For a 5 day trip involving a flight into LIM, CUZ and some Macchu Picchu trekking and 4 diff hotels/pickups etc., would renting a local cell phone make sense? Has anyone done this and how much I(ball park) should one expect to have? I like the ability to call our hotels if plans change, etc., and setup transfers etc., but curious if I can do without and just go with the flow.

 

Instead of renting a cell phone, most people buy local SIM card (5 USD from normal shops, 10-20 USD at the airport) and use their own phones/buy the cheapest Chinese phone costing 15-20 USD. Is your phone simlocked? Does it support GSM 1900 technology? Do you speak basic Spanish? Only planning to call or also texting/using data?

You can buy local SIM (ask for Chip) for instance from 2nd floor of Saga Falabella&Ripley in Lima close to Parque Kennedy, many shops in Cuzco etc. There is also a Claro shop at Lima airport on 2nd floor but the chip is 10 USD more expensive.

When buying a chip, will need your original passport to be able to buy. The benefits of local SIM include with the correct tariff: being able to call to Peruvian numbers for less than 0.20 USD per minute, send SMS for 0.03 USD, buy data packages costing 0.40 USD per 10 MBs, cheaper calls to US than when using roaming etc.

For those not buying local chips, using phone booths instead of roaming is much cheaper. If anyone else has telecom-related questions, don't hesitate to ask (I worked in the sector in Peru)!

 

Wowza, I have no freaking cllue what 99% of you said means. I own a Droid Pro on verizon and it does have a SIM Card, but no idea how to know if its locked or not. If I buy a SIm Card, then how would I be billed? Through verizon?

I'm looking for something that's going to cost me $30 US all in max....it's 5 days and being disconnected from life might not be a bad thing

 

Personally I have always bought a local phone - as miikkak says it is very inexpensive and relatively easy to do. Even if you don't speak Spanish you could get by going to one of the many Claro shops in Lima or Cusco. However if you're trekking then I guess you won't have signal that much anyway? If it is just to potentially change plans then consider using the telephone boots...there are lots of them in most towns and cities and they are very economic - kind of like an internet cafe. It sounds like you are not going to use the phone much so this could be the cheapest option by far...

 

OK, I have written from Nordic perspective which is a bit different from US... You can use your own phone in Latin America if your phone supports GSM technology using 1900 Mhz bandwith (the one T-Mobile USA uses) and you have activated roaming (=can you make calls in Canada with your phone?). Local prepaid SIM card can only be used only if you have unlocked phone (=you can make calls if you put T-Mobile SIM to your phone). If those conditions aren't fulfilled, it's probably better to use phone booths... For emergencies it's a good idea to make sure that you have roaming activated. Average person has roaming activated (but uses it only emergencies) and uses phone booths/skype/internet cafes (=locutorio) for calling.

 

Under no circumstances rent a phone at the airport from those rent-a-phone-and-get-ripped-off blue spandex clad girls.

 

ok, but why?

 

It's much more expensive to rent a phone than buy a SIM or chinese phone outside the airport. Besides calls cost more than with local prepaid...

For those buying local SIMs, don't forget to ask that they activate tarifa unica nacional, also known as TUN. Otherwise calling is 400+% more expensive. This can be done via IVR.

 

Oooo, let me count the reasons..

you can't do text messaging (tho Miss Spandex will tell you that you can);
the phones are old and beat up, hard to read the screens;
the phones are old and break down and you have to wait at your hotel for them to deliver another one;
NO post problem customer service;
false promises;
they feel it is acceptable to molest 1000's of people daily just to make a buck;
their prices are crazy high especially as compared to alternatives;
etc.

 

Now I do remember about the txt msg, a friend of mine that came from California couldn't send me any sms. I didn't know about the unreliable phones, thanks for the info.

 

OP: I have traveled to Lima with the Verizon Droid Pro many times, it works fine. You just need to call Verizon and turn on your intl capabilities before traveling.

Outgoing text cost .50 and incoming one cost .05. Voice calls are $2.89 per minute. I normally turn off the data and rely on wifi but if you need it you can roam data in Peru as well. You will get that text message saying $25 has been spent pretty quick through IME.

If your not going to be using it much, why go through all the trouble of renting phones or buying sim cards?

 

When I'm out of the country, I usually put my IPhone in airplane mode, and just enable WiFi. I forward my cellphone to my Skype number before leaving the U.S., and receive and make all my calls through WiFi. The only drawback is you don't get coverage all day, except when at the hotel, Starbucks, or any other place where WiFi is available. However, unless I'm expecting an urgent call, it is usually enough to satisfy my needs.