Chile Forum

When I was studying in Chile, August - December 2006, I had an Entel cell phone. I will be returning to Chile in less than 2 weeks, my question is, will I be able to use that same cell phone (I've had it in my posession since leaving Chile) by simply buying a card and adding the minutes, or will I need to re-activate the phone with Entel?

I should add that I never used the cell phone on a plan, always pay-as-you-go style.

FME of my pareja's aging Telefonica pay as you go phone, as long as you still have the old SIM, you should be able to use the same number after charging it up with another prepaid card.

eeuunikkeiexpat wrote:FME of my pareja's aging Telefonica pay as you go phone, as long as you still have the old SIM, you should be able to use the same number after charging it up with another prepaid card.

If he doesn't have the original SIM, he can buy a SIM in the US (http://www.telestial.com/view_product.p ... =LSIM-CL02). Can he buy a new SIM in Chile without a contract or new phone? For less?

Mark

Don't know the cost for that. His first stop should be at the Entel booth on the checkin level at SCL to inquire about this rather than in-town with employees that may not be familiar with that scenario.

JAL, EE.UU.'s advice is good: consult Entel at SCL. FWIW, my "Movistar" pay-as-you-go from Bs.As. is good each time I go down South, even though I've sometimes waited more than a year between uses (the credits purchased do expire twelve months after purchase, however).

the phone itself should still be good with an entel sim card which i believe can be purchased at the entel counter at the airport in Santiago if u dont have the original one.. from memory it will either cost 20mil or 5mil.. i cant quite remember.. i have had the same number in Chile since 2005 and have been away for 6 months at a time.. so if u still have the sim card it may save u $$ as you'll be able to buy just credit and not a sim with credit(which is kinda the same).

The phone does still have the original SIM from when I bought it in August of 2006. So, if I understand correctly, I'll be able to simply buy a card and charge up the minutes, same number and working right away? That would be ideal.

I think that after some time the SIM card gets deactivated if you don't use it, and you have to get a new one or reactivate your current one which also has a cost. I don't know much about it since it has never happened to me, but some friends have experienced that trouble when they had an SIM card inactive for a long time.

If I remember correctly, when I was originally purchasing the phone and memory card the SIM card came equipped with something like 20.000 worth of minutes, which basically offset the price of the card, is this still the case? If so, it might be worth it to save the hassle of reactivating the current SIM card at the Entel building and just buy a new SIM card.

Yeah, it's still the same. You can buy a SIM card and sometimes get more than what its cost worth in call credit.

A new SIM can cost you around $3000 to $6000, it shouldn't be more than that. I bought a new one at Claro a few days ago and it was $6000.

jalundberg wrote:If I remember correctly, when I was originally purchasing the phone and memory card the SIM card came equipped with something like 20.000 worth of minutes, which basically offset the price of the card, is this still the case? If so, it might be worth it to save the hassle of reactivating the current SIM card at the Entel building and just buy a new SIM card.

yeh this is true.. i was saying u could just use ur old SIM card cos then u wouldn't have to buy X amount of credit in order to use the phone.. but if u think ur SIM is not working then yeh u can buy a new ENTEL SIM and pay X and get X credit with it and i think u get free SMS with it too.. i know for sure that Movistar charge 20mil at SCL with 20mil in credit plus free SMS.. don't know about ENTEL.. but I imagine its not much different..