They day prior to our departure from Canada an envelope arrived in the mail from Costa Rica. Our landlord had been kind enough to send us a pre-paid SIM card from Kolbi – a local carrier here – with US$20. We had already unlocked my phone but did not actually put the SIM card in until we landed.
Now US$20.00 is approximately 10,670 Costa Rican colones. One of the rules of thumbs we were taught when shopping here is to basically just take the amount in thousands and multiply by 2 and we have an estimate in dollars. The trick is that takes you to US dollars and then there is another conversion (in my head) to take it to the Canadian dollar which is about 27 cents extra on each dollar – so say a quarter. Therefore US$20.00 is now Canadian approximately $25.
I’ve never had a pre-paid card on an unlocked phone before – I’ve never gone to another country and used anything other than my home phone plan. This has resulted in some major “Whoa!”s. The roaming charges can certainly shock your pocket book if you are not careful. More recently, when we travelled more often to the US, we added on a $25 to $45 package for a 30 day period in the US (on top of what we were already paying). This typically allowed us a set # of texts and some data – but nothing significant.
We were blessed to have someone explain to us (THANKS Debbie) how to access our pre-paid balance. All we need to do is dial *1150# and allow it to connect. Within moments a text comes in from 8888 (love that they use my lucky number) stating the balance remaining.
I’ve had my Costa Rican SIM card active for 26 days and my balance is 7,030.21 colones, which translates to just over US$13 or Canadian $16.70. This means I’ve used approximately under $9 Canadian in just under a month. I feel like I should be doing a happy dance! Anyone feel like joining me?
Where would you like to be using your phone a year from now??
If you too wish to explore what it takes to reach your dream…whatever that may be…then share your name and email below. I will make sure you are one of the first people to hear about the next Master Key Experience offering in September 2015. Imagine…sitting wherever it is you want to be? We are!
Would LOVE to try out the mobile network in Costa Rica for some time, of course while checking out the country 😉
What’s really cool is that my Canadian phone speaks Spanish fluently! Now to learn to understand it.