GSM in Costa Rica

I'm going to find out in about three weeks what the reality is of GSM roaming in Costa Rica. Looks like the probability of getting a local prepaid SIM is about ZERO.

Geeks with ball-buster bosses that think your phone and push email should be turned on wherever you are - THIS is a good destination for you if you have T-Mobile. Assuming, that is, you aren't a total kiss-ass that thinks you should be available during your vacation. TAKE THE DAMN TIME OFF. The mobile network will enforce it anyway.

Deathstar / Cingular / ATT customers - no idea what your experience will be. I stopped buying anything from the AT 'n T deathstar in the 90's when it became clear that no-customer-service was in the top five bullet points of all their business plans for anything. By all means get an iPhone but hacktivate it on T-mobile or your home country carrier. Fuck Apple and AT'nT. Don't give your business to the deathstar for anything. (If you're completely confused by my describing a company as "deathstar" - AT'nT has a logo that looks damn similar to the deathstar in one of the first two Star Wars movies. When you see the deathstar destroy Princess Lay-Ya's planet - that's going to be your customer service experience with AT'nT/deathstar. Maybe not right away, but wait a few months...

Boss-avoiders - make sure your handset does NOT support GSM 1800. Your handset must support GSM 1800 to work in Costa Rica. Looking for GPRS(internet data) parameters? Not so much...

Planning on getting a prepaid SIM to avoid getting screwed on roaming? OH NO.. not so much. ICE, the local carrier, does not sell prepaid to casual customers. It makes it really obvious that the GSM switch providers DO sell their licensing on a per-line basis and Costa Rica has made a business decision not to buy in on the whole fly 'em in, churn 'em for a week and burn 'em model many travelers take advantage of. You ARE going to get screwed for roaming by your home country carrier. Only the locals get "contract" accounts with access to GPRS.

Besides, if you want a local SIM you have to have a local ID/passport. Last time I was in CR ICE advertised in the newspapers when blocks of GSM numbers were going to become available. Forget about a casual buy-a-SIM-in-the-street transaction like in other South/Central American countries!!! The locals lined up the night before and around the block....

Well, inasmuch as there ARE blocks in Costa Rica since a typical address there is more a story than a street name and number. Streets are not named and you better be able to describe your location as "in the neighborhood called XXXXX 500 meters south of the former brothel...." - the town name and state/province (I forget which) is also included but its not an address, it's a story. If you live there even your bank statement will have the story which is your address, your house just will not have a number.

I AM my own boss so I may choose to receive calls and I'll likely have to make a few. T-Mo USA advises that ICE will be the carrier I see on my phone assuming it supports GSM 1800. No data roaming agreement (thank god) so no push mail/crackberry for a week.

What does ICE stand for? Certainly not the frozen form of water. Costa Rica's climate does not support that. HELL may freeze over before ICE has competition though. Truly, there is no competition. ICE stands for "Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad" - or literally translated - the Costa Rican Electricity Institute.

Silly me. I thought Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison had it all figured out. Apparently this mystery is still under study in Costa Rica. It all makes sense if you google for articles (mostly in Spanish) about how Ericsson bribed some past Costa Rican governments to implement their GSM stuff. They SEEM to have figured out actual electricity so long as your nice house is equipped with an (imported at 300% duty unless you paid a bribe) generator, batteries, voltage stabilizer etc... Like I said electricity is not a company in Costa Rica, it's an institute. They can provide it but only sometimes because its still a big mystery. Costa Rican electric power is lightyears better than in, say, Bangalore but it's only SLIGHTLY worse than most Chicago neighborhoods circa 199x.

Given any option - take the stairs and skip the elevator. You'll sweat BUCKETS more stuck in the elevator when ICE's power supply randomly goes dead.

In short... neither my iPhone nor my HTC Windows Mobile phone will go to CR. Yeah they do 1800 but they are overkill and a target for theft. Instead I will bring my Uruguayan-purchased unlocked 3rd-world-model Nokia with the T-Mo SIM since ICE does 1800 just like Uruguay's ANCEL.

I'm sure coverage will be great in the airport and in San Jose (capital) but San Jose is a GREAT place - to get the hell out of. We'll see how it works in Guanacaste. I'll post the report when I've returned.