www.CostaRicaTicas.com

It looks like it costs $1.13 to put $3 in a Kolbi SIM....... even more to add a larger amount of time.

But if you need the service, it's available.

If you just want to keep your number alive 'till you get back, it might be better to ask a friend whose on the ground to put 500 on your SIM.

With these sims from CR, can you still use Whattsapp, etc., or just calls?
Thanks

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I am NOT a Cien Boy!!

The "ordinary" service you get when you load money into your CR SIM card is for calls and TXT messages...... locally in CR and also to and from the States. Outgoing contact with people in the States takes more money off of your SIM than a similar contact with somebody in CR. Incoming contacts are free to you, even from the States.

If you want to use WhatsApp with a phone in CR, you need to buy a "data plan" for your SIM card from the phone company .............. OR ..... have access on your phone to the internet in some other way (like using your hotel's WIFI).

I buy a data plan from Kolbi for 9,000 colones (about $18) for a month's worth of service. That gives me 3 GB of data at a pretty fast speed. The data plan is NOT unlimited service. That's enough for me to use WhatsApp, and to use my phone as a "hot spot" for my laptop for email, etc. It's NOT enough service to watch movies or play games for a month.

I add other money to my SIM for calls and TXT messages (in addition to the 9,000) . I sometimes also buy a data plan for only a day (about 450) or for only a week (about 2,500).

The prices and data plan service are almost identical with the 3 phone companies in CR .... Kolbi, Claro and Movistar.

Good info, thanks!

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I am NOT a Cien Boy!!

I have some new information that says you do NOT need a data plan in CR to use WhatsApp in CR..... and that Kolbi MAY or MAY NOT deactivate your SIM in a certain number of days.

I need to check it out. So...... beware.

Whatsapp uses data. You do not even need a sim card to use Whatsapp, if you have access to wifi. If you do not have access to wifi, then you must have a sim card and the capability to use data. I don't know if Kolbi works the same, but with Claro in Colombia, they will use any prepaid funds for data if you use Whatsapp where you don't have access to wifi (unless you have that disabled in your cell phone).

Kolbi deactivated my sim one time when I went about five months without adding any funds. They had not re-assigned my number, so I was able to have my number assigned to a new sim card.

I guess for some people they want the same #'s personally I could careless if my # dies.
I'll just get a new sim. Anyone important I give me e-mail or whatsapp.

Also if you have CR's #'s saved in your phone, newer phones you can just group them together. Putting new sims in the phones doesn't erase the contacts.

As for other poster:

"I have some new information that says you do NOT need a data plan in CR to use WhatsApp in CR..... and that Kolbi MAY or MAY NOT deactivate your SIM in a certain number of days.

I need to check it out. So...... beware."

You are correct if you mean that you can just use wifi on your phone somewhere and just leave your data off, but you will only be able to use it, when hooked up to wifi signal.

Kolbi will keep it active for a min. of 3 months from that last usage. I got confirmed from Kolbi rep. Depending on account balance and auto recharges is when it will get cycled off.

Kolbi is like $7 at airport for week of internet, text, and calls. I still have money left over, that's a whole whooping $1 a day I don't care how cheap some of you are just get a sim in you need some data and voice/text on your phone.

Yeah I really don't care too much about the phone # I want mobile data. Not a huge deal except for the fact that my next arrival is around midnight. Otherwise a quick stop at the airport kiosk would be fairly painless. Oh well I have a morning 'to do' on my first day.

Using whatsapp off wi-fi without mobile data (which I take to mean just having plan minutes)... that would be quite a perk.

Agree all this is pretty cheap, even with data. For the cost of a couple beers you can be set for a week or longer.

Thanks to all for the info.

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.

You can get by just fine without a phone although it is very nice to have. I use mine mostly for maps and whatsapp. The latter really only comes into play once you have a trip under your belt and some contacts to leverage.

Check out the 'BLU Unocked Cell Phones' on Amazon. A basic one will likely not cost much more than a rental and then you have a phone for international trips. You would have to go through the effort of getting a sim once in CR though.

I have no direct experience with a BLU phone. I use an old Galaxy 3 that I had unlocked from AT&T when it came off contract.

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This post is provided purely for entertainment purposes and free of charge on the part of the author. No tourist or travel promotion is expressed or implied. The author of this post was not provided compensation (monetary or otherwise) for this potentially entertaining contribution.

At the airport (or in town) , you can buy a Kolbi, simple, dumb phone for calls and TXT messages. They cost 10,000 (less than $20) at the Kolbi kiosk at the airport baggage claim area.

The Kolbi clerks are very helpful in setting up the phone. They take U.S. dollars if you don't have colones. The phones come with an activated SIM card, including some time on the card. You can reload the SIM at many places in CR. You own the phone. It's NOT a rental. You need to show yopur passport to buy a phone in CR.

If you put Whatsapp on your android pad, you should be good to go. Almost all the chicas use Whatsapp. You say you have a cell phone you can use for Whatsapp, so it is a smartphone. If it is unlocked, all you need is to buy the sim card at the airport or at one of the many kiosks in San Jose. I hardly ever use my cell phone for calls or texts, other than Whatsapp, when I am there. I try to remember to put 500 colones on it every three months to keep it active, and I add more minutes than I have used each time.

More questions on this issue.....if I have an unlocked phone with a Kolbi sim with data, can you use Whattsapp with it without doing anything else to it's settings? Do you use your original Whattsapp number or do you have to change it to the new CR number from your sim? I'm hoping you can just change sims and go onto Whattsapp. My intention here is to use the app outside of wifi.

Question 2 is about Skype. Can you use it with data, not wi-fi just as I have it setup now?

Also do you have to re-do your CR contacts using Kolbi since there are in your book as +1 506 xxxx xxxx, or do you just dial xxxx xxxx.

thanks

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I am NOT a Cien Boy!!

Have partial answers. I have an unlocked phone and picked up a movistar chip. Both phones are Android and google syncs my contacts. I had to remove 011 506 for Whosass to work properly with the CR numbers. I registered Whatsapp to the CR number however so I kind of started over.

Never tried skype over 4g. I'm guessing that video might be a bit much for it to work well.

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This post is provided purely for entertainment purposes and free of charge on the part of the author. No tourist or travel promotion is expressed or implied. The author of this post was not provided compensation (monetary or otherwise) for this potentially entertaining contribution.

Ok, more answers now that I'm out of country. To be clear on my scenario I have 2 phones. One Android is my US phone. It's locked to AT&T. I can use it abroad if I take out a couple loans to pay the bill. I don't like carrying it around on travel because losing the info in it would be a major PITA. Usually stays in the safe until departure for the US.

I have an unlocked Android that I use for all international travel. Barely any apps, no banking shit, nada. Last trip to CR I forgot to grab my Kolbi sim, doh. So I threw my US sim in the unlocked phone to at least get Whatsapp going... but it all got tied to my US number. I then pulled the sim to avoid racking up charges. So basically I was using it only on wi-fi as a really small non cellular tablet.

Fast forward I get the movistar sim with data in my travel phone. I had to register Whatsapp again to the CR# becaue it is authenticated by a text message. It prompted me to do this first time I opened Whatsapp with the new sim in. Could not go further or work around it.

Since Whatsapp was already installed l found the Oct contacts and even threads were there, but would not work until I removed the 011 506. I prepend my contact names with CR for well, CR. DR for Dominican Republic, etc. So I just cleaned up as I went.

It looks like you can more formally migrate from one number to another. I think from above posts somewhere this creates some convenience on the other users part... maybe they still see you as you vs. who is this person from a number I've not seen. I did not execute these steps but maybe it would have simplified things.

[IMG]http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160119/49f88748a91132723a58a217b2fc9283.jpg[/IMG]
From the settings screen -> Change Number

[IMG]http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160119/da6f918866200d3ae816588b0a87a8fa.jpg[/IMG]
Next screen some yadda yadda

[IMG]http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160119/681de26a76b2f44d28e4f973cc8a0fdc.jpg[/IMG]
Next screen is this. I did not go further having discovered this after the fact.

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This post is provided purely for entertainment purposes and free of charge on the part of the author. No tourist or travel promotion is expressed or implied. The author of this post was not provided compensation (monetary or otherwise) for this potentially entertaining contribution.