Immigration, cedulas, cell phones, oh my!

[wmaes47]

Maravilla

There is not a problem with cell phone numbers on the GSM service. There is an over abundance of numbers when I received mine six months ago. This will work well in your area and around the country. Everyone on the TDMA service will be switched to GSM eventually and will be able to keep their current TDMA number. There are several more towers being errected around the country at this time and will give better service in the future. GSM service is the way to go.

Buy a cheap phone on E-Bay. It should be one of the tri-mode phones and must be UNLOCKED. If you have T-Mobile service in the States, you can get a phone unlocked for FREE with them. You must have 90 days service with T-Mobile before they will unlock a phone.

The feequency used for GSM in Costa Rica is 1850 mHz for your knowledge bank.

I went to the San Ramon ICE office with Mauricio and had him sign for the phone under his name. J or J could do that for you.

When you apply, you will be required to pay the first months and an equal amount startup for a total of 50,000 colones. This is paid around the corner to the North of the ICE office then return with the receipt to get the SIM Card and number. You will just walk to the previous window and not have to take another number. Take your phone and receipt with you as they will install the SIM card to make sure it works.

Numbers are ramdomly given. If you want a special number there is an additional charge of US$45 for something you want to have as a number.

The reason I had Mauricio sign up for the phone is that ICE required a letter from my attorney stating that I had authority to conduct business for the SA corporation. When I arrive 10th October ’06 I will have the letter and switch the phone to tyhe corporation.

The last bill I paid from the States online was $7.05 for a basic service with 60 minutes of phone use.

I use the online service of Banco de Costa Rica to pay cell phone, water and electricity. Everything I pay is from a savings account which I have a VISA Debit Card to use around the country. If you want to obtain money or use your card while you are in the US or elsewhere, make sure you have your issueing bank give you an International use debit card. They do have an in country only use card.

Call me, please.

Regards
Bill Maes

Edited on Sep 05, 2006 07:42

Edited on Sep 05, 2006 15:16

[maravilla]

Hola, Bill, thanks for the treastise on cell phones, which I have printed out and will take with me when I come down this month. Your information was very helpful, but currently I do not have a cell phone so I would have trouble getting one “unlocked” here wouldn’t I? How much cheaper will it be to buy a phone here as opposed to CR? If it’s more money but less hassle, then that’s for me! I have a very low tolerance for things that become difficult. jejeje I’ve lost your phone number Bill so you call me. Thanks.

As for the bank account situation, I was informed by Banex that in the last year “things” have changed with how most bank accounts are opened, not because of Costa Rica, but because of the US BANKING LAWS and our supposed war on terror. When I filled out my application for a personal account at Banex, at the top of the application was this notation (in very tiny print) –“this application complies with all the rules and regulations for the Know Your Customer program” — which, if you don’t know, was the program instituted in the late 80’s to track illegal drug money. So what someone did or didn’t do a year or two ago may be very different than what can be done today or yesterday.

[maravilla]

One more thing Bill — you must have other people in your corportion, right? There is only ME in MY corporation, so all the paperwork I have states that I can conduct all business with regard to that corporation, or was there some other reason why you had to have a letter from your abogado?

[wmaes47]

Maravilla

There are others in one of the SA corporation that owns the big property. The one SA I have is for my Landcruiser and the cell phone under is me only. For legal and other possible reasons. I keep the Landcruiser with insurance under this corporation for liability reasons.

ICE in San Ramon asked for “a certification of your full power of attorney” for me to conduct business. I assume that they do not want to muddle through the books of the corporation and want to know that the corporation stocks have not been transfered to another person.

When I transfered a large amount into the corporate Banco de Costa Rica account May 2005, they asked for proof as to where the money had originated. It was finally released with proof of purchase of a property.

I have an unlocked cell phone you can have for a case of Bavaria Light beer in San Ramon. No bells and whistles, but a T-Mobile, tri-mode, unlocked functional phone… and I can fake a “bill of sale” they will not question.

I will call soon.

Cheers
Bill Maes

Edited on Sep 05, 2006 15:15

[maravilla]

I don’t want bells and whistles. No bluetooth or camera phone either. I just need to be able to make a call and receive calls, and I will be happy to buy you a case of whatever you want in exchange for something that is idiot proof and stress free!! You’re a real pal! Thanks.

[wmaes47]

ICE Plans Tender For A Million Cellular Lines:

Costa Rica’s monopoly on telecommunications, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) expects to launch a tender for at least a million cellular lines next year, with a view to having them available in 2008, according to ICE mobile services director Orlando Cascante.

From Insidecvostarica.com

Cheers
Bill Maes

[MarilynSunshine]

I walked into a T-Mobile store today to ask about this and was told that they don’t unlock phones. I asked where and how much and was told that there were a couple of places in Orlando and the cost would be about $40.00. Of course, it’s possible the person I was talking to didn’t know; there’s always customer service to call. T-Mobile customer service is, in my opinion, fantastic; I’m going to be very sorry to give them up when I move.

What’s the approximate price in CR for unlocking a phone?

[mediatica]

I don’t understand what you mean by ‘unlocking’ the phone. I bought my phone (actually two of them; Samsung model) from the T-Mobile store in Tampa. I took both phones in the box, handed them with receipts in the box to my cousin with a copy of my and my husbands passport. She went and hooked them up with ICE in July. That simple. Well, that simple if you have a relative. Otherwise you can also hook it up in your C.R corporation or S.A. Whoever said you have to unlock the phone isn’t right. I took the phones brand new to C.R and they work great. No tricks.

Edited on Sep 14, 2006 04:58

[*Lotus]

MS you are correct, T-Mobile will not unlock a phone for you. When you get a phone from a provider the phone is set up to only work with the provider who issued you the phone(Locked), you can have a phone un locked which allows it to work with any provider of service. What this means if you have a phone that was provided to you from cinqular, it will not work if you decided to switch to T-Mobile, unless you “un lock” it. They probably do this because most providers either give you a phone for free or at a discount when you sign up. $40 dollars to un lock a phone is the going rate, but if you shop around a little bit you may find someone to do it for you for half that. Also be careful buying a phone on e bay, I recently did this and the phone was not un locked as the ad specified. I had to file a complaint with pay pal and eventually got a refund and sent the phone back…just the kind of hassle I don’t need!! I am surprised to hear a phone someone bought from T Mobile here in the states worked with a Costa Rica service provider, perhaps they un locked it for you? It’s a mystery…

[MarilynSunshine]

I don’t bother with filing complaints with paypal. I pay with a credit card through paypal and dispute with my own credit card company. This is automatic — file a dispute and the charge is removed until the credit card company (bank) deals with paypal and the vendor. I’m going through this right now. I disputed the charge with my bank and a few days later got a notice from paypal that the bank had sent this concern to them. In the meantime, the charge was deducted from my credit card statement.

[wmaes47]

I don’t know why the two phone from T-Mobile worked in Costa Rica. I would think that they were able to unlock them at the ICE office. Perhaps mediatica had the luck of the draw.

The sales people in the store are exactly that, order takers. They don’t know their products that well and seldom know of new products you see on TV.

T-Mobile must unlock their issued phones in order for them to work with another carrier, including ICE. I was mislead the first time that I had taken a phone to Costa Rica and it would not work. I placed the SIM card in the slot, put the battery back in and turned it on. On screen it asked for the code.

Call the T-Mobile customer service number and ask for the SIM unlock code for your phone. If you have been a customer for 90 days or longer they will unlock your phone. T-Mobile customer care will ask for a IMEI number off the phone to verify it is not stolen, it is their phone and to get the unlock code from the manufacturer. The IMEI is a number that identifies individual celluar phones.

You can get the 15 digit IMEI from under the battery, generally or enter the following sequence of characters on the keypad to get the IMEI number. Enter *#06#

Write it down carefully before calling Customer Care at T-Mobile for a SIM Unlock Code. It generally takes two weeks. They can send the unlock code in the mail oe e-mail it to you.

Here is a copy of the last SIM Unlock I received:

T-Mobile Sim Unlock Request
Sim Unlock Reference: 1243852
IMEI: 359804001172602

Unlock Code: 45746785

Thank you for taking the time to contact T-Mobile. Below you will see the Instructions for unlocking your Motorola device.

Before you start you must have a foreign (non-T Mobile) SIM card entered into the handset. If the display reads “Enter Special Code”, enter the unlock code and press “OK”. If the display does not ask for Special code, please enter the instructions below.

1.Press the Menu key on the keypad, and then quickly press 073887*.You should see the Enter Security Code screen.
2.Enter 000000 and select OK.
3.Scroll to Unlock SIM select it.
4.Enter the SIM unlock code and select OK.
5.Press the End key to return to the main screen.

NOTE: If the phone displays, “Please wait to enter special code” or “Contact service provider,” you will have to wait for it to change back. Please be aware that the phone must stay powered on to do this. If the battery is low, be sure to plug it in. It could take 15 minutes to an hour to change back. If the phone does not change back, the handset will need to be replaced.

Thank You,

Sim Unlock Department
T-Mobile USA, Inc.

Pura Vida
Bill Maes

[MarilynSunshine]

This is great information, Bill! Thanks much. 🙂

[Author]

Posts