Getting a cell phone in BA

Hey - I had my phone unlocked in the States. My phone company did it for free...but I've been with my company for a while. Basically unlocking the phone lets you use other sim cards on it. You just have to make sure your phone is capable of being used here. It has to do with the bands/frequency that's used in Buenos Aires. Just ask your phone company (if you bought your phone through them) and they can tell you about both.When you get down here, just buy a sim card with either Personnel, Movistar or CTI. I believe those are the most popular three. (I didn't have to show passport or anything - although some had to.) It might take a couple of hours, up to a day for service to kick in. Then you have your own local number.You can go to any kiosks that sells prepaid cards to purchase
credit. Usually you can receive texts for free...and you just can
charged for sending out text message.

Phone numbers here are 8 digits: xxxx xxxx.
54 = argentina country code
11 = buenos aires area code
15 = cell phone For example, if you're in Buenos Aires, calling someone in Buenos Aires as well, you don't need to dial the 54 or 11. However, if you're on a landline and calling someone on cell, you need to first dial 15 xxxx xxxx; otherwise it won't work. If you're on a cell phone, calling a cell, you can just dial the 8 digit phone number: xxxx xxxx.
That's all the information I found out when I had to go through it. Hope that helps! =)
 
If you guys can't get your phones unlocked, I know where to do it. I got my US T-Mobile phones unlocked in Argentina. My Nokia 5300 XpressMusic, which was a tougher one to unlock because it is a BB5 phone. Prices are not as cutthroat as it is in the US, I got mine unlocked for $50 pesos. Beats paying $699 pesos for a new one. Mike
 
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