Mobile phone pay as go tariffs

[tomsax]

Visiting Peru in the summer after around six years. Can't wait!

Interested in buying a "pay as you go" mobile phone while we are there for our use and then leaving it with my wife's family when we leave. Does anyone know if there are pay as you go tariffs that don't incur a flat rate each month if you don't use it? In the UK there are such deals but I remember in Peru six years ago there wasn't. I don't want to burden my wife's family with a monthly tariff if they hardly use the phone.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[ardilla]

hi,
you can bring your own phone (GSM unlocked) and just purchase a prepaid SIM card for S/5 or so. You can then add soles whenever you want. The SIM tel # will become deactivated after a year or so depending upon the carrier. The way to keep it active is to ask someone in Peru to add soles to it or use your Peruvian bank account to add soles once and a while.

If you want to buy a prepaid phone in Peru you can do that too there are prepaid accounts that are not monthly ones but rather prepaid ones you can fill up once a while.

Buy the SIM card at an official cell operator, not a concesionario. This will reduce the risk of having your personal information (DNI or passport) sold to someone who wants to use your cel for their own purposes. To find the 'official' operator go to the cell operator's web site and find their main address in the city where you will be. For example Lima has only one official operator.

[tomsax]

Thanks ardilla for the info. Can you recommend a network to use. I remember 10 years ago there were Claro, Movistar and at least one more. Maybe there are many more now. What is a good choice?

[FDiH]

Don't use Claro for pay-as-you-go as you'll need to charge monthly else the service is interrupted.

[tomsax]

That's how it was with all of them when I lived in Peru 10 years ago. Which providers don't now have a monthly fee?

[gy5rdes]

I personally use Claro and Entel - Claro because of their 6 days free call to other claro mobile when I top up (10 soles minimun) and better coverage (when not in big city) and Entel for their price call and data offer. You should be able to get any network on pay as you go !

[woodchuck]

How does the Claro 6 day to other Claro mobiles (10 sole min.) work?
Thanks

[Formidable 1]

Another alternative is using a smartphone if you have Wi-Fi.
Download apps like Talkatone or Dingtone and call for free.
Then there's Whatsapp for sending text messages.

[gy5rdes]

How does the Claro 6 day to other Claro mobiles (10 sole min.) work?
Thanks

I do receive at least once a week a texto form them telling me if I topup for a minimum of 10 soles I will get 250MB and X free day to call claro mobile. As I am really receptive I receive them pretty often... just check their texto !

Hope that help...