Costa Rica Tourism and Retirement Guide
Telephone and Cellular
cellular phones
Unless you have residence in Costa Rica you cannot get a cell phone in your
name. As a short term solution you can rent a cell phone at:
Cellservicecr
Gsmrentalcell
Dollar Rent a Car and some of the other rental car operations will, as an add-on to car rental, rent you a cell phone for free with a minimum 5 minute a day charge. See more at Tico Celular.
long distance and local calling
The cheapest is to buy a pre-paid international phone card in Costa Rica. You will pay about 30 cents per minute for international calls). Pre-paid local calling cards are also available at many stores. Avoid the credit card phones at hotels (especially the ones that make you call *055). Many of them charge outrageous rates of $40 for a few minutes and up.
AT&T 0-800-011-4114
MCI 012-2222
Sprint 013-0123
Int operator 116
Skype at internet cafes
You will be able to call for about $0.02/min to many countries using a Skype account. This allows you to make phone calls over the internet, either to other computers (free) or to land lines. Not all internet cafes have Skype on their computers. Before you visit Costa Rica you can set up the Skype program on a USB memory stick. Bring your own headset to the internet cafe also. Remember to log off before you leave the internet cafe!