Chile Forum

Hi all, I'm arriving soon to visit for a couple weeks and want to buy a Movistar Prepaid phone. Would I pay more at the airport kiosk than I would out in the community, say at a department store? Thanks . . .

Dimarsa had an after Christmas sale for a basic Siemans phone w/ a 10000 CLP card for $11,000 + IVA. Worked for us

passport wrote:Hi all, I'm arriving soon to visit for a couple weeks and want to buy a Movistar Prepaid phone. Would I pay more at the airport kiosk than I would out in the community, say at a department store? Thanks . . .

Can you bring your own mobile with you? If it's a triband it will work fine in Chile.

I got my Movistar card at the airport a few years ago. I was told that I wouldn't be able to get one downtown as I didn't have a RUT. Works fine and I can top up at any chemist (Salco / Ahumada / Cruz Verde etc).

Be aware that Movistar's network is screwed up in a couple of ways which make if annoying to use. You can dial calls to numbers in Chile using the normal international format (+56...), so if you have Chilean contacts stored in your phone this will work fine. However, if you need to call internationally you need to prefix the contact number with Movistar's carrier prefix (188, I believe, so to call someone in the US, you dial 188 0 1 ...). Incoming international calls are, however, not displayed with the carrier prefix, so you cannot call someone back by simply redialling, you need to save and add the carrier prefix. And international SMSs will not work if you add the carrier prefix. Phew.

I think I should file a complaint with Subtel about this stupidity...

I did file a complaint, it's OIRS Sugerencia Consulta Nº 10574-0. If anyone else has strong feelings about how their prepaid cards work, I suggest they email eperez@subtel.cl about it.

If anyone is entering Chile via Argentina at Futa...I have a movistar prepaid phone I would pass on to someone who needed one. Just PM me.

Vicki