Phone Usuage in South America

[TEACH6868]

I have a question concerning phone usuage in South America. We will be leaving for a cruise through the Panama Canal and onto South America very soon. I have not seen any mention on the forum of cell phone usuage. We checked with our phone company and rates seem extremely high in South America. Are there any other options that we might be missing? We do use the internet to stay in touch with family, but 4 weeks without checking on phone messages seems like a long time.

[emileg]

I have a question concerning phone usuage in South America. We will be leaving for a cruise through the Panama Canal and onto South America very soon. I have not seen any mention on the forum of cell phone usuage. We checked with our phone company and rates seem extremely high in South America. Are there any other options that we might be missing? We do use the internet to stay in touch with family, but 4 weeks without checking on phone messages seems like a long time.

We were in South America this past January. Throughout Chili, Uruguay and Argentina 3G service was available. We bought the AT&T 200 megabyte data plan for $200. However, now you get 800 megabytes for the same price. Free wifi was available in our hotel in Santiago. We also bought an Internet plan on the ship. Unfortunately, there is no inexpensive way to do this. Just "byte" the bullet.

[sandyss]

You might consider buying an unlocked GSM phone. Then you have two options.

 

1) You can purchase a sim card in the country that you are visiting for very cheap calls.

 

2) The other option is getting a sim card from a provider like Global Sim where calls from Argentina, for example, cost $1.29/minute. Chile is cheaper, $0.65/minute. You can use their sim card for calls to or from any country.

[Christine Frances]

You could also buy a Mobal World Phone http://www.mobal.com/international-cell-phones/

 

No roaming charges, no monthly fees and cheap calling rates. We charge ours up when we travel and the rest of the time it sits in a drawer. We have an elderly parent and need to be available if an emergency occurs so it gives us peace of mind.

[Project_gal]

but 4 weeks without checking on phone messages seems like a long time.

 

One of the best parts of cruising!

 

More seriously, we just take the option of leaving all the contact details for us at home [ship and pre-/post-cruise hotels] with our detailed itinerary. We can then always be contacted in an emergengy. Anything else can wait until we return.

 

Sue

[jdvmd]

You could also buy a Mobal World Phone http://www.mobal.com/international-cell-phones/

 

No roaming charges, no monthly fees and cheap calling rates. We charge ours up when we travel and the rest of the time it sits in a drawer. We have an elderly parent and need to be available if an emergency occurs so it gives us peace of mind.

So it works well? Seems like a good option.

[Christine Frances]

It works really well. We had good cellular coverage for the whole month of our Asia trip this year. I think it is much cheaper than buying an "unlocked phone" and then having to buy chips for each country. You can check the rates and what countries are covered for each phone they offer. I also find their Customer Service easy to contact and knowledgable.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[TEACH6868]

You could also buy a Mobal World Phone http://www.mobal.com/international-cell-phones/

 

No roaming charges, no monthly fees and cheap calling rates. We charge ours up when we travel and the rest of the time it sits in a drawer. We have an elderly parent and need to be available if an emergency occurs so it gives us peace of mind.

 

Thanks for the link!! It looks like a very good option.:)

[TEACH6868]

I have a question concerning phone usage in South America. We will be leaving for a cruise through the Panama Canal and onto South America very soon. I have not seen any mention on the forum of cell phone usage. We checked with our phone company and rates seem extremely high in South America. Are there any other options that we might be missing? We do use the internet to stay in touch with family, but 4 weeks without checking on phone messages seems like a long time.

:confused::confused::confused:

[jdvmd]

It works really well. We had good cellular coverage for the whole month of our Asia trip this year. I think it is much cheaper than buying an "unlocked phone" and then having to buy chips for each country. You can check the rates and what countries are covered for each phone they offer. I also find their Customer Service easy to contact and knowledgable.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Great to hear! I have bookmarked the website and will be checking into buying one. Thanks!

[Tropic]

One of the ways I take care of phones msgs while on cruises is that my carrier is set up to email me when there are msgs. Then I can log on with the web and get my msgs streamed to my computer. Works fine. If you have more than one number "forward" the others to a single phone so you are not having to check multiple locations. Hope this might work for you.

 

I have used unlocked phones for many years and unless you are going to be within any country's calling area of the sim card you purchase it's just not worthwhile and difiicult to use because of language if they don't have an english or whatever you speak version. Plus like in Brazil as you go from port to port sometimes they work and in some ports they don't work depending on where the carrier has operations. If you are going to be in a country for at least a week or more then consider it and maybe a tour guide at your first port can help you buy the sim and set up some minutes for you.

 

Your carrier at home may have a "reduced" rate program that you can initiate with your phone before you leave.... also if you don't have gsm service you may have some trouble in other countries... most (not all) only really have gsm, so be sure to check that out ahead of time.

[Topo Gigio]

If you take your laptop with you can buy a Magic Jack and make some calls where there is WIFI. South America is also known to have calling cabins everywhere at very cheap prices and especially to the USA!