How to activate mobile phone in Chile?

Question

I have been told that recently Chile decided to block the IMEI of all phones not officially sold in the Chilean market. As a foreigner who bought a prepaid SIM card, it's quite frustrating!

My phone is compatible but the network won't let me in.

How can I activate my phone / add it to the whitelist?

Answer 1

You must to check if your device is compatible with the chilean bands. In this website you could check if your phone is compatible with most of the chilean telcos, but essentially it should be compatible with:

• 2G: 850, 900 and 1900 MHz
• 3G: 850, 900, 1700/2100 and 1900 MHz
• 4G: 700, 1700/2100 and 2600 MHz

Then you must to contact one of the certification companies that will register your IMEI for free.
Some points to note:

• If you are only considering to use roaming or WiFi, this registration is not needed. This is only required if you plan to get a Chilean SIM card and use GSM services (mobile internet) or make phone calls.
• You can register it for free, but is only one device per year. After that, fees may apply according each company.
• It looks this process could take up 72 hours (24 hours in the best cases) to enable your device in the network, so consider the hassle if you are doing a short trip.
• This process doesn't ensure that your device is going to receive alerts from the chilean emergency communication system (SAE).