda competing. Mobile data dominates current Internet access.
C&W Panama introduced cardphone units in the 1990s with chip-card cardphones becoming standard. The Panamanian prepaid international calling-card market through the 2000s and 2010s was modest by Latin American standards (the country's 4+ million population is smaller than peer Latin American markets), serving Panamanian-American, Panamanian-Spanish, and the substantial Colombian, Venezuelan, and Cuban immigrant populations in Panama calling family back home. The country's historic position as a banking hub also drove substantial inbound business-calling-card usage.
Tempest Telecom served Panama through dial-up POPs in Panama City. The Panama Canal maritime industry — one of the world's most important shipping chokepoints, with sustained customer demand from the cargo, cruise, and supply-vessel sectors transiting the canal — was a heavyweight Iridium satphone customer base. The Colón Free Trade Zone (one of the largest free trade zones globally by volume) and the Darién Gap expedition operators added further satellite voice and BGAN data demand.
Modern Panama has expanding FTTH in Panama City with mature 4G LTE coverage. 5G rollout from the major operators began in 2023.
Tempest's services across Panama, 1997–2012
Tempest Telecommunications operated international connectivity services in Panama between 1997 and 2012 under a unified prepaid account that absorbed multiple service types onto a single customer credential. Customers in Panama 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 Panama from approximately 2001 (post-bankruptcy relaunch). Thuraya coverage did not extend to Panama; Inmarsat BGAN data terminals filled the broadband gap from late 2005.
Nearby countries in Americas
Martinique · Mexico · Netherlands Antilles · Nicaragua · Paraguay · Peru · Puerto Rico · Suriname