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Old Feb 23, 2006, 11:54 pm
  #1  
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Sao Paulo Prepaid SIM

I will be going to Sao Paulo, Brazil mid-July this summer and am looking for a prepaid SIM to use while there. I've seen a few on the net but those seem to be geared towards users in Rio de Janeiro. Ideally I'd like one that would get me a local number in Sao Paulo and the ability to call back to the US at a reasonable rate. My hunch is that there are some to be had once I arrive in Brazil but it would be nice to get one in advance.
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Old Feb 24, 2006, 12:18 am
  #2  
 
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Originally Posted by celloville
I will be going to Sao Paulo, Brazil mid-July this summer and am looking for a prepaid SIM to use while there. I've seen a few on the net but those seem to be geared towards users in Rio de Janeiro. Ideally I'd like one that would get me a local number in Sao Paulo and the ability to call back to the US at a reasonable rate. My hunch is that there are some to be had once I arrive in Brazil but it would be nice to get one in advance.
I've bought UK and all-country SIMs from Telestial in the past and the service has been good. I would buy from them again (haven't checked on their availability for Brazil though).
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Old Feb 24, 2006, 1:35 pm
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Originally Posted by PhoenixCMC
I've bought UK and all-country SIMs from Telestial in the past and the service has been good. I would buy from them again (haven't checked on their availability for Brazil though).
Thanks for that info. It looks reasonable (rates/roaming/number). I might go with that one if I can't find one that has a local Sao Paulo number.
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Old Feb 24, 2006, 8:00 pm
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As far as I know you can get a SIM card at any mall. All Shopping Centres will have Telecom Reps that will gladly sell you a SIM card for your phone... Look for TIM and CLARO - these are the Telecom Operators for Sao Paulo you might be interested...
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Old Feb 25, 2006, 8:23 pm
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Originally Posted by pb9997
As far as I know you can get a SIM card at any mall. All Shopping Centres will have Telecom Reps that will gladly sell you a SIM card for your phone... Look for TIM and CLARO - these are the Telecom Operators for Sao Paulo you might be interested...
I have bought prepaid SIMs in many countries around the world, but when I tried to do this in Sao Paulo, they asked me for some sort of national identity card and other info that I didn't have. I had to drag a local with me to the mall to supply his info before I was successful in getting one.

The only reason I mention this is that if you plan to get a prepaid SIM in Brazil, I recommend doing it at the airport, where they are certainly accustomed to dealing with arriving foreigners, versus at the local mall, where they might not know how to handle that.
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Old Feb 27, 2006, 8:59 pm
  #6  
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One more similar question. Are there sim's that have prepaid GPRS available? It's probably stretching my luck trying to find this but it might be worth a shot. Thanks!
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Old Mar 3, 2006, 2:41 pm
  #7  
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It's true that they will ask you to provide some documentation. This was implemented a while back as a means to prevent fraud and crime. Many criminals were using these disposable SIM chips that were 100% untraceable.

I don't know what a foreign national could provide in terms of identity. I'll find out and try to post back.
timfucius is offline  


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