Driving Central America & South America.
gps and cell phones
November 21, 2008 - 10:19am
Anyone out there know the US cell company that has the most coverage throughout CA?
Also, we've got a garmin nuvi and a garmin etrex legend. can't find good maps on the garmin website and was wondering if there are any aftermarket programs anyone knows about this for that area.
Leaving in a week! YAY!!!
thanks...
November 22, 2008 - 12:09pm
#2
[QUOTE=atg200;776]I had decent reception most places with AT&T. Prices were reasonable in Mexico and horribly unreasonable everywhere else so I didn't ever really use it.[/QUOTE]
We went to an AT&T store to ask about a plan for our trip; which will go through CA and eventually S. America. In all my life i have never seen a cell phone salesman say straight up, "its too expensive". I was fully prepared to listent oa laundry list of options before saying wow thats all way too expensive, instead he dint even try which really made me sure that whatever the options are, are'nt actually options. As for Mex we did the same thing, you can get an "international plan" which in essence reducing your roaming charges by a a good deal per minute, still very expensive at least for our budget but perfect for the capability to call and tell fam and friends everything is ok BYE. Beyond that there are a ton of calling cards (Latadel have worked well for us) down this way but if you get them in Mex make sure they work with TelMex phones because it seems like most of the phones are TelMex and if you have another card they dont seem to work very well.
November 22, 2008 - 5:56pm
#3
Yeah, they are good for dire emergencies. For most calling home, internet cafes are the way to go. Its usually only a few cents a minute to call from a VOIP phone in an internet cafe.
November 23, 2008 - 8:26pm
#4
you can "rent a phone" almost anywhere to make calls. You can get international phone cards. you can buy a phone down there or change out your SIM card in your phone to get on the "local" network (Claro, Movistar, etc)
i've seen people down there with a hacked Iphone running on the local networks by using a new SIM card.
At any rate, my ATT phone wanted something like 2.99 a minute in Guatemala. No thanks!
December 1, 2008 - 8:21pm
#5
if at
if att phones work,does any nobody know if theres an aircard that will work mex to pan.internet on the go would be handy
December 12, 2008 - 5:24pm
#6
Re. GPS:
almost all maps available for countries south of Mexico leave a lot to be desired! The Mapsource maps are close to useless (thanks Garmin)!
For Mexico there are 2 commercial maps around, about both I have read more or less good things. East Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama and further south are partly covered by a free Caribbean Map (more nautical) which helps a little.
For more links (including the ones mentioned above) please see the bottom of our page [url]http://www.dare2go.com/uselinks.shtml[/url]
The best site to search for free maps is [url]http://gpsmapsearch.com/[/url]
January 8, 2009 - 6:40pm
#7
Cheapest and most reasonable is to stop as soon as you get South of Mexico and buy a phone and than purchase an international calling card with prepaid minutes. Use the SAME ONE THE LOCALS ARE USING!!! The locals are not paying several dollars a minute. If you are simply looking for safety reasons, maybe renting a satellite phone would serve your needs better for emergencies. When in towns, simply use the local internet shop or place a phone call from a payphone with the prepaid cards.
January 10, 2009 - 12:20am
#9
Yes, any shop has a phone you can usually use. Look for a sign that says "Se Aquila Telephono", meaning, "we rent phone (time)"
January 10, 2009 - 2:58pm
#10
If you´re going any further than Mexico, be ABSOLUTELY certain your phone is unlocked. Movistar is the best to get, but once we got here to Guat, we found out our´s is locked and we can´t just buy a sim and keep going, but another guy has a phone that looks exactly like ours and is unlocked and it worked... Insist on it when you get it. It´d be cheapest to buy a used one that you´re sure is unlocked and just get new sims - they work all over C.A.
January 11, 2009 - 12:33am
#11
Good advice. you can also buy phones cheap (around 30 USD) but they can't replace sims.
January 21, 2009 - 2:17pm
#12
i dont know much about the other countries, but its almost impossible to get a phone in costa rica. you pretty much have to be a resident. att and calling cards is what i used.
February 26, 2009 - 11:54am
#13
satellite phone
We just rented a satellite phone for $25 a week for our trip. Leaving this Saturday and be back in less than three. Suprised at how inexpensive to rent and to use. If communications are that important to you guys, definitely look around online and you may be pleasantly surprised.
February 26, 2009 - 2:02pm
#14
Very interesting news! Can
Very interesting news! Can you give us a few more details, such as the company, airtime charges, insurance?
March 4, 2009 - 5:02pm
#15
satellite phone
It is an Iridium and I think Eric rented it online from The Satellite phone store. He just did a web search and found a few. They shipped it and it was 25 a week, a dollar and a half per minute to use though. We have used it two times to assure the wives we were ok. So far we have been finding internet cafes easily enough, 6 quetzels and hour at one and 10 at another. Just came into El Salvador and at this crossing on CA2 there is a small shop in an alley immediately to your right of where you show your auto permit to the fumigation guy. I did not see any fumigating taking place though. They charge 1 us dollar for an hour here. Quetzels were 7.74 at the bank in Guat this am if you are buying. El Salvador uses the US dollar but Guatemalans would not take them.
Our nextels worked past OAXACA but quit about an hour or two south of there. The telmex cell phone eric has quit working before we crossed into Guatemala. With the internet cafes readily available and the sat phone if lazy or in desperate need, we are doing fine.
March 4, 2009 - 5:03pm
#16
the insurance was really
the insurance was really high, we decided to take our chances without and passed on it.
April 13, 2009 - 9:04pm
#17
cellphone vs. SPOT
if you are really just calling home to say "hey, I'm alive"
you might look into the spot gps unit. It has a function whereby your friends/family can see where you are, and you can hit the "i'm okay" button once in a while to alert them to your lack of bad ju-ju.
there's also a "911" button, in case your mojo is below your acceptable level.
just google "spot gps" its out there
I had decent reception most places with AT&T. Prices were reasonable in Mexico and horribly unreasonable everywhere else so I didn't ever really use it.