# eSIM for Bahamas Viasimo's Bahamas eSIM starts at $8.00 for 500 MB over 1 day, running on BTC with 4G LTE where available. Plans last 1 to 180 days, arrive by email in minutes and install from your phone's settings, with no app. Canonical page: https://viasimo.com/destinations/bahamas/ ## Bahamas eSIM prices | Plan | Data | Days | Price | Price per GB | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 500 MB, 1 day | 500 MB | 1 | $8.00 | $16.38 | | 1 GB, 1 day | 1 GB | 1 | $11.99 | $11.99 | | 2 GB, 1 day | 2 GB | 1 | $19.99 | $10.00 | | Unlimited, 3 days | Unlimited | 3 | $52.99 | - | | Unlimited, 5 days | Unlimited | 5 | $82.99 | - | | 1 GB, 7 days | 1 GB | 7 | $12.99 | $12.99 | | Unlimited, 7 days | Unlimited | 7 | $119.99 | - | | Unlimited, 10 days | Unlimited | 10 | $159.99 | - | | 3 GB, 15 days | 3 GB | 15 | $31.99 | $10.66 | | Unlimited, 15 days | Unlimited | 15 | $239.99 | - | | 3 GB, 30 days | 3 GB | 30 | $33.00 | $11.00 | | 5 GB, 30 days | 5 GB | 30 | $52.99 | $10.60 | | 10 GB, 30 days | 10 GB | 30 | $93.00 | $9.30 | | 20 GB, 30 days | 20 GB | 30 | $184.99 | $9.25 | | Unlimited, 30 days | Unlimited | 30 | $439.99 | - | | Unlimited, 60 days | Unlimited | 60 | $874.99 | - | | Unlimited, 90 days | Unlimited | 90 | $1,314.99 | - | | Unlimited, 180 days | Unlimited | 180 | $2,619.99 | - | ## Which networks does the Bahamas eSIM use? - **BTC**: 4G LTE Your eSIM picks one automatically; you do not choose or switch between them. The operator list comes from the network partner that carries this eSIM. Verified October 30, 2026. ## eSIM Details - **Data**: 500 MB – 20 GB or unlimited - **Validity**: 1–180 days - **Speed**: 4G LTE - **Hotspot / tethering**: Supported on most devices - **Activation**: Starts when you first connect in your destination - **Speed management**: Roughly 2-3 GB per day at full speed, sometimes less depending on the local carrier, then reduced - **Top-ups**: Add more data from your account, before the plan expires - **Text messages (SMS)**: Data only: use an app for verification codes - **Unused validity**: 180 days before it must be installed ## Bahamas: what to know before you land Source: https://viasimo.com/destinations/bahamas/#destination-guide · Researched October 2026 by Viasimo In the Bahamas our eSIM connects to BTC, which won Ookla's award for the best mobile coverage in the country in the first half of 2024. There is no 5G yet anywhere in the islands, Uber still does not operate, and on Nassau you will mostly book taxis by phone or through the locally built Bahamas Ride app. ### Bahamas: quick facts | Fact | Bahamas | | --- | --- | | Emergency number | 911 or 919 | | Main airports | Lynden Pindling International Airport (Nassau) (NAS); Grand Bahama International Airport (Freeport) (FPO); Exuma International Airport (GGT); Leonard M. Thompson International Airport (Marsh Harbour) (MHH) | | Plug types | Type A, B (120V) | | Currency | Bahamian dollar (BSD), pegged 1:1 to the US dollar | | Apps worth having | WhatsApp, Bahamas Ride, Google Maps, Windy | ### BTC and Aliv across New Providence and the Family Islands (Bahamas · https://viasimo.com/destinations/bahamas/#guide-btc-and-aliv-across-new-providence-and-the-family-islands) The Bahamas has two mobile operators. **BTC**, the former state telecoms company, is the older and larger network; **Aliv** is the mobile brand of Cable Bahamas (CBL), which arrived later. In Ookla's Speedtest Awards for the first half of 2024 BTC was named the operator with the best mobile coverage in the country, which matters in a place where the population is spread across dozens of inhabited islands. Our eSIM connects to **BTC** over 4G/LTE. That is not a limitation compared with locals: **5G has not launched in the Bahamas**. The regulator, URCA, spent 2025 working through a spectrum roadmap, and both BTC and CBL told it a full 5G rollout was not yet commercially viable without network sharing or incentives. Until that changes, 4G is the best anyone on the islands can get. BTC has also been spending on its fixed network, with fibre to the home completed on Grand Bahama and nearly finished on New Providence, and Family Island projects scheduled from 2025. If your rental or hotel has a fibre connection, use it for large uploads and keep mobile data for when you are out. ### Taxis, Bahamas Ride and the long wait for Uber in Nassau (Bahamas · https://viasimo.com/destinations/bahamas/#guide-taxis-bahamas-ride-and-the-long-wait-for-uber-in-nassau) Uber does not operate in the Bahamas. In early 2026 a local businessman said he was in advanced talks to bring it in, but the Bahamas Taxi Cab Union rejected the plan, the businessman said only drivers with taxi plates, insurance and Ministry of Transport licences would be eligible, and as of February 2026 no agreement had been signed and no launch date set. Do not plan an airport pickup around it. What you can use is **Bahamas Ride**, an app backed by the tourism ministry that books licensed, vetted taxi drivers in Nassau. It shows nearby cars, tracks the trip by GPS, offers different vehicle sizes for groups and takes card payment in the app or cash to the driver. Plans were announced to extend it to Grand Bahama, Eleuthera, Abaco and Exuma, so check whether it covers your island before you rely on it. Some individual drivers also run their own booking apps or simply take WhatsApp messages. All of these need data. If you are staying on Paradise Island or Cable Beach and heading out for dinner, a working connection means you can arrange the ride back before you sit down rather than hoping to find a taxi rank later. ### Cruise calls at Nassau and Freeport (Bahamas · https://viasimo.com/destinations/bahamas/#guide-cruise-calls-at-nassau-and-freeport) A large share of visitors arrive by sea, spending a single day ashore in Nassau or Freeport. For a short call, the key is to have the eSIM installed and set as your data line before the ship docks, so it picks up BTC as soon as you are within range of land. At sea, your phone may instead connect to the ship's own onboard mobile system. That service is billed by your home operator as international roaming, often at high rates, and it can switch on automatically as soon as you leave port. A sensible routine: - Turn off data roaming on your **home** line before sailing, and leave it off while you are aboard. - Keep the travel eSIM as your data line in port, then switch it off, or use airplane mode with wifi, once the ship pulls away. - Save the ship's all-aboard time, the port agent's number and the ship's location as a dropped pin, so you can find your way back without a signal. BTC's coverage around Prince George Wharf and downtown Nassau is solid, but excursions to outlying cays and boat trips will take you out of range, so download any tickets and meeting-point details while you are still in town. ### Sources for the Bahamas guide - [BTC firing on all cylinders as 5G looms (The Tribune)](https://tribune242.com/news/2024/dec/04/btc-firing-on-all-cylinders-as-5g-looms) - [URCA to release premium spectrum for 5G this year (The Nassau Guardian)](https://www.thenassauguardian.com/business/urca-to-release-premium-spectrum-for-5g-this-year/article_53bc3f68-e1a2-11ef-ac80-27c2b1140e8c.html) - ['Uber coming' despite taxi union resistance (The Tribune)](https://tribune242.com/news/2026/feb/03/uber-coming-despite-taxi-union-resistance) - [Uber proposal 'soundly rejected' by taxi union (The Tribune)](https://tribune242.com/news/2026/jan/29/uber-proposal-soundly-rejected-by-taxi-union/) - [Bahamas Ride on-demand taxi app now available (Bahamas.com)](https://www.bahamas.com/blog/bahamas-ride-on-demand-taxi-app-now-available) - [Bahamas travel advice: getting help (GOV.UK)](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/bahamas/getting-help) ## Seven days in the Bahamas: Nassau, the Exumas and Eleuthera 7-day itinerary · 7 days · Source: https://viasimo.com/destinations/bahamas/#itinerary An island-hopping week for beach and boat lovers: two days in Nassau's historic centre and beaches, three in the Exumas for the cays and swimming pigs, then Harbour Island's pink sand and the Glass Window Bridge on Eleuthera. **When to go:** December to April is dry and warm with calm seas for boat trips; June to November is hurricane season, with the highest risk from August to October, so book flexible flights and boat tours then. ### Day 1 in Bahamas: Nassau: forts and old town - **Base:** Nassau - **Getting there:** From Lynden Pindling International Airport take a licensed taxi into town, about 25 to 30 minutes; Uber does not operate here. - **Plan:** Start at Parliament Square with its pink colonial buildings, then walk up to the Queen's Staircase, 66 steps cut into the limestone by enslaved people in the late 18th century. Continue to Fort Fincastle and the water tower above it for views over the harbour. In the afternoon visit the Pompey Museum of Slavery and Emancipation in Vendue House, then watch the cruise ships leave from the waterfront at Prince George Wharf. - **Mobile signal:** BTC 4G is strong throughout downtown Nassau, though the area gets congested when several cruise ships are in port. ### Day 2 in Bahamas: Paradise Island, Cable Beach and Clifton - **Base:** Nassau - **Plan:** Spend the morning on the beaches of Paradise Island, reached over the bridge from downtown, or take the short ferry across the harbour. After lunch head west past Cable Beach to Clifton Heritage National Park on the island's south-western tip, where you can walk past plantation-era ruins and Lucayan sites to a stretch of quiet shoreline. Return to Cable Beach for sunset over the water. - **Mobile signal:** Good 4G on Paradise Island and along the Cable Beach strip; it weakens on the coastal paths at Clifton but rarely drops out entirely. ### Day 3 in Bahamas: Fly to Great Exuma and George Town - **Base:** George Town, Great Exuma - **Getting there:** Domestic flight from Nassau to Exuma International (GGT), roughly 40 to 50 minutes; the airport is a few miles from George Town. - **Plan:** Take a short domestic flight to Exuma International Airport on Great Exuma. Settle into George Town, the main settlement on Elizabeth Harbour, and walk around Lake Victoria and the straw market. In the afternoon take the water taxi across the harbour to Stocking Island, where you can follow trails over the dunes to long, empty beaches on the ocean side before heading back across at dusk. - **Mobile signal:** BTC 4G covers George Town and the airport. On Stocking Island signal is usually reachable from the harbour side but thinner on the ocean beaches. ### Day 4 in Bahamas: Exuma Cays boat day: pigs and Thunderball Grotto - **Base:** George Town, Great Exuma - **Getting there:** Boat tours from Great Exuma run north for well over an hour each way; tours are weather-dependent. - **Plan:** Join a full-day boat tour north up the chain of cays. Typical stops include Big Major Cay, where the swimming pigs paddle out to boats (look but do not touch, as visitors are asked), Thunderball Grotto just west of Staniel Cay, an underwater cave you swim into at low tide, and Compass Cay for its nurse sharks. Wear reef-safe sunscreen and bring a dry bag for your phone. - **Mobile signal:** Expect long gaps with no signal on the open water between cays. There is some coverage near Staniel Cay, but treat the day as mostly offline. ### Day 5 in Bahamas: Little Exuma and Tropic of Cancer Beach - **Base:** George Town, Great Exuma - **Getting there:** Hire car from George Town; Little Exuma is around 30 to 40 minutes' drive south. - **Plan:** Drive south along the Queen's Highway, crossing the short bridge to Little Exuma. Stop at the hilltop ruins near Williams Town and the salt pond beside them, then spend the afternoon at Tropic of Cancer Beach, a wide sweep of white sand that sits close to the line of the Tropic. On the way back look in at the small settlements of The Ferry and Forbes Hill for quieter coves. - **Mobile signal:** Coverage is good near George Town but thins along the southern Queen's Highway; expect one or two bars at Tropic of Cancer Beach. ### Day 6 in Bahamas: To Eleuthera and Harbour Island's pink sand - **Base:** Harbour Island - **Getting there:** Exuma to Nassau by air, then Nassau to North Eleuthera (about 20 to 25 minutes) and a road and water-taxi transfer to Harbour Island; Bahamas Ferries also runs a fast ferry from Nassau to Harbour Island on some days; check the current timetable. - **Plan:** Fly back to Nassau and connect to North Eleuthera, then take the short water taxi across to Harbour Island. Walk the length of Pink Sands Beach on the Atlantic side, where crushed shell tints the sand, and wander Dunmore Town's lanes of clapboard houses, getting around by golf cart or on foot as the locals do. Watch the sunset from the harbour side. - **Mobile signal:** Good 4G in Dunmore Town and along Pink Sands Beach. Allow for weak or no signal on the ferry crossing from Nassau if you choose the boat. ### Day 7 in Bahamas: Glass Window Bridge and Preacher's Cave - **Base:** Harbour Island - **Getting there:** Water taxi and hire car or taxi; the Glass Window Bridge is around half an hour's drive from North Eleuthera. - **Plan:** Cross back to the mainland and drive south to the Glass Window Bridge, where the island narrows to a sliver and you can see the deep blue Atlantic on one side and the pale Bight of Eleuthera on the other. Do not stand on the rocks when swells are running. Return north to Preacher's Cave, where 17th-century settlers sheltered after a shipwreck, before an afternoon flight back to Nassau. - **Mobile signal:** Patchy along the northern Eleuthera road and at Preacher's Cave; usually workable at the Glass Window Bridge and good again at the airport. ### Staying connected on this Bahamas route - Put your phone in a waterproof pouch or dry bag for the Exuma Cays boat day, and save the tour operator's number before you leave George Town. - Download offline maps of Great Exuma and Eleuthera; the long Queen's Highway stretches have gaps in coverage. - If you arrive by cruise ship, switch off data roaming on your home line before the ship's onboard network takes over at sea. ### Sources for the Bahamas itinerary - [The Islands of The Bahamas: The Exumas](https://www.bahamas.com/islands/exumas) - [Bahamas Fast Ferries](https://www.bahamasferries.com/) - [GOV.UK foreign travel advice: Bahamas](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/bahamas) ## About this eSIM The Bahamas is not one place with one signal; it is roughly seven hundred islands, and mobile coverage tracks where people actually live. Nassau, Paradise Island and Freeport are well served. The Out Islands range from solid in the settlements to nothing at all on the water between them. A local data connection through an eSIM makes the populated parts effortless, and the honest advice for everywhere else is to prepare for gaps rather than pretend they do not exist. ### Getting online when you land Lynden Pindling International in Nassau is the main door, and the useful moment for data is immediately after baggage claim: taxi rates here are set by zone rather than metered, and having the map open while you agree a destination saves confusion. Grand Bahama, Exuma and Marsh Harbour handle their own arrivals, and those terminals are small enough to walk through in minutes, so have the line already switched on before wheels down. Install the profile at home while you still have reliable wifi. On landing, enable the travel line, allow it to use data, and set it as the default data connection. Leave your usual number attached if your phone supports two active lines, since bank and airline messages tend to arrive by SMS at exactly the wrong moment. Expect a short pause while the handset registers; if nothing has happened after a couple of minutes, cycle airplane mode. ### The networks you'll be on The host network here is BTC, and your eSIM attaches to it automatically. It runs 4G LTE, which is the ceiling to plan around: fine for maps, messaging, streaming music, video calls in town and photo uploads, and not the place to expect anything faster. If your phone is showing a connection but nothing loads at a beach bar on Eleuthera, cycling airplane mode is worth thirty seconds before you give up and use the venue wifi. ### Where coverage holds, and where it thins New Providence is comprehensively covered, from downtown Nassau and the cruise port through Cable Beach and out to the eastern end of the island. Paradise Island is the same. Freeport and Lucaya on Grand Bahama hold up well, as do the main settlements on the larger Out Islands: Georgetown in the Exumas, Governor's Harbour and Dunmore Town, Marsh Harbour and Hope Town, the Andros settlements along the east coast. Everything else is where the honesty is required. Andros interior, the pine forests and the blue holes inland, is thin. The Exuma cays strung south of Georgetown have long stretches with no usable service, and the boat ride between them is generally offline. Ferry crossings and mailboat routes drop out mid-passage. Diving and snorkelling day trips take you out of range as a matter of course, and any charter that promises a deserted beach is also promising no bars. Deep in the national parks and on the unpaved stretches of the larger islands, service comes and goes with the settlements. Treat that as normal rather than a fault. A trip built around cays and boats should assume the phone is a camera for large parts of the day. ### What you'll actually use data for here Logistics between islands is the big one. Inter-island flights and ferries reschedule, and you will want live confirmations, boarding passes and the operator's phone number available rather than trusting a printed itinerary. Weather matters here more than in most destinations: whether a crossing runs, whether a dive goes ahead, whether the afternoon system is going to sit over you, all of it comes from data you check that morning. Beyond that, the ordinary stuff. Restaurant hours in the smaller settlements are unpredictable and often posted only on social media. Rides in Nassau are arranged by phone rather than app in most cases, so calls and messages matter as much as browsing. Add uploads from the beach, video calls home, and maps for finding an unmarked turnoff on a road where the sign fell down years ago, and a moderate allowance stretches a long way, mostly because you will spend chunks of the day with no signal at all. ### Before you fly Confirm your phone takes an eSIM and is unlocked, install the profile at home, and keep the activation details saved in email so you can reinstall if the handset is reset. Download offline maps for every island on your route, not just Nassau, and pin your accommodation, the marina or dock you are using, and the nearest clinic. Screenshot ferry and flight confirmations, your hotel address and any charter contact numbers, because those are precisely the things you need when you are standing on a dock with no service. Turn data roaming on for the travel line, leave your home line for codes, and if a boat day is on the schedule, tell whoever is waiting on the other end that you will be uncontactable for a few hours. That single message prevents most of the worry a coverage gap causes. ## Frequently asked questions ### Does an eSIM work in Bahamas? Yes. Your Bahamas eSIM connects automatically the moment you arrive, with no roaming fees and nothing to set up at the airport. The host networks it can use are BTC. Coverage runs on 4G LTE. There is no 5G on our host network in Bahamas yet. ### Do I get 5G in Bahamas? No. BTC do not yet offer 5G to visitors in Bahamas, so your eSIM connects over 4G LTE or slower. Anyone claiming 5G for this destination is quoting a spec sheet, not the network you will actually get. ### Is there 5G in the Bahamas? Not yet. The regulator URCA has been preparing spectrum and a 5G roadmap, and both BTC and Cable Bahamas say they support 5G, but neither had launched a commercial 5G service by our research date. Everyone on the islands, locals included, uses 4G LTE. Our eSIM connects to BTC's 4G network, which is the fastest mobile technology currently available there. ### Does Uber work in Nassau? No. Uber has never launched in the Bahamas. Talks to introduce it were reported in early 2026, but the taxi union rejected the proposal and no agreement had been signed. Instead you can book licensed taxis through the Bahamas Ride app in Nassau, call or message drivers directly, or use hotel and resort taxi desks. Taxi fares are set by zone rather than metered. ### Which mobile network has the best coverage in the Bahamas? BTC. It was named the operator with the best mobile coverage in the Bahamas in Ookla's Speedtest Awards for the first half of 2024, ahead of rival Aliv. That reflects its long-established mast network across the Family Islands as well as New Providence. Our eSIM connects to BTC, so you are on the network with the widest reach, though open water and remote cays will still drop out. ### What number do I call in an emergency in the Bahamas? Dial 911 or 919 for police, fire or ambulance; both numbers work. Because our eSIM is data only, make emergency calls on your home SIM, which can reach local emergency services through any available network. On remote cays or boat trips with no signal, tell your accommodation or the tour operator where you are going and when you expect to be back. ### How much data do I need for 7 days in Bahamas? For 7 days in Bahamas, Viasimo sells 1 GB for $12.99 and unlimited data for $119.99. Our sizing recommendation, not a measurement: maps, messaging and the occasional lookup, about 1 GB a week; maps, social, photos and some browsing, about 3 to 7 GB a week. The data calculator on this site works it out from how you actually use your phone. ## Information and verification - **Prices and plans**: Every price and allowance on this page is read from the live catalog, not typed in. Verified October 30, 2026. - **Host networks**: The operator list comes from the network partner that carries this eSIM. Verified October 30, 2026.