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.

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?

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 r�pido 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

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.

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?

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.