Internet Access in the Cabo Verde Islands – Unitel Prepaid SIM Card

(December 2017) There are many stores selling Unitel SIM Cards in the Cabo Verde Islands. I purchased a Prepaid Unitel SIM Card from a small local electronic store in Espagos Town in Sal Island. It cost 100 local money ‘Escudos’ (about USD1.1) and it came with a balance of 50 Escudos (about 55 cents/USD). I put 1,250 Escudos (about USD14) to purchase 5GB data (Good for 31 days). After the store person activated the 5GB plan, I tried to access to the Internet but I was not able to connect. They didn’t know about the need of the APN setup and told me where the Unitel store is. I found the Unitel store in the center of Espagos Town and they setup an APN for me.

I used this SIM Card in five different islands in Cabo Verde: SAL, Boa Vista, Nicolau, Vicente Islands, and Santo Antao. Speed was good enough for regular use of the internet. Downloading audio books took longer.

For the last four years, I have been buying a SIM Card in different countries. Unitel’s data plan has been the best deal so far, in my experiences using a Prepaid SIM Card.

***Helpful Notes***

• APN (Access Point Name) Setup: Name–tmais (*All Lower Case) APN–tmaismms (*All Lower Case)
• It is important to keep the PIN number (provided with the SIM Card) because it requires you to enter it each time when turning the phone on again after it was completely turned off.

PS: (1) I liked to use Free WiFi at Morabeza Café & Bakery in Mindelo, Sao Vicente Island. (2) The best connection speed (for me) in Cabo Verde, was at the Floating Bar in Mindelo Marina, Sao Vicente Island.