Going to Brazil - cell plan will not work there -suggesions?

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CherylHall
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Going to Brazil - cell plan will not work there -suggesions?

Post by CherylHall »

Hi all, I am going to Brazil, Rio, for 3 days in April - I have H20 here in the states with an unlocked Iphone 5S and the H2O does not work there. I will be going back several times to to Rio in the next year and a half.

Suggestions? I am thinking of getting an old phone and use it just when i am there. But what carrier? I will likely not need much data, I really need a phone more for emergencies.
DSInvestor
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Re: Going to Brazil - cell plan will not work there -suggesi

Post by DSInvestor »

What about buying a phone in Brazil and just using it there? I used to consult for a company that sent teams overseas for projects and they buy a bunch of cheap phones locally and load them up with prepaid cards.

If your iPhone 5S is unlocked, you may be able to use it with a SIM card and service that you purchase in Brazil. Just don't lose your original SIM card.
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Silence Dogood
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Re: Going to Brazil - cell plan will not work there -suggesi

Post by Silence Dogood »

One nice feature about Republic Wireless is that you can use their phones wherever there is WiFi.

Perhaps you can buy a Moto E ($100) from them and go on the $5 a month plan?

If it's for emergencies only than you are probably better off picking up a pay-as-you-go phone there.
livesoft
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Re: Going to Brazil - cell plan will not work there -suggesi

Post by livesoft »

Don't use your phone in Brazil? It's only 3 days after all.
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Toons
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Re: Going to Brazil - cell plan will not work there -suggesi

Post by Toons »

"One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity" –Bruce Lee
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Rainier
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Re: Going to Brazil - cell plan will not work there -suggesi

Post by Rainier »

Get a Google Voice number and forward your calls there. You'll get calls on wifi and can make free calls back to the US
gogleheads.orb
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Re: Going to Brazil - cell plan will not work there -suggesi

Post by gogleheads.orb »

I did this recently. You can use any sort of Unlocked GSM cellphone. I used a galaxy nexus and a nexus 5. They both worked. The iphone 5s will work. I used Vivo and oi. They had pay by the day plans. 15-20Mb of data per day. and some number of minutes of calling for less that 50 cents a day. http://www.oi.com.br/oi/oi-pra-voce/pla ... e-paid-kit
Tim and claro are the other options. Oi was cheaper than Vivo, but for some reason it was only using edge data on the nexus 5. You only seem to be able to buy the sim cards in department stores. They will have a kiosk that sells sim cards and cell phones. If you have your cell phone they will set it up for you. You will need to have your passport so that they can register the sim card to you. If you are spending most of your time in Rio you will want to set up the phone there and get a Rio number. The prices can change as you cross state lines.

On vivo I believe that my credit was good for 3 or 6 months. I got the sim card and used it for a little while, then left the country and came back a few months later and it still worked. It only charged me for the days that I was using it.

http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Brazil
Alvim
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Re: Going to Brazil - cell plan will not work there -suggesi

Post by Alvim »

Download Viber app and use Wifi. The international cell phone coverage in Brazil is poor, including in Rio.
livesoft
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Re: Going to Brazil - cell plan will not work there -suggesi

Post by livesoft »

I once left my smart phone in the car when I went to Europe for about a week. I did not need it at all. I did have my laptop and could e-mail and Skype without issues.
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TX_TURTLE
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Re: Going to Brazil - cell plan will not work there -suggesi

Post by TX_TURTLE »

CherylHall wrote:Hi all, I am going to Brazil, Rio, for 3 days in April - I have H20 here in the states with an unlocked Iphone 5S and the H2O does not work there. I will be going back several times to to Rio in the next year and a half.

Suggestions? I am thinking of getting an old phone and use it just when i am there. But what carrier? I will likely not need much data, I really need a phone more for emergencies.
I you are traveling a lot consider switching to T-Mobile. Their 'simple choice plans' include international coverage (unlimited data and texting). Data is 2G (slow for the Internet, fine for Skype/Viber/Texting), but there is no additional cost, and no need to fiddle with different SIM cards. My wife traveled to UK a couple months ago, and it worked beautifully. You can check on the T-Mobile site which countries are included (Brazil is one of them).
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