Mobile phone use in south america

willis

Hey,

Was just wondering what people normally do in south america regarding mobile phones?like do people say bring an unlocked phone, and if u plan on being in a country for say 4 or more weeks, buy a prepaid sim and work off that,so u can contact your travelling buddies etc? that would be a lot cheaper obviously than texting each other via your irish phones,any1 care to share their experience on the subject?

RATM

Chances are you'll be in an internet cafe at least once every 3 days. Register your phone with your network and you'll get 250-300 free webtexts. Send them from the web while you are emailing/surfing and you can reply as the texts come in.
Otherwise unlock your phone and buy a local sim-it will work out more expensive than webtext though, probably not worth it if you are only away for 4 weeks.

Also O2 give international webtexts for free- I dont think any other Irish operator does this.It means you can text mates in the UK/EU for free as well rather than paying a premium for an international text.

Neamhshuntasach

Buy a cheap phone with Movistar. You can get them for around 15 euros. That network is in all countries i think and it just switches to the regional one when you cross over. I had problems texting home from it though. But should be grand anywhere in Latin America.

lady_j

O2 works the best, and you can send texts from web. A lot of people travelling in South America, so you're more likely to communicate with fellow travellers via facebook etc. meteor require you buy a huge of credit before it'll work abroad, not worth it.

darrenh

I got a pre-paid sim in Argentina and I couldn't text home. it would do everything else. I wasn't on facebook before I left but I am now. Its the travelers mobile you'll see. I had my meteor chip with me but ended up losing my phone in La Paz two months ago and have been just fine without. I hated having it anyway so it was a blessing!