Planning a trip to Marshall Islands and looking for the best way to stay connected? This is a complete guide for buying a sim card for Marshall Islands. You will find where to buy a sim card, up to date prices as per May 2023, info about the 4G/5G network in Marshall Islands, its data speed, my experiences, my recommendation and info about international and e-sim cards for Marshall Islands.
As a fully nomadic world traveler I constantly change countries and looking for ways to stay connected. As I am also trying to visit every country in the world I am in a new place every week. After 10 years on the road I found out that local prepaid sim cards are in general the cheapest way to stay connected. A great alternative these days are e-sim cards, but more expensive in most cases especially if you use a lot of data.
On Traveltomtom you can find already more than 200 sim card guides from all over the world: Europe, Asia, USA, Thailand, Bangkok, Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Palau, Guam, Sydney, New York, Miami, Singapore, Micronesia, Fiji and many more.
So next time you are planning your adventure abroad come check out Traveltomtom. Bookmark this page!
My recommendation
Traveltomtom recommends a NTA prepaid sim card to stay connected when traveling to Marshall Islands.
It is a very easy conclusion and recommendation as there is only one mobile internet operator in Marshall Islands and there are no international sim cards or e-sim cards available for Marshall Islands as of May 2023.
Traveltomtom normally also recommends global travel sim cards especially if you travel to multiple countries on one trip but unfortunately non of these cards cover Marshall Islands either.
May be for your next trip abroad this comes in handy. Check out my comparison of the best world travel sim cards in 2023 in the link.
Why buying a sim card for Marshall Islands
You don’t want to end up with high roaming costs, trust me. Some operators charge up to $3 USD per 1 MB data that means just opening social media apps can already cost you $500 USD. No joke!
Also don’t be fooled by overseas data plans that make you pay $10 a day or so for unlimited data. Unlimited data at what speed? Overseas data roaming plans often cap the data speed and you will end up with an E or a lame 3G signal!
Staying connected makes traveling to Marshall Islands so much more convenient in many ways. Just imagine figuring things out without a data connection.
Registration process
For buying a prepaid sim card in Marshall Islands you will need your passport. A copy of your passport page will be taken in the NTA store for registering your new Marshall Islands prepaid sim card. Per prepaid sim card you need 1 passport.
Where to buy a sim card for Marshall Islands
It would be great if you could buy a sim card for Marshall Islands at the international airport of Majuro on arrival, but unfortunately there is no NTA store. In fact there is only one place on the island where you can buy a prepaid sim card for Marshall Islands and that is at the Marshall Islands National Telecommunications Authority in town. This is the MI NTA location on Google Maps.
Keep in mind that buying and registering a prepaid sim card takes time. Life in Marshall Islands moves at a different pace. Expect to wait for a bit and then the registration takes another 10 minutes.
Great thing is though that the Marshall Islands National Telecommunications Authority is open 7 days a week. Yes, also on Saturday and Sunday morning. Opening hours are from 08.00 am till 05.00 pm and in weekends from 09.00 am till 12.00 pm.
As said before unfortunately there are still no e-sim cards for Marshall Islands or international sim cards so you can NOT buy a sim card for Marshall Islands online as of January 2023.
Best 4G/5G network in Marshall Islands in 2023
Of course there is no comparison of the mobile network needed to find the best 4G/5G network in Marshall Islands as there is only 1 mobile internet operator.
We rented a car in town nearby the MI NTA office for $73 USD for a day and drove from one end of the island to the other. Pretty much everywhere around the island we had a working data connection on our phone.
The 4G speed wasn’t too bad for downloading and we could mostly watch Instagram stories without any problems. Uploading though was a pain on 4G and often pretty much not possible. However, we stayed at the Robert Reimers Hotel and the upload speed there was pretty damn amazing in the evenings especially. In the lobby though, not in the rooms.
There is no 5G yet in Marshall Islands as of May 2023.
Price prepaid sim card Marshall Islands
The registration of a new Marshall Islands prepaid sim card costs $10 USD and then you will need to add credit for local or international calls and for data.
Here are the available data packages valid for 1 month:
- 15 GB data = $25 USD
- 50 GB data + 1,000 minutes + 2,500 sms = $50 USD
- Unlimited data, minutes and sms = $70 USD
Buying a prepaid sim card in Marshall Islands with data is not cheap. We were with 2 persons so the total was $70 USD. Two prepaid sim cards * $10 USD + two bronze data packages * $25 USD.
I am sure some of the above tips for traveling to Marshall Islands and getting connected in Marshall Islands were helpful for your upcoming trip. If you have any more questions please leave me a comment below.
Curious what it looks like trying to visit every country in the world? Go check out my Instagram account @traveltomtom and follow along. As of May 2023 I have visited more than 155 countries, so still a long way to go.
Enjoy your trip to Marshall Islands!
