ICE Makes It Easier To Obtain Cellular
Service In Costa Rica
In an effort to become more consumer
friendly in the face of competition, the
Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad
(ICE) - the state owned telecom - is making
it easier for individuals and businesses to
connect to mobile telecommunications
services such as cellular telephone service
and mobile internet.
Unlike in the past were in addition to
personal documents, ICE required a recent
utility bill - an oxymoron there because ICE
is the sole utility providing fixed line
telephones, but it required a printed
telephone bill, not accepting an internal
check - that states clearly the address of
the subscriber.
In addition, ICE required that the customer
provide an original and a copy of the proof
of purchase of the cellular phone unit to be
connected to its network.
That is no longer the case.
ICE only requires that the customer have
their cedula, in the case of an individual)
and the "personerķa" in the case of a
corporate entity like an S.A.
The customer is then asked to sign a service
contract, provide the deposit (¢12.500
colones in the case of cellular service) and
the actual cellular telephone, is all that
is now required to connect to the ICE
network.
Another major change in ICE policies is the
ability to transfer service to another
party. ICE calls this "traspaso de derechos
por mutuo acuerdo" (transfer of rights by
mutual agreement).
The state institution also requires that the
person to aquire the right must not have any
existing debt and accepts all outstanding
and future charges to the service.
Unfortunately, however, ICE still has yet to
drop the "residency" provisions, that is
foreigners who are neither a cedula by way
of naturalization or legal residency, cannot
obtain cellular telephone services in Costa
Rica. Not yet, anyways.
Ways of getting around that provision has
seen foreigners enter into arrangements with
nationals or residents to obtain the
service. The precaution is that the user,
the person who is paying for the service, is
at the whim of the other and not being able
to deal directly with ICE if there is a
problem with the service and/or billing.
In some cases, foreigners have reported
being scammed, contracting to aquire
cellular service, paying an upfront cost for
the right and use, in addition to the usage
charges, and then find in months or less to
have the service cut and losing any upfront
payments. In the old days, the days prior to
GSM and few cellular telephone lines, that
upfront cost reached at one point more than
us$1.000.
For customers who meet the conditions of
subcription have to also be cautioned that
not all cellular telephones are accepted for
connection to the ICE network.
ICE has a list of "homolgaldos" - approved
cellular telephones - that can be connected.
If the cellular telephone presented for
connection is not within the approved list,
an ICE agent may or may not, depending on
the circumstances, accept it, having the
customer sign a waiver of any responsibility
on the part of ICE if the unit does not work
properly. In such cases, ICE agents also
refuse to configure any part of the phone.
The other consideration to the type of
cellular phone unit is dependent on the type
of service.
ICE now offers TDMA (which is being phased
out by 2011), GSM and 3G. The customer has
to have the right type of technology for the
specific service. For example, ICE will not
connect a GSM phone to the 3G network,
though a GSM phone will work with a 3G SIM
chip. However, a 3G phone can be used to
connect to the GSM network, for a 3G phone
is a GSM phone, but with the added capacity
for High Speed Downlink Packet Access
(HSDPA) and WCDMA protocols, for instance.
Too technical? Don't worry, the cellular
phones today are smart enough to know all
that, even if we cannot even spell it out,
and will automatically find their way around
the network.
For more information on the new ICE policies
go to:
http://portal.grupoice.com/wps/wcm/connect/79343f004ff5bd51b80eff2a526ccfc9/info+link.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=79343f004ff5bd51b80eff2a526ccfc9
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