Cellphones: Calling-Using-Buying-Importing-Activating-Renting

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.