Call Costa Rica

Today is the day that the phone numbers will change that was mentioned in an earlier post.

Effective tonight at midnight all landlines will have a 2 in front of the number that is already assigned.  For instance, 219-2747 will as of mid-night tonight be 2219-2747.  If you are calling from the US or Canada you will need to dial the code to get out of the US or Canada then the country code of Costa Rica.  Now you will dial (011) 506-2219-2747.

For cell phones the number that is to be added is an 8 so our cell phone for instance would be 8832-2450.  When calling from the States or Canada you will need to dial (011) 506-8832-2450.

A lot of numbers and a big change for ICE (the phone monopoly in Costa Rica).  They have a help line open today until 5:00 for any questions or concerns but strangely this help line is not going to be in place AFTER the change is to take effect.

ICE has not been accepting payments for about a week now.  Apparently they are more concerned with a smooth changeover on Wednesday night.  They have stated that they will not be cutting off any phones until people have a chance to get caught up to the new numbers.  I don’t know how long that would be…it is kind of open ended and that is not very typical of ICE.

My phone bill is due right now and when I try to pay it through my bank online service (the best way to pay bills in Costa Rica), I get an error message that the service is down.  Scary!!!!

ICE is not the most dependable when it comes to phones OR electricity and we have found that they are very fickle. The powers that be can change their minds on Monday when everything opens back up so if you have a phone bill that is coming up or now due, stay up on it.  Check daily to see if you can pay the bill because if they turn it off, it is not easy to get a number restored after it has been cut off.