A few more tips for you, from the electronic communications department .....
I met a man here who had a data enabled phone and when he got back to the US, he had a bill for $1200 so be careful to phone your provider and have data services disabled, but better yet, take an old cell phone without data services with you if you plan on taking one, or simply buy one when you get down here. They run around $20. You will need a different phone or SIMM chip for each country you plan to spend an extended amount of time in and wish to have a cell phone.
I have a Motorola model about 4 years old that is classified as a "world phone" and have simply purchased a new SIMM chip for it in each country. My AT&T plan gives me incoming/outgoing calls at $1 - $3 a minute in/out but that is impractical for my budget. If the phone is one with a replaceable SIMM chip in it and the phone is "unlocked" (you must have service, i.e, for 6 months, pay bills on time, etc and you can contact your provider and ask for an "unlock code" that will allow a SIMM chip from another phone company to be inserted in your phone). For example, you might try a SIMM chip from T-Mobile in your AT&T phone before you leave, use the "unlock code" provided by AT&T to see that the phone really unlocks and works with the other company SIMM chip. This would be nice to know before you get to Central America. The trick with this pre-testing exercise is to find someone willing tol let you try this with their T-Mobile chip. People get all freaky when you start taking apart their phones and especially when you remove something from it they have no idea the function of. If this fails or if the phone provider will not supply you with the "unlock code", there is usually a guy who knows a guy at a kiosk in the mall who will put the phone on a machine that will hack out the code for you.
I find that in Mexico and Central America, for some reason incoming calls are free and you can call home and have your loved one phone you back and you pay only for the short call to them and they pay only the toll from the US to here, and we assume that the person calling has a great plan where they will not be charged a big rate for calling the country (and new number you get in each country with the new chip). Of course, Skype is the mainstay of call home activity at around 2 cents a minute, and a warning here is you may want to bring your own USB headset, as many Internet cafes charge a $1 - $5 "headset rental" and this is how they cash in on Skype users.
Of course unless you are doing what I am doing, staying a few months in each country, it may not be practical to buy the new SIMM chip or new phone (with new local country phone number) in each country.
This is what I remember as far as SIMM chip purchases:
All countries south of US have cell phone providers that supply free incoming calls (that I found -let me know if this is not right, as I did not enter Costa Rica, Panama or Belize on this trip, as I have traveld by air to them 5 years ago and did not investigate cell phone coverage and rates at that time).
Be sure to record the number off the SIMM snap-off plastic piece because it will likely be impossible to pull the number of the phone from the phone. In an emergency, phone someone next to you with caller-ID.
{ ALL HAVE FREE INCOMING CALLS LOCAL/LD }
{BELOW IS OUTGOING CALL RATES}
Mexico:
Telecel - SIMM around $20-$25 with varying call credit , to US = $1 a minute;
MoviStar - SIMM around $20 with $10 phone minute credit, to US = 35 cents a minute
Guatemala:
Tigo, MoviStar and Claro - Claro was cheapest rates to US, poorest coverage but I used only Claro for low rates
Tigo - has best coverage but is highest (not sure rate) to US
Claro - SIMM free with $15 air time first purchase, to US 11 cents a minute, 7 cents weekends/nights
Honduras:
Tigo, Claro - Claro was cheapest rates to US
Claro - SIMM free with ? minimum airtime purchase, to US 22 cents a minute all hours
Nicaragua:
Claro (may be others but Claro ruled all of Nic.)
Claro - SIMM $20 with some airtime included in purchase (forget how much), to US $1.10 a minute
El Salvador:
Was not in El Salvador long enough to warrent a SIMM for phone
Of course one SIMM will work in the other country when you move to the next country, but the roaming charges will eat up what you have left on your credits in a matter of a few minutes.
NOTE: There are all kinds of places in the cities here that have phone booths where you pay Skype-like prices, well actually no more than 20-30 cents a minute to call the US and you don't have to worry about a cell phone or a computer to make your call. I have seen them in all cities of any size.
BUYING TIME:
On all these SIMM chip and short use (disposable?) phone purchases, you add time to your "cash credits" by either purcahsing a card from any store with the cell company sign in front or from a cell phone shop that takes your money and your number and adds the credit for you. If you go the scratch card route, you buy the card, scratch off the number, dial a special access code printed on the back of the card and the number provided and you are credited. The number to check your credits is different in each country and the credit amount is spoken in Spanish (i.e. Bienvinito systema de Claro, su saldo es cien viente quatro quetzales, spoken in Spanish, or 124 quetzales)
TIME GOOD:
The time you put toward your phone credits by buying the scratch-off card or buying from a cell shop does 2 things, of course the first is to give you call out credits. The second is to extend your date when all the time you just bought will expire and how long you can receive the free incoming calls. Buying a new card of course extends both. In Mexico I am not certain, as MoviStar has just come in to compete with the gov. Telecel and things seem to change often. I Guatemala & Honduras, you get about a month of time, which means during that time if you don't use your minutes, they expire (the ones you purchase now) and during this window your phone works to receive all incoming calls, regardless of if you have any "outbound credits" or not.
CARD GOOD:
Will the card still be good when you come back into the country? From what I recall and this is all I know, Mexico MoviStar - number is good for up to 6 months (will not be deleted from system) with no credits or usage; Guatemala & Honduras - 3 months of no usage. If the number expires and goes out of the system, you have to buy a new SIMM card.
FUN GAMES:
All countries play this game, but places like Guat and Honduras where there are more competing phone companies do it more often. Watch for all the little stores that hang out the signs "Double" or rarely (moreso in Guat) "Triple". Or simply ask, i.e. if you have Claro "es Claro double hoy?" (ess klar-oh doe-blay oy). On the double and triple days, you get 2 or 3 times the talk credit for the amount of card you purchase. You can also purchase for example, four 25 Quetzali (around $3.50 US each) and then start using them as you need them. Then the day you see "double" appear on all the stores in town, you scratch off the whole batch of them and key the numbers in your phone to get all the credit. That keeps you going piece meal at the single rate, then when you see the double or triply, you dump all the cards into the phone to get all the credit on the bonus days. Notice: Nicaragua "double" days give you your bonus credit to only talk to other like-provider phones and the credit is not added to your total like in Guatemala.
Had enough? Well I am on a roll .....
LAPTOP AIRCARD:
Forget about it! If you have one from the US and you want to ROAM down here, you will be broke with the first bill you get. If you want to subscribe in Central America, it requires a 18-24 month commitment and you will need to make a new agreement with each provider at the new country you enter. The rate is $35 to $70 and for this extended agreement time. Not smart, just use an Internet cafe.
