www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Brother Seabreeze mentioned Movistar--here's the Site: http://www.movistar.com/
Note that this is owned by Spain's biggest operator and they have a massive presence in Latin America--no fly-by-night outfit, they are in CR for the long-term.

_________________
"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

remember, you must sync your iPhone again one time in CR to get it to work

I know Brother jazzbro will have a link to instructions shortly

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Voted San Jose's #1 Maripepino

Thanks, I am going to try that SB, I'll be back soon.

As my phone dates from 2002 and is the cheapest I could get, I'm not exactly sure what syncing is but maybe this will help:
http://ipod.about.com/od/iphonehowtos/s ... iphone.htm
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/h ... uter0.html
http://ipod.about.com/od/iphonehowtos/s ... _setup.htm << seems to be an all-purpose iPhone Site/Thread

Or did I have it all wrong?

_________________
"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

SIM cards are sold in denominations of $5, $10, and $20. I would only buy the $20 card if you plan to stay a while (2+ weeks) or plan to call to the US a lot. The $5 SIM will give you about 60-70 minutes. That's usually enough for me for a 4-5 day trip.

You can recharge online (from the US too) here: https://www.grupoice.com/wps/portal/app ... rgaenlinea

The minimum recharge is only ¢100 colones, that's about $0.20. Quite a hefty price to pay to keep a line active for 4 months.

Just to make it clearer for the novice users, the 850 band that Lenny referenced is the #G band. Regular, non-smartphones, must run on GSM-1800 to work in CR. Smartphones must run on 3g-850 to get internet. I don't believe that smartphones must be jailbroken, just must be unlocked.

Check this: http://www.worldtimezone.com/gsm.html

This is what i read too but then how does a nokia 1616 work on 850/1900 in cr? Is it using 850 for phone instead of data?

As far as cellular coverage goes, any statement should include a big YMMV. The people that I know that use Movistar have worse coverage, worse call quality and more dropped calls as compared to ICE users in the same areas. It often takes several minutes for a text message from someone on Movistar to reach me on ICE and visa versa.

Movistar and Claro have concentrated on establishing their networks in the central valley. That is where the people (customers) are. Outside of there, well, better check their coverage maps before putting down your money.

I'll stick with ICE for now.

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Women are like beers. I've never had one that I didn't like. Just some that I like more than others! --Western

The new and bigger Kolbi (ICE) store is up and running inside the concorse at SJO, BUT...

The airport is now building new corridors that will take passengers arriving on international flights directly to Immigration, bypassing the rest of the terminal. This is a new "security" measure. Once these new corriders are in use the Kolbi store on the concorse will only be accessable to departing passengers. Arriving passengers will have to use the Kolbi desk that is currently located outside of the baggage claim area along with the rent-a-car desks.

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Women are like beers. I've never had one that I didn't like. Just some that I like more than others! --Western

Great info, but bad news. That means also no arrival visits to duty free upstairs, but there is a small one by the luggage carousel. I hope Kolbi beefs up that lower level station, it was only a one station desk in May. Any info on when this is to occur?

So that is what they are building over there, Lots of construction by gate 9. Currently the Kolbi booth outside of baggage claim is still small, had two people working it when I was there less than 2 weeks ago

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Not banned yet...

I wonder now about this.

Every arrival in the main terminal is an int'l flight so with the terminal layout how are they going to channel everyone from all gates to "direct to immigration, do not pass go?"

Some passengers are "transitos" catching another flight continuing on but CR is not a hub for any carrier that I know of, so I would think most arrivees are CR bound. And would Kolbi have expanded it's upstairs store if only outbound passengers could buy services, other than the few on line computers they rent by the minute, that would be useless on take off?

Western, I am sure you weren't misquoting, but what was the source of your info?

If it's going to be that way, I would predict longer immigration lines. Arrivees aren't going to stop and shop duty free, eat, go to Kolbi, etc. So if you get three of four arrivals at roughly the same time, you can imagine.

This change to the airport configuration was announced sometime ago.

SJO was one of the few airport that still allowed departing/arriving passengers to mix together in this new security orientated environment. This is the prime reason flight going to the U.S. require a secondary screening at the gate when boarding. I do not remember the article stating this but I believe pressure from the U.S. played a large role in this retrofit.

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

From the LaNacion article provided by DonCarlos :

"Consequences of change
When implementing the separation of passengers, arriving in the country may not make purchases in stores or at headquarters duty free Joint Social Assistance Institute (IMAS), which are mostly on the second floor. For now, Carlos Plass, CEO of Aeris, said work on the extension of the IMAS only store that is on the ground floor, near Migration in the baggage claim area. At present, this is an area of ​​28 square meters, but Aeris authorize the expansion to 95 square meters. The other effect of separation is that it could increase the time spent by passengers inside the terminal. Today, a tourist takes on average about 45 minutes. "

It'll be off to the races and the Immigration Line and then to the only Duty Free although they are supposedly making it much bigger. Any recent guys notice any construction down there? And I hope Kolbi expands on that level.

Let me add....check out this web page for a basic phone....voice and text.....for $20.00 with ¢10,000.00 Colones worth of talk time on it. Brand new....purchased at the ICE desk:

http://www.grupoice.com/wps/portal/!ut/ ... NMEI3VDA!/

_________________
"Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand."
- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Ch. 16

That's a great deal, do it if you are going to be spending most of your time in SJ. It's essentially a free phone when you add in the free minutes, and it saves you the hassle of bringing in an unlocked one. And it'll make a great propina with the last one you are with before heading to the airport.

Only problems I saw were that it is GSM and not 3G and I can tell you GSM is very spotty in many areas once you get out of SJ metro, so to speak, and I don't think it had SMS (text) capability. The web page Steve posted was in Spanish and I ain't no expert. The girls love to text, they live for it, like an addiction, dirt cheap for them.