Back to Blog
Colombia has a genuinely large free public Wi-Fi network, Bogotá alone maps more than 400 free hotspots across the city, but free and public also means unencrypted and shared, so the practical answer for most travelers is to use it for browsing and maps, and switch to a data eSIM for anything involving a password or a payment. co:sim's Colombia eSIM runs on Claro's network and installs before you fly, so you're not depending on a café's Wi-Fi login screen the moment you land. This guide covers how big Colombia's free Wi-Fi network actually is, what the real security trade-off looks like without the scare tactics, and where an eSIM fits alongside it rather than replacing it entirely.
More than most travelers expect. Bogotá's city government runs WiFiMap Bogotá, a digital map locating 434 free Wi-Fi zones spread across the city's 20 localities, covering parks, plazas, TransMilenio bus stations, and public libraries. It's part of a broader national push: Colombia's ICT ministry, MinTIC, has installed free Wi-Fi zones in hundreds of municipalities across nearly every department in the country under its "Zonas WiFi Gratis" program, with comparable local networks also running in Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla, and Cartagena.
That's a genuinely useful backup for maps, messaging, and light browsing between paid connections, and it's worth knowing about regardless of whether you're also carrying an eSIM. It doesn't replace one for everything, though, which is where the trade-offs below actually matter.
The honest answer is the same one that applies to free public Wi-Fi anywhere in the world: it's convenient, and it carries real, well-documented risks that have nothing to do with Colombia specifically. Open networks are typically unencrypted, meaning traffic on them can potentially be intercepted, and the US Federal Trade Commission's consumer guidance on public Wi-Fi recommends avoiding logins or payments on financial or sensitive accounts over an open network, and using a VPN or your phone's own mobile data instead when the activity is sensitive.
This matters somewhat more in tourist-dense spots specifically, not because Colombia is unusually risky, but because dense tourist areas anywhere tend to attract more opportunistic activity around visible tourists and their devices. Cartagena's Old Town, and to a lesser extent Medellín's El Poblado district, are exactly that kind of setting: crowded, phone-heavy, and full of cafés and hotels offering free connections of varying quality, where it's easy to connect to whichever network shows up first without checking its name against what the venue actually posted. General travel-safety guidance for Cartagena points to phone theft and scams as the more common real-world risks tourists actually run into, rather than anything specific to the Wi-Fi itself, but a stolen phone that's still logged into a banking app over an open network compounds the problem. Colombia's overall public connectivity infrastructure is genuinely solid for a country its size; this is a general travel precaution, not a Colombia-specific warning.
The practical fix costs nothing and takes seconds: save banking, shopping, and anything requiring a password for your mobile data connection instead of a public network, and treat free Wi-Fi as fine for maps, translation apps, and browsing.
Colombia's mobile market centers on Claro, and it's the network co:sim's Colombia data-only eSIM runs on. Coverage is strongest in Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, and Cartagena's urban core, with the usual thinning out in more remote rural areas, a pattern consistent with most countries of Colombia's size and geography. Because it's a licensed mobile network rather than a shared public hotspot, it doesn't carry the same open-network exposure that free Wi-Fi does, since each device on a cellular data connection isn't sharing the same local network segment with strangers the way it can on an open Wi-Fi access point.
Neither one alone is the complete answer, and used together they cover each other's gaps. Free Wi-Fi is genuinely useful as a backup and for casual browsing in the specific zones it covers, parks, plazas, transit stations, but it's fixed to those locations, shared with everyone else on the network, and not something to trust with a banking login. A co:sim eSIM installs before you fly and works anywhere Claro has signal, in a taxi, on a bus between cities, or at a beach outside the free-Wi-Fi zones entirely, and because it's a private cellular connection rather than a shared open network, it's the safer default for anything sensitive.
See co:sim's Colombia eSIM plans →
For a trip spanning multiple South American countries, a regional South America plan covers several destinations on one eSIM instead of switching profiles at each border.
It covers a real, if location-limited, footprint. Bogotá's own WiFiMap Bogotá tool locates 434 free Wi-Fi zones across the capital's 20 localities, part of a national MinTIC program that has extended free zones into municipalities across most of the country, including comparable networks in Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla, and Cartagena. That makes it genuinely useful for maps, messaging, and browsing while you're physically in one of those zones, but it isn't continuous coverage the way a mobile data connection is; step outside a park or transit station and the free network usually disappears. Most travelers get the best result treating it as a free supplement to a data eSIM rather than a full replacement for one, especially for anything needed on the move between fixed locations.
The same risk that applies to open Wi-Fi networks anywhere: they're typically unencrypted, so traffic on them can potentially be intercepted by someone else on the same network. The US FTC's public Wi-Fi guidance recommends avoiding banking, shopping, or anything requiring a password on an open network, and using mobile data or a VPN instead for sensitive activity. This isn't a Colombia-specific danger; it's a general travel precaution that matters somewhat more in dense, tourist-heavy spots like Cartagena's Old Town simply because more people and devices are concentrated in one place, the same way it would in any crowded tourist district worldwide. Colombia's broader connectivity infrastructure is solid; the free-Wi-Fi trade-off is about the nature of open networks, not the country.
For anything sensitive, generally yes, because it's a private cellular data connection on Claro's network rather than an open network shared with everyone else nearby. That structural difference is why it doesn't carry the same interception risk that an unencrypted public Wi-Fi hotspot does. It's data-only, meaning it provides mobile data but not a phone number for calls or SMS, which covers the overwhelming majority of what travelers actually need: maps, messaging apps, banking, and browsing all run over data, while your regular SIM or its own eSIM can stay active for calls and texts on your usual number. Installing it before you fly means you're online the moment you land in Bogotá, Medellín, or Cartagena, rather than searching for a functioning free hotspot or an airport SIM counter first.
An uninstalled co:sim eSIM can be refunded within 30 days of purchase, though that window is capped by the plan's own install deadline, so it's shorter if the plan's install period is under 30 days; check the specific plan page for the exact figure before buying. Once installed, even if you haven't traveled yet, it's no longer eligible for a self-service refund. Buying the eSIM once your Colombia travel dates are confirmed, rather than months in advance, keeps that refund window meaningfully open if plans change, while installing it only once you're actually ready to travel, rather than the day you buy it, is the safer sequence if there's any real chance your Bogotá or Cartagena trip could still shift.
Ready to install before you land? Browse co:sim's Colombia eSIM plans →
Instant delivery by email · Install before you fly
Travel TipsA practical guide to internet in Saudi Arabia for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims: how the Nusuk app works, where networks get congested during the pilgrimage, honest notes on WhatsApp calling, and why installing an eSIM before you fly skips the biometric SIM counter.
Travel TipsA practical guide to internet in Israel for tourists: free city Wi-Fi, SIM and eSIM options, desert coverage gaps, and why Shabbat closures (including the airport SIM counter) make installing an eSIM before you fly worth it.
Travel TipsStaying connected in Czechia depends on where your phone plan is from. Here's what actually works in Prague, including the metro, and how to set it up before you land.
co:sim Team