Buying Cell Phone in South America

Hello there,
I\'ll be traveling for an extensive time throughtout south america and I would like to get a cell phone there.

I want a cellp phone:
-to be able to use all over south america
-text internationally, well to the United states
-cheap rates/plan

Pura Vida,
Claudia Reply to this

Hi Claudia,

The best way to do this is buy an unlocked phone in South-America - the initial price is a bit more - you are not getting subsidised phone prices from the telcos - and then buy pre-pay SIM cards in each country. They vary in cost in South-America from about $3-$20 - sometimes they include some talk time - or credit. Then you top it up at kiosks as you need.

My recommendation for a cell phone is a cheap basic nokia - you can find chargers everywhere - and if it isn't very flashy won't make you a target for theft.

Nice things about having a local number for your cell is that - you can easily meetup with locals again; texting and calls are very cheap compared to the US - and international texts will be something like 20c.


And a really nice thing compared to the US is - only one party is charged for calls - I couldn't get over the fact that both parties are charged in the US - it's the only place I've ever been with that setup.

Now for the technical side: Frequency Bands.

There are several frequencies used for cell phone calls - different countries use different frequencies; there are four main bands - if you purchase a quad band phone it would work everywhere; a tri-band handset would cover you for most countries - a dual band isn't a good option for travelling.

If you get a tri-band - get a 900/1800/1900mhz - this will have good coverage internationally.

More Info: Cell Phone Frequency Bands - Wikipedia Reply to this

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