I'm flying to BA next week and was wondering if anyone here in the US has an Argentine SIM card that I can borrow/rent/buy.

Please let me know.

If this doesnt work out... you can always buy a pre-paid SIM card here in Argentina.

Gaucho, where's your wine store? I'd love to visit between 27 Dec and 2 Jan.

Gaucho, where's your wine store? I'd love to visit between 27 Dec and 2 Jan.

Here's the web site of Alex's wine store Terroir:
http://www.terroir.com.ar/

John

I have had trouble with direct dial on CTI back to the states after buying it locally. i do get a local sim each time I come down and only in March 05 was I able to dial the states. that said they work for local calls and i have skype for the LD.

I have had trouble with direct dial on CTI back to the states after buying it locally. i do get a local sim each time I come down and only in March 05 was I able to dial the states. that said they work for local calls and i have skype for the LD.
I have a Movistar prepaid, and I've never had a problem calling the US or Europe. I also helped some friends get a Movistar SIM about a year ago, and it was 25 pesos (no minutes included).

John

Ive gotten only good reviews from MoviStar prepaids... seems like a good choice.

Right now the three mobile companies offer prepaid SIM cards for AR$0 to AR$5. That's less than US$2.

You can Buy a SIM card wherever you see the words Personal, CTI or Movistar. In the town center you can find at least one or two stores per block.

Calling INTL is pretty expensive. The trick is to use a "prepaid calling card" that you can buy at any newstand or "kiosko" (little/big drugstores), or even in the stores I mentioned above. Ask the teller which card gives you most minutes to your destination.

Have a nice trip!!

The last time I checked, I paid about a peso/minute when calling the US from Buenos Aires on my prepaid Movistar.

I'm not sure how long before the SIM number is recycled, but it's at least several months after the prepaid amount has been used or expired. I usually recharge with ARS$50, which has a validity of 3 months on Movistar.

John

I have a Movistar prepaid, and I've never had a problem calling the US or Europe. I also helped some friends get a Movistar SIM about a year ago, and it was 25 pesos (no minutes included).

John

Where can you get these and will they work with a T-mobile phone??

Where can you get these and will they work with a T-mobile phone??

Talking about the SIM card or the international calling card?

About the SIM card: If you get your TMobile phone unlocked and if the phone has the appropriate band (GSM 1900 in this case) as the mobile phone service provider in Argentina, then yes it will work.

International calling cards at the small kiosks that sell candy, newspapers, etc. too.

Where can you get these and will they work with a T-mobile phone??
As GUWonder posted, you need to have an unlocked phone. Take the phone and your passport with you when you go to buy a SIM. Activation takes overnight, but hopefully the person that sells you the SIM will be able to try out a working SIM to verify that your phone will work.

In Argentina most people I talked to called the SIM a "chip".

You can recharge MoviStar phones at businesses displaying Pagofacil or Rapipago logos (these are places where you can pay bills). Often they will give you a plastic card with a barcode that is associated with your phone number so that you just need to have them scan that when you need to recharge in the future.

The various cellphone vendors have web sites with the pricing/ recharge amounts etc - in Spanish.

John

About the SIM card: If you get your TMobile phone unlocked and if the phone has the appropriate band (GSM 1900 in this case) as the mobile phone service provider in Argentina, then yes it will work.



My phone is unlocked and GSM 1900. It really takes overnight to activate???

My phone is unlocked and GSM 1900. It really takes overnight to activate???

That's my experience if you buy a SIM from on of the small free-standing, single person booths that the mobile phone companies have in malls. They have a list of numbers from which you are assigned, and I presume they call in for activation if they don't have computer access.

It may be faster if you go to a store, but I wouldn't count on it.

John

That's my experience if you buy a SIM from on of the small free-standing, single person booths that the mobile phone companies have in malls. They have a list of numbers from which you are assigned, and I presume they call in for activation if they don't have computer access.

It may be faster if you go to a store, but I wouldn't count on it.

John

I think I will just buy one of the international calling cards. I really only need to be able to call home, not locally. These can be used in any phone booth?

I think I will just buy one of the international calling cards. I really only need to be able to call home, not locally. These can be used in any phone booth?

If your hotel has wifi then just use Skype or other VOIP. Actually maybe you want to upgrade to the T-Mobile US wifi phone service? Then you can use free or low cost VOIP calling from any wifi hotspot. I assume that it would work anywhere in the world.

I prefer the www.truphone.com route.

If your hotel has wifi then just use Skype or other VOIP. Actually maybe you want to upgrade to the T-Mobile US wifi phone service? Then you can use free or low cost VOIP calling from any wifi hotspot. I assume that it would work anywhere in the world.

I prefer the www.truphone.com route.


:D I think I need to really come out of the dark ages where phone service, stuff is concerned. That all went well over my head. ;)

non-tech tazi

I probably shouldn't recommend Skype since they have been down for like two days.......

What I was saying is that the latest generation Nokia phones come with Wi-Fi so you can surf the web and more importantly place calls over the internet for free or close to nothing when you have access.

There are many companies offering products and the most compelling is UK based Truphone. However, T-Mobile USA launced a product in June for $10 extra a month. You can place VOIP calls at their hotspots (unlimited) and other Wi-Fi locations like your home.

We stayed at the Sheraton Libertador in May, 2007. I have an unlocked phone with T-mobile service, but it matters only the the phone be gsm and unlocked. Argentina uses the same frequency as T-mobile and AT&T here in Norte America. Florida Street is one block from the hotel. Out the front door, right, right, when you reach Galleria Pacific this is Florida, turn left exactly one block and cross the street. The CTI Movil office is on the corner.

Go to the first floor and ask to buy a SIM. They will either sell you one, or send you upstairs to get one. Activation is done upstairs, (elevator available) and takes approximately one hour. Go shopping at Galleria Pacifica or if you do not want to walk the one block, stop off at a leather shop called "Maybe" and get measured for a leather coat. Maybe is located about half way down the block on the other side of Florida and English is spoken.
When you return to CTI Movil, buy a top-up card and go upstairs to get you activation.

Or, PM and I have a SIM that is probably still able to be topped up.

Thank you opushomes!

pm sent :)

I've always heard movistar takes over night to activate and have been told its next business day so that would trash the weekend. I don't know if this is true as I've always used CTI. That said as I mentioned above when trying to direct dial the US from CTI I would get an error message of some sorts. Which of course because I'm not fluent in spanish i can not follow all of.

Those who have used CTI, is there an IDD code you can use?

...

Those who have used CTI, is there an IDD code you can use?

At least with a MoviStar SIM the dialing sequence from Argentina to International is:

+ countrycode areacode number [if your SIM is set up with the international dialing prefix)

or
00 countrycode areacode number

Dialing an Argentine cell phone from outside the country is a little wacky:

International access number 54 (for Argentina) 9 (for cell phones) areacode (11 for Buenos Aires) last 8 digits of cell phone number (ignore the 15 prefix)

John

At least with a MoviStar SIM the dialing sequence from Argentina to International is:

+ countrycode areacode number [if your SIM is set up with the international dialing prefix)

or
00 countrycode areacode number

Dialing an Argentine cell phone from outside the country is a little wacky:

International access number 54 (for Argentina) 9 (for cell phones) areacode (11 for Buenos Aires) last 8 digits of cell phone number (ignore the 15 prefix)

John


John. If I'm reading this right, the SIM has to be set up to allow use of the plus even if the phone will put it in? I can't remember as it was at least a year but that might be my issue.

Chris, how did you CTI sim card work out...?

Can anyone recommend one of the 3 mobile services over another? Which one has better coverage?

I'm using an AT&T Palm Treo 750.

I unlocked it before coming to Argentina.

I bought a CTI Movil prepaid SIM and a Claro $20 card and activated the SIM by dialing *22# (Mar del Plata). After the "overnight" activation, I entered the Claro card #, then it came back with a message of my balance.

The Claro card came with some info about the rates for calling, i.e. $.35 for the 1st minute, then $.19 after to the US.

I am not able to call the US with it. I have tried using "001-areacode-phone#" but a frantic-sounding lady speaking Castellano muy rápido makes my brain go haywire. All I could catch was that she was telling me to call *611 for more info.

Then a message popped up on my phone saying, "The call barring settings are now enabled."

What the hell does that mean? And why can't I call the US from CTI/Claro?

I have no call barring set on my Treo. Everything else works fine...local calls, SMS, etc.

Please help!

My Argentina Blog (http://pclove.us/argentina)

Can anyone recommend one of the 3 mobile services over another? Which one has better coverage?

If you're talking about coverage in Buenos Aires, there's not really anything to choose between them. A few years back I would have warned anyone off CTI (now Claro) as you used to lose the signal everytime you entered a building - the amount of money I spent picking up voicemail messages and then calling people back!! As far as the rest of the country is concerned, I now use Movistar and the service has been fine in all of the touristy areas I've been to.

Dialing an Argentine cell phone from outside the country is a little wacky:

International access number 54 (for Argentina) 9 (for cell phones) areacode (11 for Buenos Aires) last 8 digits of cell phone number (ignore the 15 prefix)

John

I got so confused giving out my Movistar number to receive text messages from the UK I gave up. Even calling the Movistar customer services was a waste of time as they kept giving me the wrong info.

So going by your post John,would it be; +5492346(my area number) followed by my 6 digit number?

So going by your post John,would it be; +5492346(my area number) followed by my 6 digit number?

That would appear to be correct (although I only have experience using a phone in the CF). The area code+number apparently need to add up to 10 digits. See here:

http://www.howtocallabroad.com/argentina/

John

Thanks John for your reply. ^

Shall give it a go and see what happens.

I have two SIM cards that I assume are expired but I am heading down next week. Does anyone know if I can just buy a top-up (i really don't care about the phone number) or if I have to go through the whole activation process again? Thank you!

My original Movistar SIM card still works after a few years I no longer live in BsAs, however I visit about once a year and I always top it up and use it.
Officially, they would deactivate any SIM card after 6 months of no use, but this is obviously not set in stone.

I asked a lot of people in BsAs what cellular carrier was best, and virtually everyone said to stay away from Claro (bad signal) and results were split between Movistar and Personal. A few things I learned about them - With Movistar, if you load 20pesos of credit, they add another 25pesos, total 45 pesos.

However, Personal does this too but only on certain days of the month. I ended up choosing Personal, but this is because many of the people I know in BsAs have Personal, and its half-price to speak to them.

I asked a lot of people in BsAs what cellular carrier was best, and virtually everyone said to stay away from Claro (bad signal) and results were split between Movistar and Personal. A few things I learned about them - With Movistar, if you load 20pesos of credit, they add another 25pesos, total 45 pesos.

However, Personal does this too but only on certain days of the month. I ended up choosing Personal, but this is because many of the people I know in BsAs have Personal, and its half-price to speak to them.

I used to use Claro (ex CTI) and was never very impressed - sounds like things haven't improved much. Never had any problems with Movistar - the extra credit varies. Standard bonus for a $20 (pesos) top-up is $5 or $15 bonus with a $30 top up but on certain days of the month (which they let you know about by text message), they will double the credit. Sometimes this only applies to top-ups of $30 or more. You also get half price calls and texts to other Movistars.

Is the activation of a new Movistar number/sim now instant? I remember it taking more than a day and m-f only so friday arrivals meant it was never an option.

This time i'm seriously considering just handling it at the airport at the booth there from personal.

hi all,

so i got a movistar SIM card today in the shopping mall. it seems like it will be activated on monday. do i need to activate it manualy? is it by dialing *611? also, whats the spanish name of the card i need to buy to "recharge"/put money on it?

hi all,

so i got a movistar SIM card today in the shopping mall. it seems like it will be activated on monday. do i need to activate it manualy? is it by dialing *611? also, whats the spanish name of the card i need to buy to "recharge"/put money on it?Activation will be automatic - the system just needs to recognize the number encoded on your SIM. You'll be able to tell when you turn on the phone that it's being recognized ...

The easiest and most reliable way to recharge your phone, is to go into a store that is displaying the bill-paying services Rapipago or Pago Facil - these are everywhere, often pharmacies, and kioskos. Just tell them how much credit you want on your phone (minimum is $5).

There are other less common services listed on the movistar.com.ar web site (navigate via the selection 01planes/movistar Ahorro/Medios de Recarga to see all the ways to recharge). The credit will appear instantly on your phone (sometimes you will get a text message, otherwise you can check by calling *444). Write the cell phone number on a card (it should be something like 15 xxxx xxxx) if your spanish isn't perfecto. There are no English-language options for Movistar online or by voice ...

Some of the recharge places will make you a plastic card with a bar code that is linked to your cell phone number so that they can use a bar code scanner to recharge you phone in the future - and there is space for you to write in the number for those places that don't have a scanner.

I've found the scratch off cards to be unreliable, and sometimes fake ... no need to bother with them.

John

Activation will be automatic - the system just needs to recognize the number encoded on your SIM. You'll be able to tell when you turn on the phone that it's being recognized ...

The easiest and most reliable way to recharge your phone, is to go into a store that is displaying the bill-paying services Rapipago or Pago Facil - these are everywhere, often pharmacies, and kioskos. Just tell them how much credit you want on your phone (minimum is $5).

There are other less common services listed on the movistar.com.ar web site (navigate via the selection 01planes/movistar Ahorro/Medios de Recarga to see all the ways to recharge). The credit will appear instantly on your phone (sometimes you will get a text message, otherwise you can check by calling *444). Write the cell phone number on a card (it should be something like 15 xxxx xxxx) if your spanish isn't perfecto. There are no English-language options for Movistar online or by voice ...

Some of the recharge places will make you a plastic card with a bar code that is linked to your cell phone number so that they can use a bar code scanner to recharge you phone in the future - and there is space for you to write in the number for those places that don't have a scanner.

I've found the scratch off cards to be unreliable, and sometimes fake ... no need to bother with them.

John


thanks john. got it all figured out! weird that when people call my cell phone from USA, i still have to pay :)