Best Cell Phone Carrier? Moviestar Or Claro?

[germano]

I had first personal but noticed that in rural areas they roam on the movistar network which worked for phone calls - but not for Internet (could not use google maps etc. while on the road). After that I switched to prepaid Movistar. At first it worked - then after moving to a new house problems with the network coverage became an issue. People would not hear me etc. In addition the internet would stop working sometimes even if the phone had a strong signal. A friend with a Movistar contract has the same issues (Internet net would sometimes just not work) so it is not just with pre-paid. Now I am on Claro pre-paid. So far it seems to be working fine (both for calls and for using mobile Internet). The downside of the Claro prepaid is that they charge you 3 pesos per minute for outgoing calls.

 

[iffitheking]

Well, if you are thinking about using 3g. Then I am afraid no service is better here, but if you are looking service provider who charges you less.. I guess Movistar is better

 

[PhilipDT]

Ive posted about this before, had Movistar but got fed up with the 3G service, switched to personal which is slightly better for data but worse for calls. Thought about switching to Claro but the fact that personal lets me make calls to the US for no extra charge is keeping me in place. That and the fact that they have MUCH better customer service than Movistar.

 

[PhilipDT]

I had first personal but noticed that in rural areas they roam on the movistar network which worked for phone calls - but not for Internet (could not use google maps etc. while on the road). After that I switched to prepaid Movistar. At first it worked - then after moving to a new house problems with the network coverage became an issue. People would not hear me etc. In addition the internet would stop working sometimes even if the phone had a strong signal. A friend with a Movistar contract has the same issues (Internet net would sometimes just not work) so it is not just with pre-paid. Now I am on Claro pre-paid. So far it seems to be working fine (both for calls and for using mobile Internet). The downside of the Claro prepaid is that they charge you 3 pesos per minute for outgoing calls.

Do you have a smart phone, check to see if data roaming is on, on iPhones at least it is off by default. I had the same problem as you when traveling to other parts of the country until I remembered to turn it on and I get call and data roaming on both Movistar and Claro (Movistar is the default but if you manually select your carrier you can choose Claro)

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

Movistar Blackberry on a business contract. Useless. I imagine chronic underinvestment in infrastructure is the problem rather than any service restrictions in place with the company.

 

[arielm]

i shutter to think about what is in store for us - but after we decided to go with claro, we found out that they require 2 year contract and are more expensive for unlimited internet and the handset we decided on (razor i) - so we went to moviestar...actually cabbing around the city to get the right phone and then they didn't have the phone, but right behind their kiosk was a 'Personal' kiosk with the 18 month plan and the right handset, so we went with them. i think out of the 20 strangers i asked in the mall no one said they were the best, but most people said either moviestar or claro had recently become 'the worst' - and that they are all horrible no matter what. so sorry to have started the useless thread

 

[pclove]

I agree STRONGLY that they all suck in terms of quality. I've used them all and it seems like they've all become masters at robbing your credit (on pay-as-you-go). The costs for SMS, calls and internet are ridiculous.

Like a previous poster said, you have to find the lesser of the demons and ride it out.

I use Personal and buy the SMS ONLY card. This way, they can't steal my credit for calls, and internet is not allowed.

When I need to make calls, I have a Skype plan that covers fijos and cells.

 

[bkoustav]

I'm using Movistar prepaid which is very costly (3-4 peso per minute to other networks). They even charges for incoming international calls , this is ridiculous to say the least.
I tried to get postpaid plans based on Passport/DNI/rental contract many stores turned me away saying that I my DNI needs to say permanent.
So most of my calls are using internet (skype or nymgo) even for local calls.

 

[PhilipDT]

You couldnt get it with a DNI? Try personal in one of the service centers not in one of the agent stores. I have personal and a temp dni

 

[ARbound]

I used Movistar for years and then when I got an iPhone the signal kept dropping. It turns out they have problems with their antennas in Caballito. I switched to Personal and don't lose the signal quite as often. There's not much difference between Movistar, Personal or Claro. None of them are good. A lot of the time it depends on the area you live in. When I had Movistar my iPhone worked perfectly in Zona Norte and Microcentro. Almost every other Latin American country is using faster, more advanced technology then Argentina and until it catches up with the rest of the world the service and speed will continue to be bad.

This is the problem I'm having with Movistar Prepago on my iPhone 5. I have to literally turn Airplane mode on to try to get it to "re-connect" to the data service. I can't even use EDGE. I'll try to load a Google Page or What'sApp and it will just buffer and buffer and buffer then drop. I was at Congresso and on 25 of May (walking between Casa Rosada and Congresso) and I couldn't use the phone the whole walk. Nothing. Sometimes it would show 3G/Edge other times it would just show the Movistar Bars. I'm so sick of it and it's only been a week.