www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Guys,

Did a search but the results just showed stuff about renting cell phones over there, which is NOT what I am trying to find.

HERE'S MY QUESTION:

What AMERICAN cell phone services can be picked up in Costa Rica (i.e. Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, Cingular, etc. etc....)?

I am switching jobs soon and am allowed any phone service I want, so I have complete purchasing freedom on what cell service I choose. I currently have Sprint and it NEVER received any signal over in CR. I would like to switch to a company where I can still receive my work-related phone calls on my own phone number while in Paradise... Can anyone help me out with this?

In addition to that, is these a special type of CELL PHONE I need to buy, or a special type of program/service within said AMERICAN company that I need to get when I start my service contract? Prices on gadgets/special service/minutes while in Paradise, etc etc. would be GREATLY APPRECIATED.

Thanks guys!

Ruffnutz

_________________
EVERYONE'S A ROCK STAR IN C.R.!!
"Just when I thought I was out... They pull me back in." -- Ruffnutz on trying to quit CRT

Hey Ruff,
I have Cingular and have service while there, they do have a plan you can get. All you need is a triban phone. I Lean towards quad ban. Still text messages and calls were possible for me every time I went this year.

1800 Quad Band Phone.. YOU MUST have either cingular / ATT or T-Mobile. I have both and both work.. $1.99 p/minute inbound or outbound even in country... No they do not accept foreign sim cards...

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Thank you for supporting CRT!

RN,

I have Cingular service and a Moto Razr phone. and yes I had service when I was in CR in September. I don't remember all the details, but I believe the calls cost around 1.99 a minute or something. I didn't use it a whole lot, but it was nice to know I could if I needed to.

I'm pretty sure it depends mostly on the phone, mine is a 4 band phone that switches to I.C.E when I am there. I guess that's the network in CR.

I did check with Cingular here in Memphis before I came down for a package to make it cheaper to use, but the only thing they had was a deal that made it cheaper to call CR from the US so I passed.

Anyway I hope this helps.

Good luck in your poker tourney...Damn I wish I was there for that!


Maboman

I was just there this weekend for the first time. I have a Treo which is a quad phone. It received ICE. But what I found was if the phone is on it works perfectly. If you turn it off it tells callers you are unavailable because you are international.

When I called Cingular to complain because, I was told when the phone was off it would go to email, no one at Cingular could explain it.

It is $2.29 a minute and keep your phone on.

Ruff, I have Cingular for my cell service. I also have a Motorola V551 phone. This is a very popular phone. It works great in CR. But, I'm warning you....use it sparingly. Also, after you get the service, make sure that you add international roaming. You have to contact Cingular to do this. It is free. Also, if you plan on calling from the US to CR, add the international calling package for Costa Rica to your plan. It's inexpensive. Can't remember exactly how much. But, your US based calls to CR are 25 cents per minute. Hope this helps.

dapanz1

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Paradise= Sitting outside the Bodega in Panama City about 1 am. Drinking cool Balboas with cool friends and blazin' hot Colombianas. I want to be there..RIGHT NOW!

You do not necessarily need a quad band phone. But you do need a phone that is GSM 1800. Cingular and T-Mobile works okay there.
While on the topic, has anyone tried text messaging TO CR, or IN CR?
Im really curious if this works.
OD

I have tried text messaging from US to CR. Apparently, it does not work. I have not tried text messaging from CR to a CR phone nor from CR to a US based phone. But, on Thursday, I'll give both a try and let you know.

dapanz1

_________________
Paradise= Sitting outside the Bodega in Panama City about 1 am. Drinking cool Balboas with cool friends and blazin' hot Colombianas. I want to be there..RIGHT NOW!

gents,

i am making a trip to CR in january and would like to have use of a cell phone but certainly do not think that it is worth $2-$3 per minute. A couple of questions --

1. when traveling most places in the world, the best answer for me has been to pick up a local SIM card and buy prepaid minutes (many services allow incoming calls for free). in all my research, there does not seem to be much on picking up SIM cards in CR -- does anyone know if i can get one at the liberia airport and, if so, what the cost is?

2. assuming that the SIM card idea does not work, what is the next best idea for having reasonable cell phone service for a week in CR. i am NOT looking for my US number to follow me -- a local (506) number is preferred.

thanks,

T-Mobile now works, at least in San Jose. This is a fairly recent development, as it had never worked there prior to my most recent trip in November.

SIM cards are not available except from ICE, the CR Government monopoly, and they will not sell them to anyone who does not have a CR phone line.

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

Wound up getting Cingular after all the advice I got on this...THANKS GUYS... but in the end it doesn't help much... See, even though I can get phone calls in CR, the ring tone that a caller hears when I am in CR is the CostaRican/European ring tone, not the American one, so it gives me away as to not being in the states... Is there any way of solving THIS problem?? I would like it to where the caller cannot tell, either by ringtone or caller-id, that I am out of town.

Any info would be great! THANK YOU!

Ruffnutz

_________________
EVERYONE'S A ROCK STAR IN C.R.!!
"Just when I thought I was out... They pull me back in." -- Ruffnutz on trying to quit CRT

I have only had one person pick up on the fact the ring tone is International...... but yes I do understand the problem, but do not yet have a solution.

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Thank you for supporting CRT!

Correct. The only person who has ever commented on the strange ring was dear ole mom. "How come when you go out of town and I call your phone it sounds so different?" Hmmm...good question. I doubt if there is any way to change that.

dapanz1

_________________
Paradise= Sitting outside the Bodega in Panama City about 1 am. Drinking cool Balboas with cool friends and blazin' hot Colombianas. I want to be there..RIGHT NOW!

...for all the help. it looks like i am just going to forget the cell phone for the trip - probably better anyway...

and, i totally do not understand why the ICE would not sell a local SIM card (and minutes) to anyone who wanted to pay...seems like the revenue maximizing thing to do...exhibit #1 is me who will not turn his cell phone on in the country -- will use a calling card to check vm's once in a while...