Alright, folks. As promised... the wonderful world of Argentine cell phones. Before coming here, I was looking at rates of international phones. Verizon and AT&T both promise to work in different countries but the roaming rates would've drained my bank account the first month! Needless to say, I decided I'd get a phone down here. Here I was thinking that I'd only need it in case of emergencies, and for everything else I'd use Skype. Oh how I underestimated myself.
In Argentina there exist two kinds of cell phone plans (whereas in the US there are three: prepaid, pay as you go, and monthly): monthly and prepaid. There are three main providers: Movistar, Personal, and Claro. So I got here, and as I was obviously going to be out exploring the city, Ines said that the first thing I'd need to get was a cell phone, because when (not if) I got lost, I'd need to call her for directions. :-) I obviously am only going to be here five months so I wasn't going to sign a contract for a monthly cell phone (although come to think of it I'm not even sure how the monthly works and if there are contracts). So prepaid was my answer.
Everyone seemed to acquire a cell phone with relative ease. Maybe a former IFSA student left it for them, or they were smart enough to get the cheap phones with the company Personal. I, on the other hand, did not have that great of a time getting one.
IFSA gave us a list on the first day of cell phone stores that were nearest to the Circolo Italiano (the super-exclusive Italian social club where IFSA rents space for its programs). So being a typical extranjera (foreigner), I thought that the list was of EVERY cell phone store near the Circolo. So I went into a Movistar store first. I told them I was a student studying in Buenos Aires for 5months and looking for a prepaid. He asked my price range, and when I told him he said he didn't have any in that range but could send me to a store right around the corner where a lady would give me a good deal (which was 50 pesos ABOVE my price range) on a phone. This lady wanted 250 pesos for a phone. As I thought I could get a better deal (some students got theirs for 139) I left to go to another store several blocks down. I finally got there (this city has the biggest blocks ever), and it was something like a Best Buy. I told a salesgirl I was looking for a prepaid and she said "We don't have any." and simply walked away! So, I approached another salesman and he was very nice about it. I chose a phone, he rang it up, and when he tried to activate it for some reason, he couldn't! And he told me he wouldn't be able to for another one or two days. Now this was already three or four days after I got there. I told him I needed a phone that day and could he try to activate another phone before I paid for it. He said of course, we tried a second phone and he could not activate that one either! All this took about an hour, and I had to go back to the Circolo for an oral interview.
Now, while waiting for the interview, one of the girls told me, "Oh you know there's a Claro store like right around the corner, right?" Of course not. I had no idea. So after my interview I went there. I chose a phone, gave him my debit and my passport copy (here you have to have a document number to pay with a card), and he started to ring it up. He kept typing in information, and this guy who I presume was an employee there or something comes in. They start talking away like I am not even there, while the man kept entering things in to the computer. So I sit, I wait. I didn't want to interrupt because I knew that people here have all the time in the world. I must have been waiting for a good hour. I kept asking him, "Is something wrong with the system?" He kept saying no, in between his conversation with this other dude. So finally, man number 2 leaves. Man number 1 and I start chatting again, and he says the system's just slow. So I'm asking him how long it'll be and he says an hour or two! I was like, I'm sorry I don't have that kind of time. He said, "oh well its trying to process the card, cash we do here much more quickly." Come to find out if I had paid in cash I would've been right out the door!!! And also come to find out, this guy wasn't entering squat into the system, he was Instant Messaging!!! My card hadn't been charged so I switched to a phone I thought would be cooler, and cheaper since he told me right at that point phones are more expensive with prepaid. He insisted he told me that before but I guess I didn't understand. I went to get cash, he rang up everything, and asked me if I had a phone where he could reach me. Turns out I had to wait an hour and a half for the line to activate before I buy minutes! So when I said no he gave me his business card with his cell on it and said call in an hour and a half. An hour and a half later I called. No answer. He didn't pick up til two and a half hours later. And then the phone wouldn't even work!! And now, I'm not even sure how many cents I use per minute.
So, that's my adventure. That's why the picture says "Oscuro" (meaning dark) instead of Claro (meaing clear). So it is here in Argentina.
In Argentina there exist two kinds of cell phone plans (whereas in the US there are three: prepaid, pay as you go, and monthly): monthly and prepaid. There are three main providers: Movistar, Personal, and Claro. So I got here, and as I was obviously going to be out exploring the city, Ines said that the first thing I'd need to get was a cell phone, because when (not if) I got lost, I'd need to call her for directions. :-) I obviously am only going to be here five months so I wasn't going to sign a contract for a monthly cell phone (although come to think of it I'm not even sure how the monthly works and if there are contracts). So prepaid was my answer.
Everyone seemed to acquire a cell phone with relative ease. Maybe a former IFSA student left it for them, or they were smart enough to get the cheap phones with the company Personal. I, on the other hand, did not have that great of a time getting one.
IFSA gave us a list on the first day of cell phone stores that were nearest to the Circolo Italiano (the super-exclusive Italian social club where IFSA rents space for its programs). So being a typical extranjera (foreigner), I thought that the list was of EVERY cell phone store near the Circolo. So I went into a Movistar store first. I told them I was a student studying in Buenos Aires for 5months and looking for a prepaid. He asked my price range, and when I told him he said he didn't have any in that range but could send me to a store right around the corner where a lady would give me a good deal (which was 50 pesos ABOVE my price range) on a phone. This lady wanted 250 pesos for a phone. As I thought I could get a better deal (some students got theirs for 139) I left to go to another store several blocks down. I finally got there (this city has the biggest blocks ever), and it was something like a Best Buy. I told a salesgirl I was looking for a prepaid and she said "We don't have any." and simply walked away! So, I approached another salesman and he was very nice about it. I chose a phone, he rang it up, and when he tried to activate it for some reason, he couldn't! And he told me he wouldn't be able to for another one or two days. Now this was already three or four days after I got there. I told him I needed a phone that day and could he try to activate another phone before I paid for it. He said of course, we tried a second phone and he could not activate that one either! All this took about an hour, and I had to go back to the Circolo for an oral interview.
Now, while waiting for the interview, one of the girls told me, "Oh you know there's a Claro store like right around the corner, right?" Of course not. I had no idea. So after my interview I went there. I chose a phone, gave him my debit and my passport copy (here you have to have a document number to pay with a card), and he started to ring it up. He kept typing in information, and this guy who I presume was an employee there or something comes in. They start talking away like I am not even there, while the man kept entering things in to the computer. So I sit, I wait. I didn't want to interrupt because I knew that people here have all the time in the world. I must have been waiting for a good hour. I kept asking him, "Is something wrong with the system?" He kept saying no, in between his conversation with this other dude. So finally, man number 2 leaves. Man number 1 and I start chatting again, and he says the system's just slow. So I'm asking him how long it'll be and he says an hour or two! I was like, I'm sorry I don't have that kind of time. He said, "oh well its trying to process the card, cash we do here much more quickly." Come to find out if I had paid in cash I would've been right out the door!!! And also come to find out, this guy wasn't entering squat into the system, he was Instant Messaging!!! My card hadn't been charged so I switched to a phone I thought would be cooler, and cheaper since he told me right at that point phones are more expensive with prepaid. He insisted he told me that before but I guess I didn't understand. I went to get cash, he rang up everything, and asked me if I had a phone where he could reach me. Turns out I had to wait an hour and a half for the line to activate before I buy minutes! So when I said no he gave me his business card with his cell on it and said call in an hour and a half. An hour and a half later I called. No answer. He didn't pick up til two and a half hours later. And then the phone wouldn't even work!! And now, I'm not even sure how many cents I use per minute.
So, that's my adventure. That's why the picture says "Oscuro" (meaning dark) instead of Claro (meaing clear). So it is here in Argentina.
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