The Costa Rican GSM cellular phones are now able to send and receive international SMS (short message text).
The ICE (Costa Rican Electricity Institute) is currently running a pilot plan to test the service. ICE is the only telecommunications provider in Costa Rica for cell phones, land lines and internet.
So far, the international messages are only available between the Costa Rican cellular phones and other five countries (USA, Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua and El Salvador).
I.e. to send a message to the US you use the number as:
00 + 1 + area code + phone number.
2 comments:
Currently having some issues w/texting from CR to US and vice versa.
Wondering if you had any suggestions.
CR resident has cell from ICE and tried to text me using the method you described and I did not receive it.
Conversely, I'm in the US (on Verizon) and attempted to text him via the 011 + 506 + 8 digit number, and he did not receive mine.
I read somewhere that sometimes you have to go back to ICE and have them unlock the phone for international use.
I also read somewhere that Verizon may not work on sms messages to CR because there is no agreement in place. However, I had seen on yet another site that Verizon would have access to get messages down there by Spring of 2010.
Any input would be greatly appreciated :)
~Corine
Hi Cornie,
Thanks for reading our blog! Unfortunately, Verizon and ICE are not compatible. ICE has made agreements with some other USA carriers but NOT with Verizon. Your friend in CR will not be able to text you. You should be able to text him/her though, call Verizon and ask them to have international texting added to your plan.
Also, on this website http://www.navegalo.com/sms/ you can send free sms messages to CR cell phones. You'll have to sign up and get a user name and password but the service is free.
I hope this helps.
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