Odds are pretty good they’ll speak English but it would be polite to try You also need your passport to register the phone number of your new SIM card. At the time of writing you had to pay in colones and cash only so you may need the airport ATM. The easiest place to get a prepaid phone or SIM for your unlocked phone is in the airport.

Useful apps | will my phone work? | free calling | coverage Purchasing a SIM/Prepaid Phone ICE/Kolbi SIM card kiosk in SJO airport opposite baggage carousel two (after immigration before customs) After eight minutes your $20 prepaid card will be exhausted and the call will end (instead of running the bill up to a thousand bucks like it would if you were roaming). Local calls are about $0.10 a minute but with either of these options you’ll still pay upwards of $2.25 a minute for international calls. If you don’t have an unlocked phone or don’t want to risk your expensive phone while waterfall rappelling in the rain forest you can buy a cheap phone, stick the prepaid SIM card in and off you go. If you have an unlocked Quad-band phone you can buy a local Costa Rican phone number on a prepaid SIM card, insert it in your phone, enter the PIN (on the card holder or receipt) and dial away. It’s much simpler to just make sure the SIM is properly installed and functioning while you’re still at the kiosk/phone store. Tech support is enough of an ordeal in your native language and without having to borrow a phone to call customer service (because obviously yours isn’t working…). We highly recommend that you have the SIM card installed by the tech where you purchase it and make sure it is working (place a call) before leaving. Useful apps | will my phone work? | free calling | coverage Prepaid SIM Cards Otherwise if you really cannot live without it you’ll have to buy a phone or a local SIM card to convert your phone to a Costa Rican phone number.Ī new phone with a Costa Rican SIM card and phone number capable of texting and limited internet capabilities with a 30 day talk and data plan is just under $30 from the Kolbi kiosk in the Cariari mall east of SJO airport.

Almost any phone since 2016 will work but without a prepaid international plan the roaming fees (no, the “unlimited talk and text” you think you have is not really unlimited) may be huge. and Canadian providers offer reasonable service and rates for you to use your own cell phone and number in Costa Rica. If you purchase an international plan in advance most U.S. Seriously? Tourist on her phone in the hot spring pool Rio Perdido. Best Places to See Wildlife in Costa Rica.

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