Can we buy a SIM card in Costa Rica?

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  • #160515
    olsgaard
    Member

    Hey.

    We live in Europe – Denmark – and have bought a lot in CR.

    Therefore we are returning to CR 2-3 times a year.

    Is it able to buy a simcard in CR and keep the number – eventhoug we dont use the phone to 4-6 months?

    Can we top the simcard – from abroad. We do have an account in BN (Banco National)- but no cedula.

    #160516
    BillNew
    Participant

    Yes …

    You can buy a SIM card and keep the number.

    You can reload it from online banking @ BN.

    But, you may not need to.

    Cellular companies are changing their “world” platforms very quickly now.

    For instance, two years ago Sprint would charge US users ~$2.30/min to use their phones in CR. Now, you can sign up for their “One World” program (no cost) and talk, text, and 1 GB data/month is free in CR. You should check all of your available carriers to see if anyone offers a comparable program.

    Upon arriving in CR, you simply go to your phone’s settings menu and select the preferred provider from the preferred providers list and ensure that you have enabled both voice and data roaming.

    I generally change mine as the plane is taxiing to the ramp.

    The old way was to simply buy a dual sim phone and leave one in for your home country and one from CR. I never ran into a situation where I needed to reload one from abroad … though it is possible. With the huge availability of WiFi now and just about every carrier having an app to talk over WiFi, you really don’t need a lot of minutes unless you’re on the road. And that’s without even talking about Skype or any other of dozens of other apps.

    There are also a multitude of services that allow you to have virtual numbers in just about any place on Earth for $1/month … and they will port (forward) the call to any number that you set.

    If I were you, I would wait until I had a bit more roots in CR than a lot before worrying about things like this …

    The excitement may wear off faster than you anticipated …

    Take care,

    Bill

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