Will My US Phone Work in Guatemala? Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile & Google Fi

In short: Guatemala is a named, included destination on T-Mobile, Verizon TravelPass, AT&T International Day Pass and Google Fi — every one of the four publishes Guatemala on its own list. What that costs you is decided by your plan tier, not the country: it ranges from nothing extra to a daily fee charged on every day you touch the phone. And every carrier that publishes long-stay terms sets a cap on how much of your usage may happen abroad — that clause, not the price, is what breaks a multi-month stay.

This page is about the phone already in your pocket and the plan already on your bill. If you have decided to buy a local line instead, the Guatemala SIM card guide covers buying Tigo or Claro prepaid, and the phone plans guide covers local postpaid.

Everything below was read on each carrier’s own published page on 2026-08-11, except the UScellular and Cricket Wireless material, which was read on 2026-09-09. Carrier plan terms change constantly and without notice — AT&T’s own destination page says in so many words that “available destinations are subject to change without notice.” Re-check the carrier’s page before you fly; do not trust this or any other third-party summary as current.

The decision table

T-Mobile

Guatemala appears by name in the “Included countries and destinations” list on T-Mobile’s international roaming support page (T-Mobile, retrieved 2026-08-11). T-Mobile’s roaming hub states the rule for that whole group plainly: “215+ countries and destinations — Texts are not charged. Calls are charged at $0.50/minute. There is no charge for Wi-Fi calls from 215+ countries and destinations to the US, Canada or Mexico.”

The data allowance is where the plan tier decides everything:

Two exclusions are printed in T-Mobile’s own terms and are easy to miss. “Pay-in-advance plans and No Credit Check plans are excluded from this benefit” — so a T-Mobile prepaid line is not covered by any of the above. And “Device must register on our network before international use” — a brand-new line activated at the airport on the way out has not done that.

Verizon

Guatemala is on Verizon’s published TravelPass country list at $12 per day, the standard rate for everywhere that is not Canada or Mexico, which are $6 (Verizon, retrieved 2026-08-11). Verizon’s TravelPass FAQ sets out the mechanics: “You get 5 GB of high speed data. Afterward, get unlimited data at 3G speeds for the remainder of your TravelPass session,” and “24-hour TravelPass sessions start automatically when you use your phone in a participating country. A text message alerts you 2 hours before the session ends.” The 5 GB figure is corroborated independently in Verizon’s international terms and conditions, which state that under TravelPass “international data will be reduced to 3G speeds after 5 GB/day.”

(A caution on that FAQ page: several of its answer blocks carry Verizon’s own label “Generated by AI. Verify if needed.” Every figure quoted here is also present in Verizon’s non-AI TravelPass country table or its terms and conditions, which is why it is stated.)

Three constraints from Verizon’s own international terms and conditions matter more than the price:

• Hardware: “A 4G or 5G World device is required.” And, flatly, “CDMA-only devices will not work outside the US, Puerto Rico or the US Virgin Islands.”
• Account age: International Services Enabled “can be added to your account if your account has been active for 34 days and is in good standing,” and a customer of under 90 days requires a manual credit review first.
• A hard spend brake: Verizon’s international travel FAQ states that international travel data “is automatically blocked when you reach $500 in unbilled data usage,” restored by calling +1-908-559-4899 from outside the US.

Verizon does not publish a Guatemala-specific pay-as-you-go per-minute or per-megabyte rate on its public pages; it directs customers to an account-gated Trip Planner tool instead. No figure is given here because none was published (Verizon, retrieved 2026-08-11).

AT&T — the plan name decides whether Guatemala is free

This is the single biggest split on this page, and most travel write-ups miss it.

AT&T publishes a separate Latin America benefit covering 20 countries, and Guatemala is named in it: “There’s no charge for roaming in 20 Latin American countries with AT&T Elite 2.0, AT&T Premium 2.0, Unlimited Premium PL, and Unlimited Elite plans.” The article body lists Guatemala under Central America alongside Belize, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, and adds that from inside one of those countries you can also call and text the US and the Day Pass destinations at no extra cost. AT&T’s page carries its own stamp: last updated April 16, 2026.

If your plan is not on that list, Guatemala instead falls under International Day Pass, which AT&T prices at $12/day on land, $6/day for each additional line used the same calendar day, unlimited talk, text and data “when added to your Unlimited Plan,” billed only on days you actually use the device.

So two AT&T customers standing in the same Antigua café can pay $0 and $12 for the same day. The variable is the plan name on the bill, nothing else.

Google Fi

Guatemala appears in Google Fi’s covered-destination list under the heading “Traveling to one of these places? You’re covered on Flexible and Unlimited Premium” (Google Fi, retrieved 2026-08-11). Fi’s own plan comparison gives:

• Unlimited Premium: 50 GB of high-speed data in 200+ destinations, then 256 kbps; free texts; 20¢/min for calls.
• Flexible: data billed at $10 per GB outside the US, Canada and Mexico (Google Fi Help, retrieved 2026-08-11); free texts; 20¢/min calls.
• Unlimited Standard: international data not supported beyond Canada and Mexico.
• Unlimited Essentials: not supported internationally at all.

The heading is doing real work: two of Fi’s four plans simply do not cover Guatemala.

UScellular — the brand no longer publishes an answer

This one is unusual: there is no UScellular page left to check.

T-Mobile closed its acquisition of UScellular’s wireless operations on August 1, 2025. The newsroom dateline is unambiguous — “BELLEVUE, Wash. — August 1, 2025 — T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) today announced it has closed its acquisition of UScellular’s wireless operations” (T-Mobile Newsroom, retrieved 2026-09-09).

The consequence for anyone trying to look up a roaming rate is total. Every uscellular.com address tested on 2026-09-09 returned HTTP 301 to t-mobile.com — and none of them redirect to an equivalent page. They collapse to generic hubs:

The old UScellular international-services page — the one most older travel write-ups still link to — is gone, and the rates it used to carry cannot be quoted from any live source. Any page still quoting UScellular’s Guatemala roaming rate is quoting something that is no longer published by anybody.

What T-Mobile actually publishes for a former UScellular line

T-Mobile’s own migration FAQ does answer the roaming question — but narrowly. Asked “Do I have any international roaming benefits, like Canada and Mexico, or are there any changes to stateside international calling?”, it says you “continue to have access to international roaming and calling now that your account is with T-Mobile,” and that “you can continue using your phone while traveling internationally, including in Canada and Mexico, based on your plan’s included features” (T-Mobile, retrieved 2026-09-09). It names only Canada and Mexico, gives no rate, and refers customers to T-Mobile’s general international roaming guide.

The 215-country included-roaming benefit is published as a reason to change plans, not as something a legacy UScellular plan already carries. The newsroom’s wording draws that line itself: UScellular customers “UScellular customers stay on their existing plans with no changes for now” and it is by choosing “to move to one of T-Mobile’s unlimited plans” that they “free international roaming in over 215 countries and destinations”

So what a legacy UScellular plan costs in Guatemala is not published. No Guatemala-specific rate, data allowance, or included-country statement for a legacy UScellular plan appears on T-Mobile’s UScellular consumer FAQ, its UScellular business transition page, its UScellular prepaid page, or on uscellular.com itself — which no longer serves content. That is a genuine silence, not a figure this page is withholding, and it is exactly the kind of migration-period detail that tends to go unpublished. The only reliable answer is the plan you are on today: if your line has moved to a T-Mobile plan, read the T-Mobile section above instead, because those are now your terms.

Three dates that matter more than the rate

• Self-serve plan changes ended May 1. T-Mobile’s UScellular business transition page states: “As of May 1, some account updates—like adding a line, upgrading a device, or changing your plan—must now be completed under the T-Mobile brand” (T-Mobile for Business, retrieved 2026-09-09). The same page says migration is running in waves — “Some business accounts have already migrated, with additional groups migrating each week” — and that T-Mobile does “we don’t expect your monthly cost to increase or a reduction in your plan benefits”
• Some accounts are being cancelled outright, not migrated. T-Mobile publishes a separate FAQ for customers who received a letter saying their account “will not move automatically to T-Mobile.” For that group: “my UScellular account will be cancelled on September 1” followed by “up to 30 days of network connection at no charge,” after which “your line will no longer be connected to the network after September 30. After September 30th, your device will only be able to call 911 for emergencies.” There is a 60-day window from the September 1 cancellation date to restart service, and after it “your phone number will be permanently lost.” T-Mobile’s page does not print a year against those dates; it was live and current when read on 2026-09-09. If you are in that group and travelling, the port-out deadline matters far more than any roaming fee.
• UScellular prepaid is closed. T-Mobile’s prepaid welcome page for UScellular customers states flatly: “UScellular customers can no longer renew service” (T-Mobile Prepaid, retrieved 2026-09-09).

The practical read for a trip to Guatemala: do not plan around anything a UScellular page used to say. Confirm which plan your line sits on now, and price the trip off that plan’s published terms — or treat a local Tigo or Claro SIM as the predictable option.

The clause that ends a long stay

If you are moving here rather than visiting, the daily rate is the wrong thing to be looking at. Both carriers that publish an extended-use rule cap the share of your usage that may occur abroad:

• Verizon: “TravelPass service may be removed, or data speeds may be slowed, if international talk, text, or data usage exceeds 50% of total talk, text or data usage over any 60 day period.”
• T-Mobile: “Not for extended international use; you must reside in the US and primary usage must occur on our network… Service may be terminated or restricted for excessive roaming.”

Neither is a fee you can pay your way past. For a stay measured in months, the published terms point at a local line, not at roaming.

Wi-Fi calling: the direction matters

A widely repeated claim is that Verizon Wi-Fi calling does not work abroad. Verizon’s own international terms say otherwise, with an important asymmetry: “Wi-Fi calling can be used to call the US at no additional charge. Wi-Fi calling to a country other than the US will be charged International Long Distance rates, regardless of your International Travel plan.”

T-Mobile’s roaming page states the same shape — no charge for Wi-Fi calls back to the US, Canada or Mexico — while adding that on Experience More, “Calls in 215+ countries and destinations, including over Wi-Fi, are $.50/min.”

The practical read: over hotel or home Wi-Fi, calling home is the free or cheap case. Calling the Guatemalan restaurant down the street from the same Wi-Fi is the billed case on both carriers.

Can you just use a local eSIM instead?

Both Guatemalan operators publish eSIM support, and both publish their own compatible-handset lists rather than a band list.

• Claro Guatemala advertises an eSIM Prepago activated from a unique QR code — “Adquirí tu eSIM Prepago… activala fácilmente donde estés con un código QR único” — and publishes compatibility lists covering Apple from iPhone XS/XR forward, Samsung from the Galaxy S20 forward, and selected Honor, Huawei, Motorola, OPPO, Rakuten, Sharp and Sony models (Claro Guatemala, retrieved 2026-08-11).
• Tigo Guatemala’s help centre says an eSIM is requested at a Tigo store — “Puedes solicitar tu eSIM en cualquiera de nuestras Tiendas Tigo” — and warns that a handset not bought from Tigo “debe estar liberado” (must be unlocked) to activate one. Its published compatibility list runs from iPhone XR/XS/11 forward and Samsung Galaxy S20 forward, among others (Tigo Guatemala, retrieved 2026-08-11).

A physical Tigo SIM with an assigned number is published at Q10.00, bundled with Q100 of promotional balance, 200 MB and unlimited WhatsApp valid three days; a blank SIM is also Q10.00 with no benefits, and the welcome benefits require a recharge of Q25 or more (Tigo Guatemala help centre, retrieved 2026-08-11). Today’s quetzal conversion is on our exchange rate tracker — the rate is currently Q7.63.

Registration: what the law actually requires

Guatemala requires mobile users to be registered, and — for a foreigner buying a SIM — the statute names the document.

Decreto 8-2013, Ley de Equipos Terminales Móviles (Congreso de la República, published in the Diario de Centro América, 8 October 2013) creates, in Article 1, a register of current and future users of mobile telecommunications services and a register of SIM-card distributors and sellers. Article 3 obliges every operator to “crear y administrar permanentemente un registro de cada uno de sus usuarios del servicio móvil” covering both postpaid lines and prepaid lines. Article 4 obliges every user to register, “para lo cual deberá suministrar la información que le sea requerida en la forma, modo y tiempo que indique su operador.”

Article 14 is the one that answers the DPI question, and it answers it directly. It requires that “los usuarios que adquieran una tarjeta SIM, deberán exhibir ante el vendedor su documento de identificación personal en el que se verifique su mayoría de edad; en el caso de los extranjeros, su pasaporte vigente” — SIM buyers must show the seller a personal identification document establishing they are of age, and in the case of foreigners, a valid passport. The same article obliges the buyer to give the seller a physical or electronic copy of that document, on which the seller writes the number of the SIM being purchased, and obliges the seller to keep those records for three years. Article 16 then makes activation conditional: the operator may only activate the SIM once the buyer has complied with the law.

So a Guatemalan DPI is not what the statute asks of a foreign visitor — a valid passport is, and a copy of it stays with the seller. (Article 2’s definition of titular de la línea o usuario refers to a personal identification document number or NIT; that defines who the line is registered to, not what a foreigner presents at the counter.)

What genuinely is not published is the operators’ own counter-level checklist: Tigo’s “Requisitos Básicos” help article is published as images with no machine-readable text, so no operator document list could be read on 2026-08-11, and Claro’s eSIM page states none. Bring the passport and expect a copy to be taken.

Two more things in the same law that almost nobody mentions:

• If your phone is roaming, this law does not apply to it at all. Article 1 closes by excepting from the law’s scope “los equipos terminales móviles que se encuentren realizando itinerancia internacional o roaming internacional en alguna de las redes y servicios de telecomunicaciones móviles que operan en el país” — handsets roaming internationally on a Guatemalan network. The registration duty in the next bullet is therefore about a handset you bring in and put a local line into, not about the phone you are using on your US plan.
• The article headed “Importación y registro de equipo terminal móvil para uso personal” requires that a handset brought into the country for personal use be registered with an operator of the owner’s choice, accrediting the legal origin of the device by some documentary means and providing at minimum its IMEI, model and brand. (The scanned Diario de Centro América text prints two consecutive articles both numbered 6, so the article number itself cannot be stated with confidence from this scan; the heading can.) If you are shipping devices rather than carrying them, see the customs guide.
• The same law creates a Base de Datos Negativa administered by the Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (SIT) for equipment reported stolen or altered — which is why a second-hand handset bought locally can turn out to be barred from the network.

What is not published

• LTE band lists for Tigo and Claro. Neither operator publishes a consumer-facing band list, and the SIT page that would carry the national band plan — sit.gob.gt/gerencia-de-frecuencias/frecuencias/bandas-de-frecuencias/ — returned HTTP 404 on 2026-08-11. That is a source that is down, not a fact established as unpublished. In its absence, the only published compatibility lists are the operators’ own eSIM device lists above. If your handset is on one of those, the operator is asserting it works on their network.
• VoLTE support by handset model. Neither operator publishes a VoLTE compatibility list; no figure is given here.
• Verizon’s Guatemala pay-as-you-go rates, as noted above.
• Any Guatemala roaming rate for a legacy UScellular plan. uscellular.com no longer serves content, and none of T-Mobile’s three UScellular transition pages state a Guatemala rate, allowance or included-country status for a plan that has not been changed to a T-Mobile plan. Checked 2026-09-09; no figure is given here because none is published.

Edge cases

Sources

Retrieved 2026-08-11 except where a 2026-09-09 date is shown.

UScellular and Cricket Wireless (retrieved 2026-09-09)

• T-Mobile Newsroom, Roll Out the Magenta Welcome Mat: T-Mobile Completes UScellular Deal — dateline “BELLEVUE, Wash. — August 1, 2025”; the 215-country roaming benefit framed as unlocked by moving to a T-Mobile unlimited plan. https://www.t-mobile.com/news/business/t-mobile-closes-uscellular-acquisition
• UScellular, International services — returned HTTP 301 to https://www.t-mobile.com/support on 2026-09-09; no content served. https://www.uscellular.com/support/international-services
• T-Mobile, Welcome to America’s Best Network, UScellular customers — the migrated-customer FAQ; international roaming answer naming only Canada and Mexico, “based on your plan’s included features”. https://www.t-mobile.com/nextsteps
• T-Mobile, UScellular is now part of T-Mobile — the FAQ for accounts that do not move automatically; September 1 cancellation, 30 days of network access, September 30 cutoff, 60-day restart window. No year is printed against those dates. https://www.t-mobile.com/uscc-joining-t-mobile
• T-Mobile for Business, UScellular Business Accounts Are Moving to T-Mobile — “As of May 1” self-serve change; phased weekly migration; no expected increase in monthly cost. https://www.t-mobile.com/business/account-services/uscellular
• T-Mobile Prepaid, Welcome USCC Prepaid Customers — “UScellular customers can no longer renew service.” https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/welcome-uscellular
• Cricket Wireless, Cricket Passport — List of Eligible Countries — Guatemala named; eligible plans; mobile hotspot excluded. https://www.cricketwireless.com/support/international-roaming-list-of-countries
• Cricket Wireless, Cricket Passport — $10/day unlimited and $25 per 5 GB / 5 days; Smart, Supreme and Multi-Month Unlimited eligibility; Canada and Mexico roaming prerequisite. https://www.cricketwireless.com/apps-and-services/international/cricket-passport

All other carriers (retrieved 2026-08-11)

• T-Mobile, International roaming services — Guatemala in the “Included countries and destinations” list. https://www.t-mobile.com/support/coverage/international-roaming-services
• T-Mobile, International Plans | Traveling Abroad without Roaming Fees — per-tier data allowances, $0.50/min, Wi-Fi calling rule, extended-use terms, prepaid exclusion. https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/roaming
• Verizon, TravelPass Countries — Guatemala at $12/day. https://www.verizon.com/plans/travelpass-countries/
• Verizon, TravelPass FAQs — 5 GB/day then 3G; 24-hour session. https://www.verizon.com/support/travelpass-faqs/
• Verizon, International services (from outside the US) Terms & Conditions — World device requirement, CDMA exclusion, Wi-Fi calling rule, 50%/60-day clause, 34-day account rule. https://www.verizon.com/support/global-roaming-services-legal/
• Verizon, International Travel FAQs — $500 unbilled-data block and the restore number. https://www.verizon.com/support/international-travel-faqs/
• AT&T, AT&T International Day Pass destinations — Guatemala listed; destinations subject to change. https://www.att.com/support/article/wireless/KM1395068/
• AT&T, International Day Pass — $12/day land, $6/day additional line, $20/day cruise. https://www.att.com/international/day-pass/
• AT&T, Get details on unlimited talk, text, and data in Latin American countries — Guatemala among 20 countries at no roaming charge on named plans; page last updated 16 April 2026. https://www.att.com/support/article/wireless/KM1486292/
• Google Fi Wireless, International Coverage & Rates — Guatemala in the covered list; per-plan comparison. https://fi.google.com/about/international-rates
• Google Fi Wireless Help, About Google Fi international rates — $10/GB Flexible, $0.20/min calls, plan coverage. https://support.google.com/fi/answer/15329328
• Tigo Guatemala, help centre, eSIM o SIM virtual para teléfonos celulares — in-store request, unlocked-handset requirement, compatible models. https://ayuda.tigo.com.gt/hc/centro-de-ayuda/articles/157174793108611-e_sim-o-sim-virtual-para-telefonos-celulares
• Tigo Guatemala, help centre, ¿Cuál es el costo de una SIM? — Q10.00 SIM, Q100 promotional balance, Q25 recharge condition. https://ayuda.tigo.com.gt/hc/centro-de-ayuda/articles/212174793116011-cual-es-el-costo-de-una-sim
• Claro Guatemala, eSIM — La Futura Tarjeta SIM — prepaid eSIM by QR; compatible handset lists. https://www.claro.com.gt/personas/servicios/servicios-moviles/esim/
• Congreso de la República de Guatemala, Decreto 8-2013, Ley de Equipos Terminales Móviles, published in the Diario de Centro América, 8 October 2013 — Art. 1 (registers created, and the exception for handsets on international roaming); Art. 2 (definitions); Arts. 3 and 4 (user registration); Art. 14 (SIM buyers must show a personal ID document, and foreigners a valid passport; copy retained three years); Art. 16 (operator may activate only after the buyer has complied); the article headed “Importación y registro de equipo terminal móvil para uso personal”; the Base de Datos Negativa administered by SIT. https://www.congreso.gob.gt/assets/uploads/info_legislativo/decretos/2013/08-2013.pdf
• Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (SIT), Bandas de Frecuencias — returned HTTP 404 on 2026-08-11; no national band plan could be read. https://sit.gob.gt/gerencia-de-frecuencias/frecuencias/bandas-de-frecuencias/

This page reports published carrier and regulatory terms as of the retrieval date. It is not legal advice, and carrier plan terms change without notice — verify with your own carrier before you travel.