EdEdwards

I'm planning to bring a cell phone to BA and Santiago next month. I'm wondering if it is cheaper to bring a prepaid SIMS or to buy one down there. The cost of calls back to the States is extremely expensive with all the prepaids I've found, up to $3 a minute. So, does anyone know how much it costs per minute for these calls with locally purchased SIMS cards? Thank you.

Graziella5b

Calls are expensive in South America, o good solution is very simple buy a LLAMADA DIRECTA
card for Argentina. You buy it here in the US or down there. Calls from US to Argentina are only 1 cent and no hidden costs as far as I know. From Argentina to US is double that much
( I am almost sure) which is also almost nothing. THey can be used from any phone in Argentina and you pay only for the local call. It is better to call from a regular phone not a cell.
www.llamadadirecta.com, in Argentina service is0800 122 1987 in the US 1 866 505 2985.
The rates I quoted are for Buenos Aires, for other cities they are a little more expensive.
i am not familiar with Chile,I know that Uruguay charges more than Argentina for calls to US and even more
for calls between Uruguay and Argentina, as crazy as it sounds.
I my opinion this is this way because in Uruguay, the phone company is, I believe ,monopolic and belongs to the STATE, to the Uruguayan State and for this reason if the State chooses to charge a lot to its citizens ,that is it.

EdEdwards

TTT to see if anyone else may have some detailed information for me. Thanks.

bearshapedsphere

Info for Chile:

There was a service called llamabarato but it folded. Can you access skype (or other internet calling options) on your cell? that's really the best option, WIFI is widely available, and the skype calls are cheap (about 7 cents a minute). Aside from that, you can call from call centers (locutorios), which are everywhere.

I have called the states from my Chilean cell, and it wasn't that expensive, but the call was short. I just checked on Movistar (one of three companies here, the others being Entel and Claro), and the cheapest pay-as-you-go option (you'll have to choose the "carrier" carefully) costs 221 pesos per minute (more than 30 cents). I have a plan/contract, so I believe it cost less. If you want people to be able to call you, make sure you make that clear when you buy the SIM card because some phones cannot get international calls for the first three months (no idea why this is the case).

good luck!

eileen

5 years in Chile
my expat blog: www.bearshapedsphere.com

jayie

Beware of buying from LLAMADA DIRECTA. We purchased their phone card from a sidewalk kiosk in Buenos Airea. Since that time we have over $300 in fradulant charges after we left Argentina. Trying to call them gets you nowhere and it has been an ongoing problem with American Express to stop these charges as they say we need to have a "cancellation" from the company. If you must buy from them use cash - no credit cards.

Huentetu

You can also set up texting on Facebook to get messages to/from your phone if you use Entel in Chile. Messages come to your phone and to your inbox. Costs the same as a local text. Useful for short messages.

RedStater

I did a bicycle trip earlier this year...started in BA and ended up in Valparaiso.

I seem to remember that using 'locutarios' - internet cafes that offer long distance phones - were fairly expensive in Argentina (about thirty cents a minute to the US) but about a dime a minute in Chile. One can find them in almost any little town. Limited hours, though, and mostly closed Sundays.

bsasexpert

Yeh its right that locutorios are the most common way of calling abroad, but they can get expensive, around 20 cents a min... if i were you i'd open up a skype account and buy some headphones, you can get unlimited calls to landlines for $9 a month!! and there are internet cafes EVERYWHERE, and most stay open late and open at the weekends, thats what I did and it ended up being the best option!