cell phone questions

[richardrocks]

I currently live in Chicago but I'm preparing to live in Buenos Aires for a year. I will only be living there on a tourist visa, so I will have to settle with pre-paid wireless. Which provider does everyone recommend?

I have roamed on Personal and understand they have the best coverage. However, I have heard that I will not be able to receive calls from abroad on a Personal phone. Is this true? I definitely need a phone that is capable of receiving calls from abroad.

Also, does it cost me to receive a call, or does the caller pay? I see that calls to mobiles in Buenos Aires from the U.S. are higher... does this mean that I essentially get free incoming calls like Europe?

Thanks for your help!

 

[tangobob]

I have no trouble recieving international calls, but you need to change the number ie:
If your number is 153 0116 123
you need to call +54 9 113 0116 123
You do not pay to recieve local calls, but international, the caller pays and so do you. My advice to everyone is to use text, and if you need to call back us a locotorio, they are cheap as chips, and I always get through. If you use the mobile your credit will vanish before you can say hello.
Incidentally I cannot recieve picture messages on either my UK phone or my Personal phone.
Best of luck Bob

 

[Fishface]

CTI - are the best carrier.
On price & service & honesty.
good 3G broadband coverage.
Personal will try you cheat you into pay monthly if you ask for prepay.
Be very cautious with personal keep every piece of paper, copy everything you hand over to them - their system is always 'down'.
oh yes and the dialing rules here a ludicrous. 15 or 11 add a 9 for cell etc - txt is a different number depending on carrier sending to another carrier. bananas.

 

[Micilin]

Hello everyone,
Richard, I hope you don't mind me jumping in on your post, I actually logged in today to ask the same questions. And thanks for all the useful information.
Will and American cel phone work, with a prepaid SIM card, specifically a Razr and/or Blackberry? Does prepaid blackberry even exist?
Also, will these prepaid celphones also work in other south american cities?
Thanks!

 

[tangobob]

(local prepaid sim) Whether it will work or not depends on your phone, ie is it the right frequency band and is it unlocked. If it is a triple band then it should be OK, but see my previous note: do not expect anything to work except the phones own functions and call and text. In other words you will not get 3G MMS or picture messaging.
I have worldwide roaming on my UK phone and could not get pictures from my daughter until I reached the States.
Incidentally unless you have residencia, Personal or anyone else cannot make you pay monthly, You just cannot do it.You are not allowed to pay anything monthly.

 

[richardrocks]

I have an unlocked BlackBerry Pearl which is a quadband phone.. it should work no problem with any pre-paid SIM. I don't expect the blackberry functions to work and so on.. but I just need a phone.
I was hoping all incoming calls would be free to me so that people abroad could call me on it. Of course, they'd pay a higher rate for calling a cell. Anyhow, it looks like it'll cost me to receive calls from abroad so I better get a VoIP phone.

 

[allforepar]

I brought down a quad-band unlocked phone and put a Movistar pre-paid sim in it and have no complaints. I work from home down here and use skype for my work line, but if I'm not around my computer, I just have skype forward the call to my local cell, which costs me $.17/minute though skype (a US account). That actually allows people in the states to call me on a US number (skype in) and allows me to be anywhere in the city without having to worry about missing work calls. Calling to the states directly with skype costs me 2.1cents/minute.

 

[RWS]

I use VoIP through "Messenger" to call from the States down to Bs.As. at no cost. I think that it works in reverse, too, at no cost. Even though two cents a minute's not expensive, why not pinch the penny?

 

[richardrocks]

I brought down a quad-band unlocked phone and put a Movistar pre-paid sim in it and have no complaints. I work from home down here and use skype for my work line, but if I'm not around my computer, I just have skype forward the call to my local cell, which costs me $.17/minute though skype (a US account). That actually allows people in the states to call me on a US number (skype in) and allows me to be anywhere in the city without having to worry about missing work calls. Calling to the states directly with skype costs me 2.1cents/minute.

So that means that your Skype acct., forwarding to your cell, is treated as a local incoming call and therefore Movistar doesn't charge you to receive the call?
I was just confused about when Movistar (and other cell providers) charge on their end for me to receive calls. It's odd that local incoming are free, but incoming from abroad would cost.