dan1431

There are Four Cellular Providers in Panama

1. Mas Movil (+Movil) Cable & Wireless Panama
2. Movistar
3. Claro
4. Digicel

I can only speak for Mas Movil (+Movil) as that is what I use when I am in Panama.

+Movil shops are scattered throughout Panama city, but I have always used their store on Via Espana between Calle Elvira Mendez and Calle Aquilino De La Guardia.

You have to purchase a SIM for $1.06 (Includes Tax) and then add Airtime to the card.

Airtime Cards Are Sold All Over the Place and come in many different increments or you can have airtime added at any Mas Movil store.

Voice is charged by the second outgoing and is free incoming.

To Activate Voice Service:

1. Dial *555#
   n.b. Voice maybe already activated as it was in my case.

Voice Prices:

• Calls to mobile phones (also on +Movil) and all landlines is $0.0020 to the second.
• Calls to other local cellular networks is $0.0026 to the second.

Texts Messages (SMS/MMS)
n.b. SMS/MMS is activated along with voice activation, so no further activation is needed.

SMS/MMS Prices:

• SMS to other +Movil Customers is $0.05 per message incoming/outgoing
• SMS to other celluar networks is $0.07 per message incoming/outgoing
• International SMS are $0.20 per message incoming/outgoing
• MMS are $0.025 per message incoming/outgoing

DATA is sold by the 24h and is 1GB at full speed (speeds vary greatly anywhere from 1Mbps -4Mbps DOWN)for the entire 24h period of time. If more than 1GB is consumed in that 24h period of time, speeds are throttled back to approx 512Kbps and are unlimited for the rest of the 24h period of time.

To Activate A DATA Bundle after acquiring a SIM and adding Airtime:

1. Dial *456# SEND
2. Choose the option (1) Blackberry or option (2) for other (otros in Spanish) devices
3. Choose your plan.

DATA Bundles are as follows:

• 1 Day $0.95 For All Device Types
• 3 Days Blackberry $2.25 / Every Other Type $1.95
  n.b. I am unsure why for three days Blackberries are charged differently than any other type of device.
• 7 Days $3.95 For All Device Types
• 15 Days $7.95 For All Device Types
• 30 Days $14.95 For All Device Types

Dan

felipegarcia

They charge you by the second now?

I remember when they changed the parking rates by law to be by the minute (and I recall it being something crazy like B/.0.02 per minute), which made it a nightmare to pay at places that didn't have automated machines, as the people there had to do the math. At least the Paitilla hospital was a nightmare to pay.

Regarding phones,

I had Movistar the whole time (actually, the very first phone we got there, a few months before moving, was still a Bell South phone), this because the people at +M Multicentro said they couldn't sell me a SIM card by itself, I HAD to buy a phone too, which I didn't want to, since they didn't have the Moto V600/620, and I was going to buy it elsewhere, but it didn't make sense to buy a phone if I was going to buy another one.

I have no idea about data service or quality of service since this was ages ago and things have surely changed.

I always purchased $5/10/15 refills from Arrocha (whichever ones had tri/cuadruplicame all the time, might have been the $5), since there was one conveniently located for me, and it was rare for them to be out of stock. Back in the day airtime expired depending on the amount (something like 2 weeks for $5, a month for $20, etc) and I believe the cost per minute also varied on how much you loaded, but then with the 3x/4x offers and rarely using my phone, I ended up with over $1000 of airtime (yes, one hundred Benjamins), which was impossible to deplete, even with daily calls to Mexico. One thing that is extremely cheap there are international calls.

Honestly, I think that the stores in Multicentro/Multiplaza are far easier to find for visitors than navigating Via Espaņa or Calle 50.

Dubai Stu

I wound up with Movistar last year and the packages seemed similar. I went through a fair amount of data. Because I was in an out of the way location, I wound up having to charge up online once and used ezetop. Not the best deal, but it works with Movistar and Digicel. When you were in the middle of the rain forest, you kind of were stuck.

fsuj25

I have been there a few times between 2017 and 2019. I would buy a Movistar sim card for still very little, then add a prepaid card of whatever amount was giving the highest bonus and I felt would provide me with data for the majority of my stay. For enough data for one week, assuming you're taking advantage of free wifi where you can, I seemed to spend about $20 total.

I wish there was a way to pre-purchase a sim card before arrival. The ones they sell in a vending machine at the airport I seem to remember were unreasonably expensive, but most places where you can buy a SIM card are closed in the evenings so I had to wait until the day after arrival to get my cell phone up and running.