Cell Phone

Others will be WAY more qualified to answer your question than I as I am just starting to look into this myself. I don’t have a smart phone, but my husband does, and here is what little we have found out so far. I have been advised by the people at Verizon to buy an unlocked smart phone and then buy a SIM card in CR. I currently have an unlocked Nokia phone (not smart) that I use when we go to CR. I buy a SIM card at the airport. Then when you return to your home country you can put another SIM card into it. We have also been advised by our friends in CR to buy an Iphone. The person we talked to at Verizon suggested we use either AT&T or T-Mobile for when we are back in the States.

ATT works great in most areas of Costa Rica. No need to be flipping about. Sign up for World Traveler ($5.99 per month) and ATT World Connect ($3.99 per month) and you are all set. Both of these programs allow you to jump on and off as needed without affecting your basic plan so if you are going to CR in October – just call them in September tell them you want to be on these two for the month of September only and that’s it.

I think it makes your basic call about $1.20 a minute to or from Costa Rica and allows unlimited text and data internationally.

[quote=”CHERYLJK”]JohnR,

I’m not sure these programs are what I want. According to their web site, Traveler costs either $60 or 120/month, depending on the minutes. They both seem to be geared towards international calling. I need a phone for in-country as I rarely make international calls. But I do plan on visiting our local ATT store and checking these plans out because I realize I might misunderstand something, plus it never hurts to check out all your options. So I thank you for your input!![/quote]

No problem – you are correct – these programs save money when calling outside CR while you are there, so if you really just want to call in CR – you can just pick up a cheap phone there – perhaps someone can comment that has done this in the last couple of years but it used to be a CR citizen had to buy the phone but I’m guessing that has changed with CAFTA.

I have an LG phone that I got from Google. It is a Nexus 5. I got a sim card from the country run ICE. It is a pay as you go kinda thing. You put money on it and use it. I found it to be EXTREMELY cheap by any standard. When I am not there, my girlfriend uses it in her phone. My 2 cents worth.

For cheap in country (CR) calling just buy a Kolbi (ICE) prepaid phone at the airport. Time can be added just about anywhere they have the Kolbi sign (Little Green Frog)… give them your number (or as I do have it taped on the back of the phone) and tell them how much you want added to the account. Takes less then a minute… and you get a text message with the refill info. The phone is also good for international calling at very competitive rates.

You also have a local phone number rather than your number in the states. They also offer a prepaid internet plan for your computer… just as simple and cheap.