www.CostaRicaTicas.com

hey everyone, i am coming down to san jose november 30th. I was just wondering, I already have a nokia unlocked phone. So when i buy the prepaid sim card from the ICE section from baggaige claim, where else can i top up minutes in town? I will be staying in hotel castillo. Also will i be able to call USA also and will it be cheaper than if i just use my t mobile roam in instead of the pre paid card... Just incase, other than the airport, where else i can get the pre paid card?

You can recharge online (Spanish only site) or buy a recharge card. Online is easy and instant, but you have to register on the website first. You can buy a recharge card on Central Ave.
http://www.masterpago.com/productos/ind ... roducto=40

To compare: T-mobile roaming $2/min (plus taxes/surcharges); ICE about $0.30/min. Phuck T-mobile.

You can buy them at the ICE offices but people have reported that it's a pain in the ass and nobody speaks English.

thank you orange. I will just buy them in baggage claim... and if i run out i will use them. I wont be calling USA too much but still.. How much will the pre paid sim card cost? on the airport, is the ICE place really easy to find at baggage claim? and do they speak english over there?

The prepaid SIMs come in 3 denominations: ¢2500, ¢5000, and ¢10,000, that's roughly $5, $10, and $20. To know which one is best for you depends on how long you'll be in town and how much you'll call to the US. For me, 2500 is enough for a week (I call the US using MagicJack and my internet connection for free).

The ICE desk is located near the bathrooms next to luggage carousel #1. It's not very big but hard to miss. The person at the desk usually speaks English and can help you.

Well I actually did exactly this three weeks ago. I went to the ICE office, about ten minutes from the airport. The experience was something like this.

Walked up the steps to the office where I was asked to wait outside by the armed security gaurd. Too many people inside. About five minutes later was allowed to enter. Outside there must have been 20 poeple just milling about. No idea why. There isnt much else around there. And they were not waiting to enter? Perhaps waiting for a friend or family memeber to come out? I dont know but made me a bit nervous.

Upon entering the room I was directed to wait an a line of about 20 poeple. This line was to recieve your number, which will allow you to wait in the next line and try and tell this person why you were there to begin with. Zero English spoken by this lady. Very nice lady, but I couldnt figure out what her job was other than handing out number tickets to wait for the next line. She asked a couple of questions. One taht was strange is that after I explained I was there to buy a phone, she asked if I had the cash? I joked with her and told her "No" but I really enjoy lines. That line took about 20 minutes.

Then we took a chair and waited for my number to be called. About another 45 minutes and it was my turn. Sat with another very pleasant young guy who appeared to know alot about phones and guided me swiftly to a purchase of one of thier pre-pago phones. A Nokia something or another? (cost about $55 bucks) Not really important to me as, all I wanted was a mid-grade phone. I didnt need any thing special. I am not a huge text'er or anything like that. Just need a phone to call home and my special friends in country.

Well, the guy took great care of me and set me up in about 25 minutes, with my own phone, in my name and with my own number which he explained would be mine as long as I added a minimum of $2,500 colons evey 60 days. This was later confirmed and shown to me by one of my friends. She showed me how she can actually add minutes to my phone by buying a prepaid card and entering my number at the prompts into her phone. Kinda cool I thought.

The only strange part about this part of the process is he kept getting up and going in the back room. He would come ask me a question and then leave. come back and ask for my passport and look at it and then leave? It was wierd. He never copied anything he just would get up leave and return and then enter some stuff in his computer? I had no ide a what he was doing.

When he had the whole thing done and all my info entered I thought I was done and out the door, but NO, he then directed me to get up now and wait in another line to pay and then I could return to his station and he would complete my transaction. The cashier line had another 15 people in it and took another 25 minutes.

By the time I was done with paying it was back to the waiting chairs as he had a new customer at his desk. Another 10 minutes of my life I will never get back.

To sum it all up the people were all very kind and helped as best they could but the system they have to run you thru thier process took alomost two full hours and left you waiting at each turn. I would have to classify it as a Pain in the A$$....... Although....

I am glad I did it and found the phone and the service very good. The cost of minutes, even calling the US is very cheap. I put $10,000 colones on the phone and spent a week there and called and texted home and in country at a whim and used just over 3/4 of the minutes. Having a number there that I can give out to my office and using it in conjuction with Enjoy prepay service has saved me $100's of bucks over the old way I did it with using my nextel phone from the States. Wish I would have done this years ago.

Prepaid SIMs are fairly new, only about a year old, give or take. Prepaid service wasn't available in CR before.

Thanks for that detailed summary of what a pain in the ass dealing with any CR government issue, consisiting of lines, numbers, and musical chairs. And wasting half a day to get a prepaid SIM.

To the OP, get a SIM at the airport, and save 2 hours of your life.


Just an FYI-you don't need to recharge for ¢2500 every 60 days to keep the number active. You need to recharge the minimum which is ¢50 (about 10 cents) every 30 days. That's what I do. You can do it online. You don't need your friend to buy a prepaid card for you and activate it on her phone (and then use them all up), even if it's only $5 every 2 months.

You can activate online yourself from the U.S. If you recharge for ¢50-2499, it adds 30 days to the life of your SIM. If you recharge for 2500 or more, it adds 60 days.

Lets say you won't go back to CR for 8 months. You would need to depend on a chica to buy and activate a recharge card before it expires 4-5 times; cost $20-25.

Or you can do it yourself online every 30 days (takes 3 minutes) for a cost of less than a dollar.

http://www.masterpago.com/productos/ind ... roducto=40

This whole thread has Muy Tico all over it
I did the same thing as Going south, but at a mall and the whole thing took 1/2 an hour ( already had a phone)
But it was the same get a number wait to get called etc...
He says the # is good for 60 days with out activitiy, some say 30, and I was told another thing
I will be back soon and suspect another visit to ICE will be needed
This is a great option to have a CR phone
So one more ? how late is the airport kiosk open and how long does it take????

Hank,
When you buy a new SIM, it is good for 60 days. When you recharge, it can extend it for 60 days or 30 days, depending on how much you recharge for. If you add ¢2500 or more, it gives you another 60 days. If you add from ¢50 (minimum) to ¢2499, you get 30 days more.

I am pretty certian my phone is good for the 60 days when entering a 2500 colon prepaid card. Because, when I wanted to see how many minutes that were left on the phone I sent a text message to 1150 and the reply said XX number of minutes and they will expire on XX Date. Which was 60 days after the date of entering the prepaid card.

Anyone want to buy an expired ICE chip cheap
I did not even get a chance to learn my #
May turn out to be a good thing cuz I am sure some chicas think that is my #
At least I have a phone that will work in CR and know how to get a chip