www.CostaRicaTicas.com

will my sprint cell phone have any type of service?

I am fairly sure that as of right now only QUAD BAND GSM phones from Cingular/ATT AND T-MOBILE are the only two companies that have roaming agreements..

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Thank you for supporting CRT!

The only way to get service is with AT&T / Cingular. You need a tri-band or Quad band phone as these have coverage at 1800 and you must call AT&T to get international roaming enabled.

A Sprint or T-Mobile phone will not work.

It may be possible to use a Nextel but I don't know. There is a TDMA network that is available and I think Nextel uses that.

Correction
TMOBILE DOES WORK!


I have both and both work fine... must have 1800 GSM Band on the phone and have international roaming activated for whatever company you deal with.

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Thank you for supporting CRT!

I'm thinking of joining Cingular (not necessarily for the ability to use it in CR). I would like to know if this international roaming plan can be activiated immediately or is there some type of waiting period or do you have to unlock your phone.

Any experienced Cingular users please let me know


Thank you.

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

I like things that are built for speed!!!

I was with sprint in florida for 3 years until they tried charge me $150 to downgrade my hours and service. I'm delighted with cingular/att none of those surprise bills I got with sprint.

sprint is based on cdma technology which will be a LONG time coming to foreign countries. recommend you go with a gsm carrier as gsm is the worldwide standard.

cdma is admittedly better for cramming more information in a given spectrum but I'm not waiting around for it to get used worldwide.

last thing, a gsm phone in brazil is great you just buy a local sim card and you're paying local phone rates, less than 10 minutes in the local cell phone office.

My cingular phone worked in costa and ya know when i got my bill it wasn't that much. Of course i didn't use it that much, just to call GF and what not, but it wasn't bad at all!

T-Mobile may work for ADMIN-1 but my quad band did not work for me in March.

I switched from T-Mobile to Cingular/AT&T specifically for that reason. As of early May my quad band works everywhere I go except for Asia. The rate is $2.99/min for international calls to CR. Even if you dial a local number when in CR it will still be billed as an international call. The good news is that you do not need to dial the "+" when making a domestic call in CR as you are on the I.C.E. network. Any calls to the US will need the "+" when dialed.

Asia, Japan and Korea mostly, uses the 3G band width so you need a totally new phone. The good news is all you have to do is swap SIMS. Again international rates apply. Most of the major cell phone carriers will be switching over to 3G in the next few years anyway.

I have researched each of the larger mobile phone carriers. Cingular/AT&T are the only ones that have a formal agreement with I.C.E. . At least they are the only ones that publish it. T-Mobile has been in negotiations with I.C.E. but are very closed mouth about it. Sprint does not even list CR and some other Central American countires. Sprint has great advertising but lousy international coverge. Tried them already.

Any cell phone carrier does require you to activate international priveledges. Some charge you for it others are free. Cingular and T-Mobile DO NOTcharge for international priveledges. Rates can be anywhere from 1.99/min to 4.99/min. And you WILL be charged even if the call does not go through. Believe me, I just got my bill. There will also be additional charges which can add up, mostly in the form of taxes.

Bottom line: You are ROAMING so the charges are at the maximum.

Because I am in the states about 4 to 8 months of the year, the rest of the time I'm not sure where I am, I chose a cell phone carrier based on my needs for international and domestic calling. Cingular fit. The others did not. ( T-Mobile was a great second choice.)
Maybe I'll change my handle to GlobeTrotter it may be more fitting.

Make sure your phone is unlocked when you get it. That way you can get a local number any time you are over seas and the savings are well worth it. If it is not unlocked contact your carrier and get the code. It is a simple process to unlock it. If your phone is not SIMs equipped all bets are off.

I have posted on this subject earlier.

And NO, I do not work for a cell phone company.

Hey admin's; any chance of getting a spell checker for those of us keyboard impaired when posting? and yes I am joking.

Sprint now markets a quad-band phone that will work in CR.

HOWEVER, it is a complete ripoff compared to T-Mobile. First, the phone is a 'premium' phone with average features, selling for around $350 after rebates. Then, you pay $6/month for the priviledge of paying $1.50/minute in GSM locations.

Sprint Dual-band phones now work in many other places (Argentina, Chile, Guatamala, etc.), but cost $.99 paid to Sprint PLUS whatever fee the local telephone company charges, which will range between $1 and $5 per minute.

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SlickWings


Seems like I spend half my life drinking, gambling, and mongering. The other half... I waste.