The 3G cellular phone system in Costa Rica offers a good service with coverage in most areas although due to the mountainous terrain there are some blind stops but these being continually improved.
Presently there isn’t a choice of telephone service providers in Costa Rica the only company that cellular phones lines can be bought from is ICE (Instituto Costarricenes de Electricidad) which is a monopoly. Since the passing of the international trade agreement CAFTA in 2008 between the USA and the Central American countries there has been progress from other telecom companies to offer an alternative service for sometime in the near future.
For a cellular phone service as a non-resident there a few options open. The easiest option is to use an unlocked cell phone and purchase a prepaid SIM card for it. The unlocked phone can be bought in or outside of Costa Rica but will need to function on 1800MZH frequency. The SIM card can be purchased at ICE booth at the airport, Mas x Menos, Maxi Bodega stores or in may stores that sell cellular phones and accessories around the country. The process of buying the SIM card is easy the vendor will take a copy of your passport and identify the IMEI number on your phone. This will be entered into a computer and you will receive the SIM card with a separate PIN number. Then it is a relatively simple task of inserting the SIM card into your phone, which will then prompt you to enter the PIN number, when you turn the phone on again it will prompt you reentered the PIN.
If you don’t speak Spanish you can ask the vendor to help with this process as the initial phone prompts will be in Spanish and the phone menu but these can be changed into English if preferred.
You can buy a prepaid SIM card that come in denominations of ¢2,500, ¢5,000, ¢10,000 approximately ($5, $10, $20 USD). The prepaid local rates are pretty cheap being between 5-8 cents this varies on time of day and the SIM card. When your credit balance has reached ¢500 ICE will send you a text advising you to top up your credit. This can be done at ICE offices, Banco National or Banco Costa Rica.
It is also possible to rent cell phones from various companies and some car hire firms and also some tour services offer these but this is not a cheap option.
A non resident cannot have cell phone plan with a contract in their personal name the only way this can be done is to put the phone line in the name of a Costa Rica corporation, which is normally a S.A (Sociedad Anonima). If you don’t have an already existing S.A. than these can be purchased from an attorney although one should be aware of the various responsibilities. To pay a cell phone with an ICE contract the bills are due monthly normally at the end of the month. These are paid easily online with a Costa Rican bank account or over the counter with a bank teller.
I.C.E now offers the iPhone and both iPhone 3G and iPhone 4G are available with contracts with various payment plans.
If you have real estate in Dominical going to the ICE office is very convenient and relaxed task and is preferable to an ICE office in a town or city where queues are long. The ICE office is located in the village of Dominical, which is on the road to the beach 200 meters before you reach the ocean. Take your phone out look at the breaking waves and phone your family and ask how life is back home.