The Costa Rican government has a monopoly on the cellular phone service in Costa Rica. There is no competition, only one authorized service provider, ICE (this is pronounced “E” (like in “even”), “say”) (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad).
Cellular phones are as popular here as they are in any other country and are often used in place of a land line phone. Because land line phones also have a monthly fee and you get charged for all outgoing calls after the first 60 minutes, cell phones are at least an equal substitution for land line phones if not a better option because of their portability. All calling charges are the same for both cell and land line phones.
There are two types of cellular technology available in Costa Rica. They are the GSM and TDMA. The older lines are TDMA but often receive more consistent and better service in the areas where they receive signals, but TDMA receives signals in fewer locations in Costa Rica.
GSM is the newer technology and covers a wider range of areas within Costa Rica. Currently there are 536,133 (as of 01/06) TDMA lines in use with no available new contracts. There are 584,427 of GSM lines in use (as of 01/06), and new lines are released every year to meet the growing demand for cell phones.
GSM technology uses a SIMS card or chip and is most commonly known as a “world phone”. Cingular and T-Mobile are two U.S. based companies that offer this type of technology in the States. You can use the same cell phone in many countries by purchasing a new chip for each country. These are usually a form of pre-paid service.
Step by Step: How to Get a Cell Phone
As a foreigner, there are two ways to get a cell phone in Costa Rica.
Option 1:
If you do not have official status as a resident or citizen of Costa Rica then you will need to use someone else’s name who does qualify, to put the line in their name, and then you can just pay the bills. Or find someone with a line you can “borrow”. Costa Ricans will often rent an extra line to someone they know. Usually they ask for a deposit for the line and the phone and then you pay the bills.
Under this scenario, anytime you want to make a change to the account, the owner of the line has to do it. So for example if you want to add international dialing access, the owner of the line must go to ICE and authorize this change.
Option 2:
The other way to obtain a cell phone is to apply for the line yourself. You must have some sort of legal status as a citizen or resident. Or, if you own a business, you can use the name of the business to apply for a line. Even to apply for a land line phones this is true.
Only new GSM lines are being released these days, and even this is on an irregular basis. The announcement will be in the news and in the newspapers. Keep an eye out for this announcement.
On the morning that the lines are being release, go to ICE bright and early and be prepared to wait in line, potentially all day. Once inside, pay the 12,500 colon fee and boom, you’ve got a working cell number. Now you just need to put your chip in your GSM phone and you will have a working cell phone. It might be a good idea to purchase the phone ahead of time and bring it and the receipt with you to ICE.
On a monthly basis ICE will text message you with the amount of your bill. You can also dial 187* from your phone and follow the menu options for the amount of your bill (4#, 1#, your cell phone number) You can pay your bill over the internet through online banking or at many stores and other locations including banks, grocery stores, satellite ICE offices and others.
Cellular bills are on a three month delay, so you won't receive a bill for three months, and thereafter, you will always be paying for service you used three months ago. Lately, the ICE automated billing service has been malfunctioning and customers have been known to receive a notice of cancellation for an over due bill eventhough the account is up to date.
Basic monthly fees for cell phones is relatively inexpensive. (See our for more information) All incoming calls are free, but outgoing long distance rates can be exorbitant. It is the same rate, day or night, to call the states (.27). Text messages are cheap and therefore popular. Voice mail, call waiting and caller ID are all part of the cellular plan options and are available at an additional fee.
Other Options:
You can also rent cell phones from a variety of companies including car rental companies in Costa Rica. Search the internet using “cell phone Costa Rica“ and you will find a number of options. Be careful of minimum calling charges per day, this is not an inexpensive alternative to owninga cell phone line of your own.
You are often charged for a minimum number of calls or minutes per day whether you use them or not. Read all the fine print. A major disadvantage to this service is that the number will never be yours to keep.
Internet Access via Cell Phone:
If you have a GSM line, and your phone supports Internet access, you can go to ICE and pay an additional fee for this extra cellular service. Then you need to go to the RACSA office to get Internet access, if you don’t already have it at home. You can use your cell phone to connect to your laptop or other computer to the Internet. Its not the best wireless access, but it works, and it’s mobile all over the country wherever you have a signal on your phone.
For more information, please see:
Cell phones in Costa Rica
Communications: Phones & Internet
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