It helps indeed. All I need to know is that international calls are not blocked. There would be so few that the cost is not material.
It helps indeed. All I need to know is that international calls are not blocked. There would be so few that the cost is not material.
[QUOTE=Tbird]It helps indeed. All I need to know is that international calls are not blocked. There would be so few that the cost is not material.[/QUOTE]When I bought my CTI sim card, the sales girl asked me if I was planning to make internaltional calls. May be you should remind the sales person that if she does not ask you.
[QUOTE=Tbird]Again, in Colombia there had to be an initial minimum loaded on the account to make calls afuera de pais. I think it was almost 100,000 pesos. What is the situation in Argentina?[/QUOTE]The pre-paid sim card I got cost 10 pesos with 10 pesos credit built in. Recharging for more air time was up to me.
[QUOTE=Sportsman]The pre-paid sim card I got cost 10 pesos with 10 pesos credit built in. Recharging for more air time was up to me.[/QUOTE]My buddy purchased a phone recently in Beunos Aires for $35 usd and it was unlocked as he requested.
I Rented a cell phone for 2 weeks at a cost of $65 usd.
You figure.
Amber Wrath
[QUOTE=Amber Wrath]My buddy purchased a phone recently in Beunos Aires for $35 usd and it was unlocked as he requested.
I Rented a cell phone for 2 weeks at a cost of $65 usd.
You figure.
Amber Wrath[/QUOTE]The advantage of a rental is that you know that it works and it it doesn\'t, somebody cares. I\'ve had more than one problem getting service working with new SIMs (I\'ve gotten one on 4 different trips in BA. It took almost 24 hours before my last one (Personal) started working and even after 5 days, I couldn\'t receive calls from my Spanish teacher\'s cell phone (CTI) I spent at least four hours in three visits in the Personal office trying to get it fixed with only partial success.
I\'ve bought SIMs in Mexico, Thailand, Belgium, and Brazil without any problems so I\'m pretty sure that I\'m not the problem. I put up with the problems in BA because my cell not working isn\'t that big a problem for me.
Can anybody teel me why I can't reach my chica on her celular en Bs As from abroad? In my case Europe but maybe the same problem exists from other parts of the world. We are sure that her celular works without problems but I can't reach her. She's living in Bs As and het celular number begins with 1551. Can anybody help me?
Thanks!
Cadavez
[QUOTE=Cadavez]Can anybody teel me why I can't reach my chica on her celular en Bs As from abroad? In my case Europe but maybe the same problme exists from other parts of the world. We are sure that her celular works without problems but I can't reach her. She's living in Bs As and het celular number begins with 1551. Can anybody help me?
Thanks!
Cadavez[/QUOTE]If her number (for example) is: 15 51XX XXXX.
Dial this sequence: +00 54 911 51XX XXXX.
I think that may help.
The proper way from the USA to call is as follows:
011-54-911-51-xx-xx-xx, I just tried it with the cell phone I had in Buenos Aires and it works.
[QUOTE=Surfer Pancho]The proper way from the USA to call is as follows:
011-54-911-51-xx-xx-xx, I just tried it with the cell phone I had in Buenos Aires and it works.[/QUOTE]Why the 011- at the begin?
You should start with the country code: +54
So, I guess, for my cellphone is +54-911-54-911-045
Locally my cell is 15-54-911-045
Maybe I've miss something but it should work this way
The "+" stands for the international access code, which is/can be different in different countries. In the U. S. It is 011, in most Eurepean countries it is 00, but there are more versions around. Reasons lie in telephone systems history.
Today, all (as far as I know) cellphone systems recognize the "+" key as an intl. Prefix. From a land line, you have do dial your local version, so it is:
011 54 911 xxxx yyyy from the U. S.
00 54 911 xxxx yyyy from Germany (and lots of other EU countries)
+54 911 xxxx yyyy from a (GSM) cellphone word wide.
Hope that helps.
El Alemán
[QUOTE=Cadavez]Hi Hunt and Surfer Pancho:
Many thanks for your help! You're fantastic! It works.
Cadavez[/QUOTE]De nada. Pleased to help.
Can anyone tell me plaease, what numbers do you dial to get Canadfa? In Thailand all you have to do is dial the country code, Canada is 1 and the 7 diget #, same in Argentina?
Thanks.
Cactus
With all due respect to my Canadian friends.
Sorry Cactus, I do not speak Canadian, as written in your post.
"plaease" "Canadfa" "diget"
Or maybe too many beers, eh?
[QUOTE=Cactus]Can anyone tell me plaease, what numbers do you dial to get Canadfa? In Thailand all you have to do is dial the country code, Canada is 1 and the 7 diget #, same in Argentina?
Thanks.
Cactus[/QUOTE]To make an international call, you have get to the international line first. That can vary depending where are you calling from. On all the cell phones I know of, international line is the sign "+", which is the number 0 and hold, then the country code which is "1" for US and Canada, and then the area code plus the local number. If you are calling from a hotel phone, the hotel operator can tell you how to get to the international line, then "1" and the 10 digit. I don't know about calling from a home land line in Argentina. In the US the international line is "011" and then country code, the city code, and local number.
Thanks Sportsman! My bad spelling is cause my wife has worn all of the letters off of the keyboard plus a little stupidity on my part.
Cactus
By default to get the international line in argentina is 00.
To call NY should be dialing 00-1-212-xxxxxxxx.
Most of times if you stay in an hotel, apartment, you'll be unable to get international line if you dial 00, it's more expensive and the phone company bills the calls after a month. So, the most common procedure it's buying a pre-paid calling card, like "tarjeta linea", if you use a pre-paid calling card you must dial the calling card access number then the code then you'll have line to call anywhere, so then you should dial 00-1-212-xxxxxxxx
Hello All,
This is a bit off-topic - can somebody recommend a good company to unlock a phone (cingular motorola V551)? Quick google search tells me it's a zoo out there. If I give up and just decide to purchase a phone in Bs. As. which would work in other Argentine cities as well, any suggestion what's a good place to go?
Thanks
I don't know if it's a good suggestion for you or anyone else, but I found it a good deal for me. Bought a Nokia in Buenos Aires from the CTI Movil store downtown central (edit Florida 902, corner of Florida and Paraguay) - cost $129 pesos for the phone plus $100 peso credit of pre-pago or pre-paid SIM card. So basically, for the cost of $29 pesos or less than $10 USD I got a phone, a pre-paid SIM card, and just skipped the hassle of making my own phone work down here.
I ended up paying $229 since I'll be here awhile so I could get pre-paid $200 pesos worth of credit. In almost a month, I've used up about $70 pesos and I've made a ton of calls.
I brought my own Blackberry which has world access but costs 2.99/ min on roaming so I also brought a spare Motorola that I figured I could get a pre-paid SIM card for. But after some trial and error and seeing it was locked when I went to a CTI Movil store in downtown Buenos Aires, I just figured for barely $10 USD it wasn't worth the trouble of trying to get it unlocked and just bought a Nokia phone. Now that I think on it, even if my US phone was unlocked for sure, for $10 one time cost, I think it's worth it to buy a local phone here unless you're literally in BA for just a few days, and even then, for $10 I'd still do it.
Not sure if it's a special or not but if it is they are always running it because that seemed to be about the standard all the time - a average phone for real cheap plus the SIM card pre-pago and $100 pesos worth of credit. The phone they gave as part of this package is an average Nokia, not super fancy but has all the normal cell functions plus text messaging, pre-set numbers for the local 911 and fire department with standard address book, logs, and a little function to text message CTI Movil which then spits back at you in 1-2 seconds a message telling you how much credit you have left on your pre-pago card.
Oh, and I had an ex-pat who lives here that is pretty good with the spanish thumb through my phone which first came all in spanish and he switched it to English so all the menus and stuff are easy to navigate, etc.
P.S. you can buy this packaged phone plus pre-pago card with what I understand is international access but I just skipped that and got the standard, which is all Argentina but no international outbound calls (although you can still get inbound calls from anywhere)
I use a CTI sim card for my T-Mobile Razer when I'm in BA. There are CTI pre-paid phone cards can be purchased everywhere such at any news-stand, face value 15p and up. However, the average usage is 1.50p / min, at this rate, it really drains you credits fast! The good news is, it won't cost you, nor your air time when some body else is calling you up!
Living in Buenos Aires, everything I$ a great bargain; the payphone is 0.25 centavos, and the use of a computer in internet cafes cost basically nothing. However, to me, at $0.50c per / min CIT mobile rate is kinda steep.
My very first text messaging experience began when I was visiting in Buenos Aires! Soon after I found out it only costs 0.15 centavos per / TM, I started to send messages to chicas from time to time. TM works like a charm!
See you all soon in BA!
Strad
My experience with pre-pago SIM card with the phone I also bought from CTI Movil is a lot different. Maybe stand alone SIM cards cost more in per-min usage charge then if you also buy the phone from a provider like I did?
I've been in and had the phone almost 1 month now in BA, and the $200 pesos pre-pago credit I had on it is now only down to about $125, which means I've only used $75 pesos worth and I've made out and recieved in a ton of calls.
My usage rate for outbound calls is nowhere near 1.5 pesos a min. I'm reading my CTI Movil pre-pago plan and receipt and it says right on here that I got something called a PPP50 Pre-Pago - Plano GSM and my rate for per min say $0.57. So my rate at least for this CTI Movil pre-pago phone plus SIM card is just over 1/2 peso per min or about 19 US cents per min which isn't great but also not bad either compared to US plans with overages in the 15 cents to 32 cent range.
In the past few years, I have either just used my US Cell or I have rented "ready to go" cell phones. My US Phone always works fine but, of course, nobody in their right mind wants to dial a US Number when the receiver of the call is also "in country". The issue with me is that I am always only there for week, or two, at most.
After reading through this thread it seems that a good way to go, considering exchange rates, is to just go buy a cheap phone and SIM combo (like from CTI)
If so, it's not clear to me if it is a big pain in the ass to get that kind of combo activated right away, etc. It seems it can take a few days before the phone actually works, etc. - or am I wrong about that?
Thanks ahead for insight on this.
Zappaman
I've only bought and activated a new phone with pre-pago SIM card one time, so I don't know if my experience was normal or not. But it wasn't a pain at all, and fairly quick to get activated.
It took about 1.5 hours for the phone to be fully functional. Which I just used to charge up the battery anyways. Technically, the phone was on their network and able to take calls well under an hour, but as the rep explained to me, it took longer to have the pre-pago SIM card registered into their system so I wasn't able to make outbound calls for about 1.5 hrs after I bought the phone.
I am gonna ditch my rental soon (from Phonerental-NOT recommended) and buy a phone. Some trusted locals advised I go with Personal as a provider. I'll be making only local calls (using Skype for calls to the US) This stuff ain't my strong point. Any direction from you cellphone whizzes would be appreciated. Much thanks.
The dog
I got Nokia from CTI Movil, following pretty much the ideas kindly provided by Mpexy in his posts. The only difference is that I wasn't able to get such a good deal as he - I was told that the promotion ($129 bought you a phone and $100 peso credit) is gone, and now they give only $20 credit. Oh well. Perhaps they just didn't like me, don't know.
What is probably going to be a bit more expensive is that the rate I was quoted was $0.71 per minute for all calls in Argentina, and $0.91 for calls placed from the phone from outside of BsAs (roaming) Just in case, I asked to be able to call abroad as well, that is about 1.70$ per minute (domestic rate is independent of ability to call abroad) The other details are as posted previously, so I won't repeat them.
Hope this provides some useful info and will make it easier for others to decide what to do. Btw, I went to the main office at Florida and Paraguay (thanks Mpexy) The people I communicated with didn't speak any English.
Couple more CTI Movil oriented things I learned today regarding when it's time to add more credits to your cell phone with pre-paid minutes SIM card.
First - "segundo piso" is on the third floor.
If you go to the Florida 902 CTI Movil store I recommended in my prior posts, the initial reception line tells you that to buy additional credits / minutes on a phone you already have their pre-pago SIM card for, just go up to the "segundo piso". So of course, newb that I am, I go up one floor from the main entry floor. No one would help me there as it was a normal floor of sales booths. Long story short, the floor you really need to go to is the third floor, one more level up as the main entry is the PB or ground floor.
Second - how to add more minutes to pre-pago SIM card.
If you do it the normal, and slower way, you can buy more minutes on a business card size card that you buy at lots of places. Like a lotto ticket, scratch off the back area which will reveal a set of numbers. You dial *444 on your phone, and it will ring an automated line that has you enter the coded numbers from the card you just bought, and after awhile it registers into their system to credit your pre-pago SIM card with that amount.
However, once I got to the right floor, turns out there is at least one very good english speaking girl at this store as she was called over when the normal sales girl didn't understand what I wanted as I made the mistake of refusing the card she was trying to sell me as I thought it was like a pre-paid calling card, not a credit for my SIM card in my cell. The english speaking girl cleared that up for me, then told me it's a lot faster to buy the card but have then enter the credit directly into their system, and she told me pretty honestly that lots of times if you buy the card and call *444 it can take several tries as the system sometimes hangs up, doesn't take your number, etc. She told me 30 min, but 5 min after she entered it in the system, I checked my phone balance via the check pre-paid minutes function and it was already updated.
Third - Argentine bureacracy seems to be working for me.
I had a balance of about 56pesos from my original 200pesos when I went in to add a 100peso credit. When it updated my balance, I showed a credit of $180pesos.
So I either got some kind of special promo again where buying 100pesos really got you 180, or I got lucky in some bureacracy mistake when they directly entered the credit.
Oh, and I made sure to ask whether my existing pre-pago plan of 57 centavos per minute would be changed due to me adding this credit and the english speaking girl told me no - that rate is set when you first buy your pre-pago SIM card and / or phone.
I heard a rumor from a reliable local that CTI has a lower signal strength than Moviestar or Personal. I'v verfied this with a friend using a Personal phone. We checked signal strength in my building, and hers was getting signals where I could not. This difference is supposedly to give more competitive advantage to Personal & Moviestar.
Suggest you check this out. Hopefully, this can be verified by tests between the three providers and members reporting on this thread.
Next phone upgrade will be to Personal.
Jackpot
Don't know about signal strength but every local I know also keeps saying Personal is their choice.
But as far as my experience with CTI Movil, I've never had any connectivity or performance issues - other than one single location which oddly enough is El Alamo. Back into the restaurant past the first bar end, and I lose almost all signal.
I heard the same criticism of CTI by a local computer wizard who set me up when I got to BA. He strongly recommended Personal.
Mpexy,
If you buy credit to your cell phone, you always get some extra, which is in fact a quantity discount. On a 10 peso card, you get 13 pesos worth of airtime, 30% , on a 100 peso you get 160 peso airtime - 60% on top.
Signal strength: I experienced the same when I bought my CTI phone 2 years ago, I had no reception in the apartment while a chica was chatting, but that seems to have improved significantly. Seems they have set up more base stations.
CTI Movil at that time was the only company willing to sell a phone to foreigners. I asked them all. This might have changed since then.
El Alemán
After reading the last few posts, I realize this probably isn't the place to post this query but since Personal seems to have the best clarity, I was thinking that I could buy a cell phone at CTI and get a Personal SIM card for their better service?
Will that work? If so, does anyone know where to buy a Personal SIM card?
Suerte,
Stowe.
And now we can return to our regular scheduled posting of personal attacks in the cell phone section:-)
Stowe,
While I am not sure, I doubt this will work. Very often, cheap phones sold with prepaid SIM cards are "locked" to work only with cards of that provider to avoid exactly that - buying (and cashing in the subsidy on purchase price which the provider hopes to get back through airtime) from one provider and then switching to another.
Argentina uses the same GSM frequencies as the U.S. (1900 MHz) So, if you can get a cheap used, not locked cellphone in the States, this will work with any SIM card you buy in Argentina. Maybe you ore some of your friends has an old one sitting around.
Hope that helps,
El Alemán
[QUOTE=Stowe]After reading the last few posts, I realize this probably isn't the place to post this query but since Personal seems to have the best clarity, I was thinking that I could buy a cell phone at CTI and get a Personal SIM card for their better service?
Will that work? If so, does anyone know where to buy a Personal SIM card?
Suerte,
Stowe.
And now we can return to our regular scheduled posting of personal attacks in the cell phone section:-)[/QUOTE]Stowe,
El Aleman is correct. Get an unlocked GSM phone, and you can get a local SIM card in any country that you travel. Do a Google search for unlocked GSM phones for your next visit, then you can take it with you to any country and it will work fine with a local SIM card.
You can get a SIM card from Personal from their main office on Corrientes and Florida. As you are walking away from Cordoba, when you reach Corrientes, look to your left, and it will be on the right hand side of the street. Bring your passport and have a local address for them, and ask for someone who speaks English if you need it. Set it up so that you pay with pre-paid phone cards, and can recieve voice mail. Once that is done, you can purchase the pre-paid cards usually at any magazine stand. The credits are good for 90 days, and the card good for six months. After that, you might have to get a new SIM card or have the old one re-activated.
When you run out of credits, you can still recieve calls, but sometimes not. Also you have to have credits available to receive voice mail. If you have credits available, you can call any country with the phone by holding down the number 0 until it turns into a plus sign, then dial the country code, city code, and number.
Moondog
[QUOTE=Stowe]After reading the last few posts, I realize this probably isn't the place to post this query but since Personal seems to have the best clarity, I was thinking that I could buy a cell phone at CTI and get a Personal SIM card for their better service?
Will that work? If so, does anyone know where to buy a Personal SIM card?
Suerte,
Stowe.
And now we can return to our regular scheduled posting of personal attacks in the cell phone section:-)[/QUOTE]Another place which is usually empty (no cue) is Personal on the corner of Florida / Lavalle.
I have hired phones in the past here in BsAs, this trip I brought with me an unlocked GSM phone, bought a sim card from the above for 30 pesos and 30 Min's later was making calls.
Doggboy,
To add one thing: Only Argentina uses the same frequencies as the States. Brazil and some other South American countries use the European bands (900 and 1800 MHz), so there you would need a triband phone.
El Alemán
I am not a seasoned vet when it comes to cell phones in Argentina, but my last trip I simply bought a prepaid cell phone, then whenever the min ran low I just bought more. Now I am back in the states, I have some good friends in Argentina that I let use the phone until next time I get back to Argentina. This might not be the best way to do it, but for me it is the most convenient way.
Hey El Aleman and Moondog,
Thanks for providing the information. It is great info and I realy appreciate it.
Not going to be there for about 4 weeks so I have so time.
Again thanks.
Suerte,
Stowe
PS. I speak a little spanish-probaby enough to get by. The only problem is the delay with the activation of the SIM card. Sounds like it can take a couple of days.
[QUOTE=El Aleman]
And, to add one thing: Only Argentina uses the same frequencies as the States. Brazil and some other South American countries use the European bands (900 and 1800 MHz) so there you would need a triband phone.
El Alemán[/QUOTE]This is not very important, but this is not entirely correct. Colombia is on exactly the same 850/1900 frequency, as are Ecuador, Peru and Paraguay. Venezuela is 900 Mhz, as is Brazil (but they also have the 1800 band)
[url]www.gsmworld.com/roaming[/url]
Stowe.
I owned an unlocked GSM phone when I went to BA. A good new Siemens A70 which I bought for $ 70.00 Canadian on E bay.
I went to the Personel Store on Florida on the corner about 2 blocks in, you have to go up a spiral staircase, they sold me a SIM card and activated it within 5 minutes, 45 pesos with 60 minutes air time, I think.
It was real handy for local calling but outragiously expensive for calls back to Canada. My big phone problem was, I know no Spanish, so when I got options or an answering machine I was screwed. Used the same phone in Thailand, call to Canada for 20 minutes about $ 4.00. Hope this helps!
Cactus
[QUOTE=Stowe]El Aleman, Moondog, Cactus,
Thanks for the info. I assume that with a completely new SIM card comes a new phone number so the only way to keep the same number is to keep the card charged-correct? Until late next year, my trips to BA will be 6 months apart.
I will be in BA in early April. If any of you are there, I would be happy to buy you some drinks as a thank you.
Suerte,
Stowe[/QUOTE]The credits expire 1 month after you add them. But you have 7 months before the SIM expires and, if you add credits before expiration, you get your expired credits back. Buy an extra recharge card before you leave and charge your phone as soon as you arrive at the airport. However, it might (or might not) take an hour or so before your phone starts to work. It never seems to work the same way twice for me.
Also, if you run out of credits, there can be a delay before a recharge takes effect so try to avoid running out.
The cost of calls varies depending on the size of the recharge card so avoid the $AR10 card. Prime time calls (0800-2200, M-F) are 25% cheaper on the $AR20 card and about 33% cheaper on the $AR100 card.
I've never used mine for an international call (I think international calling needs to be activated by customer service) I use Skype or Gizmo Project from my notebook instead as calls using those programs are dirt cheap ($US0.01/ minute for calls to the US on Gizmo Project) If I have to make an international call when I'm out, I go to a locutorio (there's pretty much one on every block)
[QUOTE=Easy Go]The credits expire 1 month after you add them.[/QUOTE]For my pre-pago SIM card that I got from CTI Movil, the credits expire 2 months after your last top-up.
I had a balance of about 56 pesos when I went in to buy 100 pesos more and my expiration was set in late Feb. Which was 2 months from when I initially got the phone, and after the additional credit top-up, my new expiration date is late April, or another 2 months from date of topping up.