Source
r/costa_rica•
accessofevil

ICE / Kolbi Airport SIM card questions...

Hola Ticos...

So I bought the SIM in the airport for $24. The service has been... pretty awesome. I was in a super remote place in Limon and had to climb a mountain to get service one time, but otherwise it's been pretty spot on and mostly connects at HDSPA or HSDPA+, which is rad. You see the towers everywhere and the signal is always great. But the backhaul is always oversaturated so real world performance is up and down. (It's more than just about the bars you see)

Anyway, on to my question. My wife and I both got SIM's when we arrived in December. I haven't recharged mine at all, but she has hers a few times. I've got a little over 5k colones on my balance.

Today, right about 60 days after we got the sims, both of our cards switched down to EDGE (aka 2G) speeds, which sucks. I tried to send "day" to 6060, which according to the website should buy me a day of 512k/s data, but just got an error message in response.

I know that somehow the SIM's we got are not the normal ones you buy outside the airport, but detailed information is hard to find - particularly because their website is mostly images and doesn't run through the translator well.

Does anyone know much about this? Any insight would be appreciated.

Edit: Fixed. One user said it happens to them sometimes but works itself out when moving locations. i went into my phones settings and selected the mobile operator manually, then picked one of the other options that wasn't ice (presumably Claro or movi...) after getting an unauthorized message, I went back in and selected ice. it said "registering with network" and then... bam, hsdpa.

Posted Feb 28, 2013, 11:36 PM UTC · edited

313
leorimolo•

It happens to me on plan with ICE, sometimes I have to restart my phone and it gives me back HDSPA, also 3g/HDSPA infrastructure isn't everywhere so if you're at the beach there might only be edge available

1
accessofevilOP•

In my apartment in San Jose (San Pedro) where it's normally 3.5g (hsdpa+). Actually had full 3/4g all over Puerto Viejo too :).

Now I'm down to GPRS... aka 1g. My wife is still connected at HSDPA on her jesusPhone so I'm going to guess that I either need to do a reload or it's just a temporary network thing.

Have rebooted and fully shut down, may try reseating the SIM next. Thanks for responding!

1
milojacks•

Just landed tonght and I'm heading to El Coco in the morning. I've got an unlocked iPhone but need a SIM card, any suggestions on where to pick one up? Was hoping to find one in El Coco when I get there.

1
accessofevilOP•

Omg, you should have gotten the airport kolbi. It's a kiosk right by baggage claim, it's $24, and from what I understand it is the best deal you can get and is only offered to foreigners.

You can pick up a sim card anywhere... any convenience store sells them, and they should have micros for your iphone.

If your iphone will let you put in the APN setting, with Kolbi you'll need to add one called 'kolbi3g' and then you are good to go. I also use google voice so I basically just use data - it's unlimited, you pay for how much bandwidth you want, not how much you download.

Service is generally excellent except for in very remote parts of the country or in the jungle somewhere. Anyway, you can definitely find a SIM easily and they will be able to help you get it going.

Also, your SIM will come with a 4 digit PIN. Don't lose it - it will be required every time you start your phone.

1
lordhuggington•

$24? Is that what they're charging foreigners? It's 5k (~$10 USD) for us with a 3k balance.

And you can get rid of the sim pin warning at start up easily. It's within the sim settings on your phone.

2
accessofevilOP•

After two months I still have more than 5k balance... I'm happy with what I got :)

2
lordhuggington•

How long have you been set to 2g? Honestly, it sounds like a system issue. I had days when I'd be stuck on 2g and then when I traveled to a different part of town I'd find myself back on 3g.

FWIW, I doubt it's the SIM or SIMs themselves. If you're getting an error after texting "dia," you might want to try calling ICE.

1
accessofevilOP•

this was the hint I needed. manually re registering did the trick, see my edit.

thanks!

2
milojacks•

Thanks everyone! I'm more interested in functionality than a bargain right now. The advise on data is very helpful as I like to use google voice and Skype. But I still want a phone for local calling and to have a number to give out.

1
elgringoconpuravida•

I'm jealous of all you. Grabbed a 4s while back in the states for xmas... didn't do my research on carrier unlocking and it's locked to Verizon, essentially a brick, can't use SIM.

I've begged for help in r/jailbreak but nothing yet :(

1
accessofevilOP•

Really? My wife's was a Verizon 4s and it is working just fine... maybe they gave her an unlock code? I don't know much about jesusPhones... my android device took about 2 hours of research and a hex editor to unlock.

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elgringoconpuravida•

Yeah VZ will unlock it for int'l. usage.. but i got mine off some asshole on craigslist, and it's got a bad ESN. So i can't have a friend add it to his VZ account to be unlocked.

1
accessofevilOP•

Ah... stolen phone. Sorry.

With most phones there are 3rd parties you can buy an unlock code for $15-$25. There's nothing like that for iphone?

Edit: Here you go: http://www.gevey.com/unlock-verizon-cdma-iphone-4s/

1