Public pay telephones are widespread and usually work well, you can purchase a telephone card (tarjetas telefonicas- maximum 3,000 colones) at local shops.
Internet cafes are fairly easy to find in tourist towns and San Jose, but due to a monopoly operator the sevice is very slow, unreliable and expensive. Some internet cafes are now offering long distance calls over the internet. .
. If you need to call the US, bring a prepaid calling card from a phone company that has a toll free number to call the US from Costa Rica. All of the major US long distance companies have such numbers. All calls are local calls within Costa Rica. There is a surcharge for calls made to a cellular phone. Mobile phone service in Costa Rica is provided by Grupo I.C.E. using GSM technology at 1800 MHz. Roaming is possilbe with a GSM handset but can be expensive. Note that the GSM phone systems in the United States and Canada use different frequencies and that travelers from there will need a "world" handset. You should check with your provider . Prepaid Sim cards are not available in Costa Rica.
