My Cellphone / Personal Experience
Based on Miami Bob's post a while back ([url]http://www.argentinaprivate.com/forum/showpost.php?p=372852&postcount=51[/url]) I went to the Personal office on Callao between Santa Fe and Marcelo T. De Alvear. (Thanks for that post Miami Bob, it was a big help! The first time I went their system was down and so they could not do anything. But they found someone who talked a bit of English and she said that when I came back I would need my passport. I asked if I really needed my passport or just its number and she said that they would need my passport. That would seem to be right because when I went back and they were setting me up they did copy the first two pages of it.
They probably asked if my cellphone was unlocked but I did not understand. Maybe I could have saved some time if I had been prepared to explain in Spanish that it was not locked. They had a guy whose English is excellent explain the very basics to me. (Probably the same guy who helped Miami Bob. But he seemed rushed and did not go beyond the basics.
Total cost for the SIM card was 7 pesos!
They said that it might take 2-3 hours before the phone would work. But it was more like maybe 20 hours.
I bought a card to charge the thing up (and be careful here, there's a card specifically for charging up a cell phone; you can't use a card intended for land lines to charge up your cellphone) But when I dialed *151 (that's the number you call to activate it and to charge it) there seemed to be a menu of things you can do and I did not understand which menu item was for charging the thing up. I needed the help of a local to enter my card number - and even he needed two tries!
The real fun started when I tried to call the cellphone from the landline in my room to make sure it worked. The landline kept telling me I had entered a wrong number. But I certainly hadn't. Well, my number, according to Personal, and who should know better, is 11-xxxx-xxxx. But dialed from a land line this produces an error message. For some reason from a landline you have to dial 15-xxxx-xxxx. From another cell phone you can dial the 11- number. I don't know if you can also dial the number with the 15-prefix from another cell.
This also probably explains why I haven't been able to call a hot girl who gave me her cellphone number as 11-xxxx-xxxx.
A question for Miami Bob, you said in your report that Personal cell phones can be charged from a computer. Can you explain a bit more about that? Did you mean by using a credit card or by using one of the cards you by at a kisoco?
Well, that's all I can think of. I hope maybe there is some info here that will be helpful to someone someday.
Bob
Rental Apartment Telephones
[QUOTE=El Greco]All the telephones of rental apartments are blocked for calling cell phones.
From unblocked landline telephones you have to dial 15 first.
Most of them provide free local landline calls only.
El Greco[/QUOTE]They have told me that I cannot use the landline phone in my apartment for cell or international calls (maybe any kind of long distance calls). But (for anyone thinking about renting an apartment who might be concerned about this), that just means that you have to use a calling card (and dial 24 additional digits!). At least that is the case with the land line in the apartment I am in.
Bob
PERSONEL LITE---buying large blocks of time
Bob--on the street it is almost impossible to buy a card for more than 20 pesos. The blocks of over 50 pesos yield a lower rate per minute. At the personel office, one can buy up to 99 pesos at one time via computer, not by buying a card. They only take cash or an argentine issued credit card. They will not accept a foriegn credit card.
I have only been able to but a 50 or 100 peso cards at a personel independent agent on Florida between Cordoba and Corrientes. This location will also accept international credit cards. Personel itself does not sell the larger cards.
A kiosko owner who knows you as a regular customer, will obtain 50 pesos cards for you, if you politely ask. Most don't carry them because of lower demand. I use my cel with enogh volumn that the differnece in price per minute, is worth the effort to buy the larger cards or loading up 99 pesos at the persinel store.
Bob
