www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Part of the reason why your cell phones will not work in CR.
Govt contract to a frog company ...girrrrrrr


From the AP:

Ex-OAS Chief Ordered Held in Costa Rica

Oct 30, 2004 7:50 AM EDT


A Costa Rican appeals court judge ordered the former head of the Organization of American States jailed Friday while prosecutors prepare corruption charges against him for allegedly accepting kickbacks when he was the nation's president.

Miguel Angel Rodriguez had been under house arrest for two weeks, but a federal appeals court judge overturned that ruling Friday.

Rodriguez resigned as head of the Washington-based OAS on Oct. 8 and flew to his homeland to answer accusations he received kickbacks from a government contract granted to a French company while he was serving as Costa Rica's president in 1998-2002.

Judge Gabriela Jara ordered police to transport Rodriguez from a modest apartment in eastern San Jose to prison, where he will remain for six months as prosecutors prepare to go to trial, according to a judicial system statement. Later Friday, Rodriguez was escorted from his apartment to a local prison by court agents, police officers and his lawyer.

Jara did not give a reason for reversing the earlier ruling, when a judge criticized prosecutors' case against Rodriguez, saying it was based on inconsistent testimony.

"I am completely disappointed," said Rodriguez's lawyer, Rafael Gairaud. "I trusted the court would agree with us because there really no reason he should even be under house arrest."

Rodriguez, 64, resigned from the OAS after investigators said they were pursuing allegations he shared in commissions on government contracts granted to a French company. He was OAS president for only two weeks.

A former director of Costa Rica's power and telephone company, Jose Antonio Lobo, has testified that he accepted a $2.4 million "prize" on a $149 million cellular telephone contract that went to the French company Alcatel in 2001, the year before Rodriguez left office.

Lobo said Rodriguez asked for a majority of that money and had, in fact, received $510,000.

The previous ruling criticized Lobo's comments as inconsistent. Rodriguez acknowledged receiving $140,000 from Lobo, but said it was merely a loan to finance his campaign for the OAS leadership.

For the Record.. To the Tune of 2.29 per minute inbound or outbound my New ATT GSM QUAD BAND PHONE works fine. No extra configuration just turned it on and its like being in the states only it now reads ICE on it.. wish it would say that all the time to remind of me CR but not at 2.29 per minute.

I think ATT is the only company with an agreement at this time and you must have the correct GSM band. Also when the merger when cingular goes through that should work also.

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Thank you for supporting CRT!

Having a GSM compatible phone is exactly why it works. It's the most popular system in the world but not all providers are on it yet.

http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/index.shtml

My V600 was able to pick up messages and ICE showed up as the carrier. I also F'd up and left it in the safe when I left, haven't seen the bill yet .

Thankfully Admin1 was able to bring it back with him and FEDEX it back to me. You never know how naked you feel when you don't have your Cell phone with you.

My CINGULAR GSM 400 "World Phone" did not work but hopefully when they merge with ATT in December it will work. I think GMAN told me his att phone was switching back and forth from att and cingular so hopefully it is in the works.

I called Cingular yesterday, while I was on the line, they programed my phone to work in CR. Cingular said he rate would be $1.99 per minute, and could not "guarantee" it would work. As you all know, as with all these large companies, I was talking to a "dingbat". I will just wait and see if it will work when I arrive in CR. Can anyone give advice on calling cards?
1. Purchase in U.S., if so, where?

or

2. Purchase in CR, if so, where?

3. How much per minute?

Thanks

REally? That's great - I hope Verizon and T-mobile join the mix as My contract isn't up till next year.

But GSM means that Verizon is ruled out due to their CDMA technology.

I will have to look into this. BTW Admin1 what is the model of the phone you have and the make.

Thanks.

Mighty1

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I'm just having fun so sue me !!!

I like things that are built for speed!!!

OUCH Just got my bill.... phucking 2.29 per minute to get messages TOO

I bitched to ATT told them that the phone kept cutting off even though it didn't as I was screwing up retrieving messages and they were like oh no problem and slashed 30 bucks off the tab.. no worries...

M1.. Phone is Mororola V505 GSM Quad Band. It is not the phone so much as the only Band that CR has is 1800 GSM Band. If you have ATT which I still believe is the only partner with ICE and you have an 1800 band phone your good to go.. not only CR but RIO TOO as they operate on 1800 band as well.

Answer to the phone card question the easiest cards to use are the ICE cards purchased just about everywhere front desks of all the hotels etc.. the $7.00 card gets you 14 minutes time to the US and about all the local time you will ever need. Get the one with the chip. you just slip it in and dial the us using 001 before the area code easy as pie. It counts down the time left via amount of colones left on the card right on the digitial printout on the phone so you know exactly how long you can talk....

They sell $10.00 or 3.00 cards in the airport.

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"Success isn't having $$ it is knowing how to Spend It"