Argentina Mobile Provider - Who Are You Using?

[sandybassett]

Hi Everyone,

Just wondering who your mobile provider of choice is in BsAs? Looking for good packages that include data for my unlocked smart phone.

Any and all advice is very welcome.

Cheers!

Sandy

 

[IABhutto]

Mostly people use Movistar but believe me you it's not good even 3g is at worst doesn't work, I pay 200 pesos per month and I am unable to use Internet made complaints many times no use. Btw IMHO Movistar is the best.

 

[germano]

Hi Everyone,

Just wondering who your mobile provider of choice is in BsAs? Looking for good packages that include data for my unlocked smart phone.

Any and all advice is very welcome.

Cheers!

Sandy

Prepaid or contract? In case you are looking for a contract with a focus on Internet usage then Claro Plan Control for $140 might not a bad deal. They give you 3 GB of data per month before they limit you speed. Plan includes 100 minutes to all carriers plus free calls to other Claro numbers for the first 6 months. I had Movistar before but had so many issues with their network (Internet). I don't have much experience with Personal.

 

[sandybassett]

Prepaid or contract? In case you are looking for a contract with a focus on Internet usage then Claro Plan Control for $140 might not a bad deal. They give you 3 GB of data per month before they limit you speed. Plan includes 100 minutes to all carriers plus free calls to other Claro numbers for the first 6 months. I had Movistar before but had so many issues with their network (Internet). I don't have much experience with Personal.

Thanks!

I don't think I'll be around for long enough to get any contract so pre-paid may be the way to go. Do they offer pre-paid packages that include data? Sorry, Canada has a very oppressive oligarchical telecoms system (I almost jumped out of my seat when you said you can get 3GB of data a month).

I believe I'll just need a SIM card to pop into my unlocked smart phone.

Canada is

 

[germano]

Thanks!

I don't think I'll be around for long enough to get any contract so pre-paid may be the way to go. Do they offer pre-paid packages that include data? Sorry, Canada has a very oppressive oligarchical telecoms system (I almost jumped out of my seat when you said you can get 3GB of data a month).

I believe I'll just need a SIM card to pop into my unlocked smart phone.

Canada is

Yes, you can get prepaid with Internet from all three (just buy a sim card and then charge it as needed at the kioskos etc.). Claro and Movistar charge $1 peso per day give you 10MB and then limit speed to 64 kbit/s. With claro you can get another 10MB at full speed for $1 by sending an SMS. Personal charges something like $2 pesos per day but you can get a monthly package starting at $28 pesos if I remember it correctly.

The per minute charges for phone calls are relatively high though. I know Claro charges $3 pesos per minute (with prepaid you can only call one other Claro number for free). If you are planning on making a lot of phone calls to different numbers then Personal might be a better option as they offer some "packs" that include minutes that you can activate as needed by sending an SMS or via the web. Here are the packs they currently offer: http://www.personal....home/index.html

 

[ARbound]

Thanks!

I don't think I'll be around for long enough to get any contract so pre-paid may be the way to go. Do they offer pre-paid packages that include data? Sorry, Canada has a very oppressive oligarchical telecoms system (I almost jumped out of my seat when you said you can get 3GB of data a month).

I believe I'll just need a SIM card to pop into my unlocked smart phone.

Canada is

Make sure your phone is unlocked. Any from Rogers, Bell, TELUS, Fido, KOODO, etc. should work. You may run in to issues if you try to use
WIND/Moblicity since the base bands are too high.

I brought my iPhone 5 I bought at the Apple Store unlocked in Toronto and it's fine. Now, be warned, as financially oppressive as Canadian
telecom companies are, you will NOT get the Data service you're used to. I had ~21mbps sometimes on my iPhone 5 in Toronto with
Koodo, but you will never see that here, ever. You won't be able to stream much or use Skype like I did in Canada, and like germano said,
after 10mb (about 2 songs worth of data) you will be shaped down to 64kbit a second (8 kbits faster than dialup, lol) so you will never
actually be able to use all the data in a package, so do the $1 ARS/day like I do.

I used Movistar in July/August when I got here and it was shit. Terrible, and my roommate/friend is suing them because they're trying to
collect on the contract he signed, but he couldn't use data ever (have you ever seen O or GPRS on your phone where LTE/4G/3G is,
if not you will with Movistar, and even Claro or Personal sometimes, though it's mainly 3G/EDGE) and when he did it wasn't 3G even
though we live in Palermo. He had a Blackberry, threw out the Movistar SIM and went with Claro and it actually works now.

So, long story short, I recommend Personal. For $28 ARS ($5.75 CAD *dolar blue*) you can have unlimited internet, or at least 10mbs
at 3G, but to be honest I've had days where I've used maybe 3-4 times that, and it's not slowed down.

For calling Canada, get a Skype North America plan, $2.99/month. Otherwise it's $5 ARS/min on Movistar or Personal.

 

[sandybassett]

Thanks, this is all great information. I really appreciate your feedback.

 

[PhilipDT]

I have personal. I pay 240 pesos amonth for 600 minutes to any landline or cell phone in the Americas, unlimited calling to 9 other personal cell number plus one domestic landline, 250 sms, and 250 mms and unlimited internet (theoretically it gets throttled back after 2gbs but I've exceded that several times and never had anything happen).

Coverage is not the best and I occasionally have drop calls and not so occasionally lose internet connectivity but they have excellent customer service (for argentina) and the plan is cheap and allows me to not have to think about my phone plan. I just use it.

Personal isn't perfect but all in all I'm very content with my service and a lot happier than I was on movistar.

 

[Napoleon]

Prepaid Movistar and I'm extremely happy with it. I have a "smart phone" (iPhone 4) and use the 3G for 1 little peso every day. That's like US$3.10/month for WiFi access. Not too shabby.

 

[bobg]

I am trying to figure out an inexpensive way to have internet access here on my cell phone. I am using Personal. My research here indicates that all I have to do is

[background=rgb(247, 8, 137)]Activalo ahora, [/background]​

[background=rgb(247, 8, 137)]enviá [/background]​

[background=rgb(247, 8, 137)]ACT INTERNET30[/background]​

[background=rgb(247, 8, 137)] al [/background]​

[background=rgb(247, 8, 137)]152[/background]​

But I am not certain what that means. Does it mean to dial *152 ACT INTERNET30# ?

Is there a less expensive option if I need infrequent access. I saw something about 24 hours for 1 or 2 pesos but I am not sure if Personal offers it and if they do how to obtain it.

Thanks, Bob