www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I leave for Curacao June 1st and called "611" on my cell to see what is offered to improve the $1.99/minute rate from Curacao to US.

Operator signed me up for $5.99/month "World Traveler" plan and claims my rate will be .99/minute in Curacao, I'll report back.

Oddly the webpages claim $1.69 not .99, and of course your phone must be unlocked and a multi-channel World Phone.

My phone worked last April in CR so hopefully CUR will be a cakewalk.

Not sure if SIM cards are available in CUR (similar to Rio) but I want to keep my current phone number when calling to the states.

Those phone plans are a scam.

For example. I bought a phone in Indonesia with SIM, for less then 20$. I made about 100 texts with it and multiple phone calls.

In PI, bought a cell and SIM plus various loads for 2 weeks. Made about 100 texts a day plus probably 20 minutes in calls. Cost me no more then 40$ the entire time.

I have an ATT phone through Rogers, and it was gay. I made a phone call home and it cost me 25$ on it. WTF? Thats with their fancy little plan.

Cingular works! It still is expensive but for 6/month you get connectivity and a slightly cheaper rate. Only downside I found was one Saturday I was in CR all the lines were tied up and anyone calling me was told all international lines are busy.

I currently have a Treo 650 with Verizon Wireless. I want to switch to Cingular anyway due to spotty coverage right in my home area.

Does anyone know if this phone would be ok to use (through Cingular) in Costa Rica and what would have to be done (added chip/sim card)?

I'm down every couple months on business and a working cellphone would really be useful.

Thanks in advance.

Stinky

_________________
"An intellectual is someone who has found something more interesting than sex." – Edgar Wallace (English author) - then I must be a complete moron.

Cingular works very well in Costa Rica. Just be sure to enable Int. Roaming and the World connect program is very good. You pay for it with just the first call.

Case 1 : US to Colombia = $2.19 per minute,,,,,,with World connect = $0.20 per minute. Makes all the difference if you call international alot.

I used to work for Cingular so here are a couple FAQ's. This gets really confusing.

If you have Cingular the Discounted International Plan formerly World Traveler plan is typically the way to go if you leave the US. If your international travel is infrequent, you can turn the feature on and off as needed if you'd like. No penalty. Saves $6.00 bucks a month. Typically this plan saves $0.30 to 0.50 per minite so the $6.00 fee is made up in about 10 minutes. No brainner. However for some reason, CR is not a country that has any discounts. Curacau as most countries do. If you are only going to CR you only need to have international capability. The rate is $2.29 per minute either way. CR is 2.29 a minute and France and Italy are .99. Who knows why.

Here is a link with Cingualr prices for calls from different countries. http://onlinestorez.cingular.com/travel ... DIR|WC|WCM


One note for Cingular customers the default setting of your phone is no international calls allowed. You must have international turned on while you are in the US. There is no charge for this but you will pay the highest rates unless you have discounted plan turned on before you leave the country.

For new customers Cingular likes to be a dick and not allow any International calls until you have paid your bills for 6 months. One other gottcha from Cingular when roaming on International is you are only permitted to make calls within the country you are in and back to the US. CR to Brazil for instance are not allowed.


Stinky A Verizon Phone will NOT work on Cingular period. Assuming that your contract is up, you can get a great deal on a new Treo when you change to Cingular. Cingular store will have good prices but better deals can be found on the web. Check out www.wirefly.com. There are others like it but I can attest these guys have great prices, service and are easy to work with and process orders. You can then sell your Verizon phone on EBAY and recoop a couple more bucks.

This applies to voice only. If you want data that is another whole topic, crappy service and very pricey.

Craps7,

Thanks much. You just reiterated what the Cingular help desk just told me. I guess it has to do with Verizon not using the newer "GSM" technology. So, my Treo 650 is basically worthless if I move to Cingular.

I think it's going to happen anyway; even if I have to buy a new Treo (I'll dish my current Treo off to a new sales trainee). I think I can do without data while traveling abroad (I always have my laptop, and can to emails/internet on it).

BTW, I see you're another Atlanta member. Hell, I probably live down the street!

Stinky

_________________
"An intellectual is someone who has found something more interesting than sex." – Edgar Wallace (English author) - then I must be a complete moron.

UPDATE you are correct I got to Curacao and even after setting up for World Traveler back in the states the dipshits had a restriction on my account for international calls which they lifted and the phone worked fine.

If you take your phone to a local cell shop they can put in a local SIM card and immediately discern if it's your service plan or phone/hardware giving you problems (ie if the local SIM doesn't get your phone working it is your plan that is the problem)

Sometimes you must select the 900 frequency using the settings on your phone but usually the "automatic" selection finds the correct bandwidth on your multi-band world phone.

IMPORTANT here is the international Cingular number for problems it will save you time and minutes: 001 916 843 4685

Last thing I don't believe the .99/minute rate for Curacao was accurate the operator must have been out to lunch it appears the 1.69 rate is correct.

Yeah, actually Alpharetta. Ever have ATL CRT outings?

Have fun next week.