calls home from Peru

pandapone

My daughter is on orange and has an unlocked Nokia - she's going to Peru for July - as I'm paying her mobile bill i would prefer she doesn't use roaming! Usually we just search for a SIM card for the country she is going to on ebay - but there is nothing for Peru - we thought of a callback service but as they depend on the number ident being sent - it could be risky - anybody got any ideas?

grumbler

oneroam.co.uk

andy88_2

I don't think so grumbler. Calls are more expensive in the Americas using this SIM. At oneroam rates it will be 93p/min for outgoing calls and 68p for incoming.

Two things to begin with - the phone needs to be tri-band (they use 1900) - and the coverage in the country is a bit sparse, though sometimes the maps here are a bit out of date
http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?x=0&y=0&z=0&cc=pe&net=ti

There is only the TIM network. I can't see an English button on the website, but I'm sure you can explore a bit. I didn't find their coverage map to compare to the above
http://www.tim.com.pe/portalTimWebApp/index.jsp

edit - there may be other networks as their tariff page mentions others - these are probably non-GSM networks so would not work with that phone - but it may be worth looking into those and getting a phone there if they have more widespread coverage
http://www.tim.com.pe/portalTimWebApp/application?origin=menuTimPack.jsp&event=bea.portal.framework.internal.portlet.event&pageid=Productos&portletid=productoMenu&portletns=menuProducto&wfevent=menuTimPack.event&evento=tarifas.link

The SIM costs equivalent of £8 or £11. Local calls about 23p to TIM, 32p to landlines. Calls to Europe 92p and 79p peak and off-peak, so I think you are right about a callback service.

Callback services should be possible for about 15p/minute or so, or 6p using a landline. Not all callback services rely on sending the number; some have a dedicated trigger number that you call from anywhere then hang up. and some can have extensions eg hotel room number

Calls you make from here to Peru using cheap calls providers are in the same sort of price area.

I think because the coverage is thin, she'll be using landlines quite a bit of the time, so an account with landline and mobile would be an idea. You could manage the callback account online at this end to change the landline number as she travels around, but there will still be the difficulty of the first new contact in a place with no mobile coverage. Perhaps she will need to investigate phonecards there as well.

I bet there's no coverage at Machu Picchu

Hintza

I lived in Madagascar for a year and the best and cheapest (cheaper than landlines) was to buy a local sim card in Madagascar and then use the phone that way. Cost about £10 for the SIM card but was well worth it.


This could be an option. Need an unlocked phone of course but you seem to have that covered.