Cell phones, cost, available signals etc.

[THOMAS ANDERSON]

What is the best way to communicate to home countries from Ecuador by cell phone? Would it to bring a phone from home or get one locally. What are the costs of incoming and out going international calls from locally obtained cell phones? Besides the three major cities what is the cell coverage like?

[GENE E. BEARD]

[GENE E. BEARD]

ANSWER, PLEASE- CELL PHONE INFO.

[SUZAN HASKINS]

Hi Gene, we have local cell phones and they cost about $50. Then we buy ‘time.’ I can buy $5 or $10 and it lasts me for two months or so. I would not use my cellphone to call the States, though. For that, I use either Magic Jack or Skype. Those are VOIP (voice-over-internet-protocol) systems. That ends up being pennies per minute and I can call anywhere in the world.

The cell coverage in Ecuador is very good. I’m sure there are places (deep in the mountains or the Amazon) where you might have trouble, but overall coverage here is good. There are two carriers, Claro and Movistar. We have Claro, but depending if/where you end up living you’ll want to choose the one that is most prevalent in that area. You can, of course, buy a phone with a service plan from one of these carriers.

[THOMAS ANDERSON]

Thank You Susan, that is great information!

[SUZAN HASKINS]

Glad the info helped, Thomas!

[THOMAS ANDERSON]

Suzan, I’m sorry that I misspelled your name.

[SUZAN HASKINS]

No worries. Happens all the time. 🙂

[RICHARD STANTON]

Suzan, you have local cell phones. Are they “smart” phones? Does it make sense to purchase a “smart” phone here in the “states” and bring it with us or purchase a phone locally? Advantages, disadvantages?

[SUZAN HASKINS]

Richard, mine is not a smart phone. I’ve been out of the US for 12 years and have never been in one place long enough to justify signing up for a smart phone service plan, which are available here. If you bring one, it will need to be ‘unlocked.’ I’ll see if I can get a better answer for you on this.

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