Does anyone know if it's a good idea to rent a cell phone in Costa Rica? Is it really expensive and where do you get one?
Thanks for the help.

Are you renting a car? Some of the car rental companies offer them. You could always buy a phone card and use it. Ask locally where to buy one. If you need to make International calls buy the 199 card, it is good for both local and international. We have bought them in some strange places. Where we spend a lot of time they sell them at a little jewelry kiosk in a mall. Pharmacies sell them as well. Think about who you would need to call. Reception isn't always great because of the mountains. If you do need to call numbers in Costa Rica they just changed their numbers to 8 digit. For cell phone numbers add an 8 to the beginning of the number and for land lines add a 2 in front.

If you are just calling ahead to hotels you could possibly ask the hotel you are in to call for you.

Don't know what rentals go for. We bought a cell phone from a friend and it is really inexpensive.

Hi, again! I think I will get the calling card as I want to call the U.S. as well as use it locally. I have to meet up with some friends, but I guess I can use the local phones. I assume the calling card is less expensive rate-wise than placing a collect call to the U.S. or using a credit card to pay for international phone calls. We are renting a car, but as you say, cell phone reception may not be that great anyway because of the mountains.

The calling card is much less expensive than collect or credit card calls. It is more than it used to be but still not a bad deal.

We rented a cell phone for the week. We got it at the car rental agency. I believe we ended up paying $75 for it which included about 35 minutes of airtime to the US. We got it for emergency purposes, and I was glad that we did.