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Telephone service
https://forum.costaricaticas.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=26727		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  Chimbo [ Wed Jan 14, 2009 12:31 am ]
Post subject:  Telephone service
Going to be in CR for a few months. Will need to telephone the US daily. Will have my laptop and blackberry. All advice would be appreciated.
Author:  TheMadGerman [ Wed Jan 14, 2009 12:43 am ]
Post subject: 
Use the search function, there are several long threads on this.

Keywords "telephone" "ICE" "magicjack" "vonage" "Cellular"
Author:  Orange [ Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:55 am ]
Post subject: 
Some hotels have VOIP telephone service and charge about 25 cents per minute, but most don't.

You can buy pre-paid calling cards. They say "199"on them. They come in denominations of ¢1,000, ¢3,000, and ¢5,000. You can get a ¢5,000 ($9) card, which will give you about 27-30 minutes of talk time to the US.
Author:  MarkL54 [ Wed Jan 14, 2009 12:35 pm ]
Post subject: 
Whatever you do, NEVER use a phone that will take a credit card unless your call is worth the 40 bucks you will be charged.
Author:  Orange [ Wed Jan 14, 2009 12:43 pm ]
Post subject: 
MarkL54 wrote:
Whatever you do, NEVER use a phone that will take a credit card unless your call is worth the 40 bucks you will be charged.

Excellent point. There are phones all over the country that say "LOW RATES TO US" These are the biggest rip-offs. They charge you $40-50 for a 10 minute call. My buddy made 5 short calls in 2006, he got charged over $200. Anytime they ask for your credit card... NEXT!
Author:  Pacifica55 [ Wed Jan 14, 2009 4:13 pm ]
Post subject: 
"MagicJack" VOIP is the answer for me. Cristal clear communications at bargain basement prices!
Author:  Mucho Gusto [ Wed Jan 14, 2009 4:54 pm ]
Post subject: 
Pacifica55 wrote:
"MagicJack" VOIP is the answer for me. Cristal clear communications at bargain basement prices!

Ditto !!!! :wink:
Author:  Orange [ Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:21 pm ]
Post subject: 
On MagicJack, is the rate to Costa Rica 6¢ per minute still?

If you bring the MJ with you to CR, what does it cost to call the US?
Author:  Western [ Wed Jan 14, 2009 7:46 pm ]
Post subject: 
If your Blackberry is from AT&T or T-Mobile and will work on 1800Mhz GSM (check the specs for your phone) it will work In CR. I don't believe that Verizon has a roaming deal with ICE. Have international roaming enabled by your carrier and you are good to go. Call rates are likely to be ~$2.00/min or more (check with your carrier) but for light use, what the heck! Caller ID will show your call phone #.

Most hotels have free WiFi so if you have VOIP from something like Yahoo! Messenger on your laptop you can use that from your room. This sort of account will need to be setup before you leave home. Call rates are usually pretty low. Like less than $0.10/min.
Author:  J0sie [ Wed Jan 14, 2009 7:53 pm ]
Post subject: 
Orange wrote:
On MagicJack, is the rate to Costa Rica 6¢ per minute still?

If you bring the MJ with you to CR, what does it cost to call the US?


Ditto-3 on Pac and MJ. Any call from CR to USA is just a local for MagicJack and the cost is "nada".
Author:  Pacifica55 [ Wed Jan 14, 2009 8:14 pm ]
Post subject: 
Zactly! With Magicjack, you chose the area code that the call will "originate" from. I picked an area code within local call rate for my USA family so it costs nothing when they call me. It costs me nothing to call any USA phone number and when I am calling CR from the USA it costs $.06 per minute, I believe. Hard to beat that with a "roaming" cell phone!
Author:  JazzboCR [ Thu Jan 15, 2009 2:39 am ]
Post subject: 
Magicjack seems to be the consensus choice, but for other options see the following as quoted to Brother Vegas Bob in another Thread:
www.costaricaticas.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=23735 and
www.costaricaticas.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=25573
The latter with a range of options by Brother Prolijo is particularly enlightening.
Author:  Mucho Gusto [ Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:33 am ]
Post subject: 
Orange wrote:
On MagicJack, is the rate to Costa Rica 6¢ per minute still?

If you bring the MJ with you to CR, what does it cost to call the US?

When you first receive your Magic Jack, you just plug it in to a USB port on your computer, and it prompts you through the set-up. Takes about 2 mintues total. You can choose your desired area code, and the first 3 digits of the phone number that you want. Then Magic Jack assigns the final 4 digits.

It sells for around $20, and the service costs $20 per year. You can also choose the 5 year option for around $50 or $60. That's all you pay. All calls (from anywhere in the world, except United Arab Emirates) to USA or Canada are free. But it's only for calls TO the U.S. and Canada. I use it all the time in CR, and it works great. As long as you have a high-speed internet connection, it works great. I had a problem in La Fortuna last year, but only because the hotel had dial-up instead of high-speed.

In addition, as others have stated, if you make a lot of calls to certain countries (for example - from the U.S. to CR), you can sign up for their discounted plan for that particular country. And I think Pac is right about it only costing 6 cents per minute. It's all on their website.

I bought mine last February, and I'll be signing up for 5 more years of service very soon.

MG :wink:
Author:  BangBang57 [ Thu Jan 15, 2009 1:09 pm ]
Post subject: 
I use SKYPE on my computer, never have any problems, and pay 2.1 cents per minute. And if the person you are calling has skype, it is free.
Author:  Steven1 [ Sun Jan 18, 2009 5:54 pm ]
Post subject: 
Mucho Gusto, I'm a bit confused now.....

I thought that the phone number assigned to your MagicJack was a "good" USA phone number: That is, anybody in the USA can call that number while you're in CR and it will work and there will be NO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE CHARGES to the caller. The most they will end up paying is the cost of a normal "long distance" call within the USA.

However, you note it's only free to call from the MagicJack, while in CR, back to the USA. So when someone in the USA calls that MagicJack, and you're in Costa Rica with it, what does the calling person's bill show when it arrives following their call to you in CR?? :oops:

Mucho Gusto wrote:
Orange wrote:
On MagicJack, is the rate to Costa Rica 6¢ per minute still?

If you bring the MJ with you to CR, what does it cost to call the US?

When you first receive your Magic Jack, you just plug it in to a USB port on your computer, and it prompts you through the set-up. Takes about 2 mintues total. You can choose your desired area code, and the first 3 digits of the phone number that you want. Then Magic Jack assigns the final 4 digits.

It sells for around $20, and the service costs $20 per year. You can also choose the 5 year option for around $50 or $60. That's all you pay. All calls (from anywhere in the world, except United Arab Emirates) to USA or Canada are free. But it's only for calls TO the U.S. and Canada. I use it all the time in CR, and it works great. As long as you have a high-speed internet connection, it works great. I had a problem in La Fortuna last year, but only because the hotel had dial-up instead of high-speed.

In addition, as others have stated, if you make a lot of calls to certain countries (for example - from the U.S. to CR), you can sign up for their discounted plan for that particular country. And I think Pac is right about it only costing 6 cents per minute. It's all on their website.

I bought mine last February, and I'll be signing up for 5 more years of service very soon.

MG :wink:
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