Hola hombres,

Which is the cheapest place for cell phone rentals?
Mostly I see 5US pr day and only seen one advertising 3US per day.

It seem a little expensive ? or is it just me ?

I think I remember seeing somewhere Verizon (?) in the US will rent one for Brazil for about $15/wk. Worth checking out.

Hunterman,

Verizon wouldn't rent a phone for domestic Brasilian telco use. They would rent one with global roaming charges that would probably cost you $2-4 US per minute for calls within Brasil and/or back to the US.

just buy a claro sim card from a claro shop and prepaid credits from any news stand or claro shop. it will work assuming you have an unlocked phone or can get it unlocked before you go. i have used my chip with 4 different phones and never had a problem, plus you will have the same number everytime you go to brazil. calls to the us using the phone are about $1/3reais per minute and local calls are much less. right now claro is running a special in their stores where most of the prepaid 50 reais cards contain 100 reais of credits. facil.

Thanks for the advice - I think Ill go with gr8ter´s advice and bring my own cell.

obrigado
DG

it is a great plan. just remember to make sure your phone has a sim card, and that the phone is unlocked (because when you buy a phone from a cell phone service, i.e. tmobile, it is never unlocked). if it is not unlocked, and you have owned it for greater than 30 days, i know tmobile will give you the unlock code free of charge, just call them for it.

I think that every GSM phone outside the USA is sold unlocked. Why is that? Well, the G (Global) part of GSM indicates that you can roam with the service, and one of the main selling points of this technology back in the mid-90s was you could hop on a plane, land somewhere, buy/rent a local SIM, and have your phone up and running without having to pay international roaming and LD charges when making intra-country calls on your phone.

Basically, some providers in the US use GSM but have forgotten that little part. The rest of the world hasn't.

Can you buy a Claro SIM card at the airport?

to my knowledge you can't buy it at the airport, but you can buy it in any claro shop (every mall, including rio sul, barra shopping has one, and every major shopping area does as well, in ipanema and in copa, it is either 15 or 50 reais, don't remember which). you can buy the credits at any newsstand or at the claro shops. one warning about buying a phone from claro though, all of their phones are sold sim card locked and they will not unlock them (i bought one a while ago and this is what the salesgirl told me, i then tried to use the phone in the us and it said it was locked). that being said, i think cato is right that in most countries and perhaps with other service providers in brazil (tim, vivo) you can buy them unlocked, just ask first. for example, tim is an italian company i believe and if you buy a phone from them in italy it is sold unlocked, don't know about buying a tim phone in brazil though.

Your best bet is to buy a phone in the states tri , or quad band new or used and have it unlocked if you are a cingular, att, tmobile customer they may unlock it for you , or if you go to a independent cell phone store they can unlock most phones for you , or send them out should cost about 10 dollars.

The phones are subsidised by the carriers in the us , thats why they lock them so you can only use them with the carrier that subsidised the phone

I just had a friend buy a Tim SIM card. Of course, it did not work, and my secretary had to call Tim to try to register the phone for him. They did not accept his passport number. So she gave her own CPF, ID, and address to register him. She will not be able to do this with everyone.

Is Claro really so much more easy going????


Thank God for Brazilian bureaucracy. How else would I make big bucks from SIM card rentals.

By the way, I rent a few cell phones and gladly discuss better rates for rentals longer then a few days.



Gr8ter: Really? Does Claro have the R$ 50 card deal with R% 50 of extra bonus credit going right now?

Savings for Claro!

At www.claro.com.br, "ganhe em dobro", they advertise R$ 30 and R$ 50 cards. It is good if you stock up on these cards!!!

You probably have to go to a Claro store. One is in Rio Sul.

Gr8ter, you are right.

Not to reemphasize this point, but Claro really does suck as a service. Tim may be a pain in the ass but the phone might actually work if you walk more than a few feet inside a building.

ok, i have nothing to compare claro to but i have used it for two years and never had a problem (except for inside of centaurus where I think everyone has problems). i have also used it several times in buzios, sao paulo, salvador, costa de sauipe and curitiba without problems. the service is better that i get from tmobile in manhattan. brazilians have actually told me it is one of the better ones but i don't know, i just know it has always worked for me.

anyway, as far as registration, you do have to register prepaid sims with claro. One i have registered under a gdp (long story) and the other one I have registered under my name (just told them i was a tourist who comes here several times a year and gave them the address where i was staying at that time). Never had a problem with this either. Remember, this is a prepaid sim card, why the hell do they need your information in the first place, it is not like they have to send you bills, and they know your phone number if they ever do need to contact you for anything (which i can't imagine why they would), so in the end the registration is just bullshit and it doesn't matter if your give them a false address or whatever, it is just filling in the blanks on their stupid form.

Quick story, when I bought my first sim card they did not ask me to register, then about 6 months later i was in buzios with a couple girls and i got a call from claro asking for registration. i just handed the phone to one of the gdp's with me and she gave them her information. 6 months later my sim card stopped working (never put it next to magnets or credit cards) and I needed to go replace it, when they looked up my phone number in the computer they said "are you Suzie?" lol i just laughed and said it was a friend and they gave me a new sim card with the same number. so much for registration, i could have been an ex boyfriend who wanted to steal my girlfriends number or something and they could care less, they just gave me a sim card with the same number that was registered to someone else.

Both the claro shop in rio sul and the claro shop near 207 rua visconde de piraja have girls there who speak excellent english. I don't remember their names but the one on visconde has short black hair, is white, and wears black rimmed glasses. The one in rio sul has medium length black hair, kinda busted face, and big teeth, big thighs and usually sits behind the service counter where you pay for things (the other girl is usually at a desk). Going to a claro shop in brazil isn't really like going to a sprint store in manhattan. the people there are actually educated and some speak several languages. remember, buying a cell phone in brazil costs a lot of money for locals (a treo there is around 3000 or 4000 reais, almost a years salary at minimum wage and triple what it is in america).

Regardless, if you go there and ask them if they speak english (fala ingles?) they will direct you to the person who does. Try out the sim card there and see if it works, if it doesn't, don't buy it and go rent a phone or whatever. If they tell you to register and won't accept your us information (which evidently does happen, although it never happened to me) just tell them you live in rio six months out of the year at (give them the address where you are currently staying, for example 90 rua siquera campos for hotel atlantico, minus the fact that it is a hotel) and you want a local cell phone. They should not give you problems (as this would mean that they only sell sim cards to brazilian citizens which i find highly unlikely, if you have this problem more than likely you are dealing with someone who is too lazy to deal with a somewhat unusual situation and just wants to get rid of you, ask for the manager or someone who is more helpful and they will give it to you, remember, the business is there to make money, not to turn people away, although this is usually not apparent with brazilian businesses.

One other important thing, if you do get a claro prepaid cell phone, you need to know how to insert credits, as all of the instructions on the card and on the phone are in english. it is very simple though. all you do it scratch off your card, dial *500 wait for the menu, press 2, wait for the person to stop talking, then insert the scratched off number followed by the * key (asterisk), then hang up and your credits will be ready. alternatively, if you buy the card at a claro shop (which i would suggest because as brazil specialist said, you usually can only get the deals (i.e. pay 50, get 100) at the shops) they will put the credits in for you if you ask them. also remember that credits expire after a certain period, and if you buy a special (i.e. the buy 50 get 100) they usually expire faster. for this reason only insert the amount of credits you anticipate using within the next few months.

also, to call the us, input 00211 (area code) number. this is a lot more expensive than voip or a few other options, but since i don't call the us that much when i am in brazil when i do i always use my cell phone (it is about 3 reais per minute which is a lot cheaper than your hotel).

I only have experience with claro and there are at least 3 other major companies there (tim, oi, and vivo). I don't know anything about them personally, but at least 50% of the gdp's i know use prepaid phones from OI so I know they have them. The only reason I use claro is because they were the first shop i saw when i went into rio sul a while back, they had a girl there who spoke excellent english, and i have never had any problems with their service. It seems like the stores for the other phone companies have fewer people working there so you might have a harder time finding someone who speaks english too but if you want to give it a shot and let me know how it works out.

I have had 2 different Sims with Tim, it's the same procedure. I went the Tim store at Rio Sul and talked with a guy about reactivating my old sim. I'd not used it for more than a year and could not reactivate it as it was off the system. I had to buy a new sim and register it using my passport. No problem, that was all I needed.

If I only intend to use the phone for 2-3 times per year in Rio, is it worthwhile to get a sim card. Sounds like after a while of inactivity, the sims deactivate? Is this true with Claro sim cards? Also how much does a sim card cost. I'm going to get a GSM phone from Sprint.

Thanks.

Jasper,
A sim card from TIM cost $R25, the cheapest I have gotten a rental cell phone is $R5 a day. The number will be inactivated after 6 months of non use, it is my understanding that it is the same for Claro. It took me about 45 minutes at the store in Rio Sul Shopping to purchase. You need your passport. No one at the store spoke English at the time I went, but even with my crappy basic Portuguese I was able to get through the questions. You need to make sure you get the phone unlocked, a Sprint phone will definitely be locked.
SL

best phone company, undoubtedly, is Vivo.

Oldest, most expensive, most bureaucratic. No Sim cards either. CDMA, not GSM system

But certainly the best reception of all phone companies.

Many times I had reception when others did not.

Only problem: in most states of Brasil, there is no CDMA, only TDMA. Then, on trips, your phone will run on analog with about 20% of the usual battery life.

i think most of the questions were answered but

1) even if your sim card is deactivated, like was said it takes about 10 minutes to reactivate it. (unless it doesn~t work because it was close to a credit card or magnet or because so much time has passed that it is no longer in their system, one warning, do not store the sim cards in your wallet as they will no longer work due to the proximity of the storage location to your credit cards)
2) i think a claro sim card is about the same, more or less 25r.
3) if you are using a us cellphone, make sure it can take a sim card (and that it is unlocked). many sprint and other phones don~t even have a sim card slot (it is a little card usually found under the battery, about the size of a mini sd card).

one amendment to my former post, i errored when i said that the instructions are "in english" for the cards and therefore you need in instructions which i gave. the instructions on the cards are not in english and that is why i listed them!

(Message edited by gr8ter on May 12, 2005)

(Message edited by gr8ter on May 12, 2005)

Ah obrigado os meus amigos.

Where would I be without your help?.. in Rio with a useless phone and no way to get in touch with the garotas.

today, i had to get a new sim card for my phone. the process was a little different than what i encountered a little while back when i did it.

First of all, some claro shops now require a nota fiscal to purchase a sim card. it depends on the manager of the shop apparently, because in one of the shops in barra shopping they required one, but in the other they did not. although brasilians are used to keeping the nota fiscal for large purchases, i am not (or at least, i am not used to having them with me here in brasil). BTW, the claro shop that allowed me to purchase without the nota fiscal was the one right above fnac, not the one on the bridge from the new york city center.

Secondly, they were more insistant upon having a brasilian id to purchase. I think part of the problem is because they don't see as many foreigners in barra shopping as they do in rio sul and ipanema, because the receptionist said no, but the manager said there was no problem, and I have not had problems in ipanema or rio sul with this in the past.

Thirdly, after i inserted the sim card, i could not make any calls at all until I spoke on the phone with a claro employee, who proceeded to confirm my identity and then give me a service password.

Fourthly, i was unable to make long distance calls using the prepaid phone until i had this feature unlocked by calling *800.

All of these are things I did not encounter before and they were a pain in the ass. The third and fourth things were accomplished by a gdp who was with me but would be very hard for a gringo to do on their own without portuguese knowledge. However, if you know in advance, ask the attendent in the shop to do these things and it should be a piece of cake.

At the end of the day, there was a lot more red tape and frustration involved than there has been in the past, and if you are only here for 7 days or so it might not be worth the trouble to deal with claro rather than just rent a sim card if it is for a reasonable price. I don't know about the other carriers (tim, oi) and they might be a lot easier to deal with as other have reported on here.

BTW, before I bought my sim card today, i compared prices for both rio calls and calls to the usa between carriers (using prepaid rates). Claro was cheaper than tim or oi by about 20% or so. Additionally, Claro still has the buy 30 get 60 and buy 50 get 100 credit deals so they are the cheapest by far currently.

Gr8ter

I am very happy to know that Claro helps me to continue my Sim card rental business. Brazilians are experts in making things complicated.

Damn, I have to search if I find a nota fiscal. Or I will buy another cell phone plus a few sim cards, with the same nota fiscal .......

BS, I have a question for you or anyone else that lives in Rio. I have a Verizon (US) cell phone. Since April of this year I have been able to receive calls from the US without incurring any abnormal charges. I would like to place a call to the US using my phone. Do any of the local wireless companies offer an access code for out of region cell phones ?

Watch out, my experience has been that it can take a few months for charges to show up on US phones with non-international roaming plans. I remember 18 months ago in Israel, I received a couple of calls and my bill in April or May was huge, a buck or two per minute. I received a couple of calls in Mexico City three months ago, they haven't shown up on the bill yet but I expect them to eventually.

If you are on a GSM network CONUS, have your phone unlocked. Bring your phone with you, and buy a SIM card for around $30R. I rec. TIM or OI. Rio Sul has authorized dealers of both networks.

there is a new tim store on copa ave very close to don's office. also don sells most cards and will help you load your credits.

I switched over to Oi, using my US GSM phone. Twenty reals for the card, which comes with twenty credits, and the chip can go two months, I think, without use before the credits are lost. I think it's the same or three months before the chip gets trashed.

One extra thing - with Oi you can load credits directly through the menu system on the phone, no need for calling in and plugging in numbers and trying to follow the voice system - which is always tough if you don't speak Portuguese.

Oh, even though I still have about 16 months on my Cingular plan, I got them to send me the unlock code for my phone by threatening to cancel my contract, since the US$150 breakup fee is less than what the phone (small Nokia) would cost new. I had my unlock code a few days later, gratis. On the email from Nokia, the rational for why they were being so generous in unlocking my phone even though I was still under contract? "International travel". So, even though you may have to twist their arm a little, they can fairly easily get the unlock request through to phone vendor.

According to the Cingular representative I spoke with, you only need to have been on your contract for 90 days and they will give you the unlock code.
CG

Cool. I believe that before Cingular bought AT&T, all of their phones were unlocked, but after the buyout they started shipping all phones locked. The unlock procedure is pretty easy to follow so no problems there.

Not possible to get Cingular to unlock if you are/were on AT&T - Cingular has a strict policy that "they cannot (will not) unlock AT&T phones - they don't have the codes".. they will continue to tell you this until they and/or you are blue in the face and stop asking them, or switch to Congular (which is what they WANT you to do)

The only way to do it is to engage an unlock service - I got my AT&T Motorola phone unlocked for $30 - but there are mail-in services that do it for less.. you can find a lot of them on eBay.
some phones can be unlocked by a code, some require a hardware "clip" to reprogram the phone.

BUT - Cingular/AT&T calls will still cost you $2.29 per minute in Brazil, so just buy a TIM chip - which is definitely the way to go. You can then by recharge cards "cartão TIM para recarregando" at most "bancas" (newsstands) for $R25 or $R50...

I'm strictly talking about Cingular phones. My last AT&T phone was TDMA, so not useful at all these days. Again, from what I've seen, Cingular phones purchased before the Cingular/AT&T merger were unlocked. Cingular phones are now all locked, and have been on all phones purchased with a contract after the Cingular/AT&T merger, and you have to request the code to unlock your phone. It appears you can get it for free after 90 days into your contract or if you ask nicely or ask unnicely (threatening to cancel service).

Cingular/ATT - Years ago, I sent a Sony/Ericsson T68 to an outfit in Miami for unlocking. Total cost incl. shipping was around $35.

Since then, I only buy unlocked and unbranded world phones(quad-band). Currently, I use a RAZR. Services used include Oi, Tim, ATT, Cingular, and Wind.

It is very hard(almost impossible) to have your US carrier give up the unlock code. They are real hard-asses about such.

Do a search in the engines for "unlock phone." I'm certain you will find a reliable and reputable company for unlocking. Cheers.

Hustler,
Not that hard with Cingular, if you have had your contract for 90 days, call 800 335-4685 International Customer Care, and in 3 to 5 days they email the unlock code. No reason to pay.
CG

Same thing goes with T-Mobile. I called customer care and 24 hours later I recived an E-Mail with instructions.
RG.

T-Mobile will automatically give you the unlock code if you are out of the "bail out" period of your contract.

Cingular seems to have an inconsistant policy. I have called them on behalf of a couple of people I know and got different responses. If they tell you no, call right back and ask again with a different rep. You may get a different answer. It may well be true the reps on the phone can't get the AT&T codes though.

You can get unlock codes for most Nokias and many other phones for free here. http://www.trycktill.com/eng/unlock_swe.asp (click on the British flag at the bottom for English)

Any other phone not yet unlocked by those three options can be unlocked by this guy http://stores.ebay.com/New-Mobile-Freedom , usually for $4 +$4 shipping, $8 total unless it is an "impossible to unlock" model phone. He charges $20 to unlock an "impossible to unlock" phone.

I need to be able to make calls to the US and have my number come up as blocked. Does anyone have any experience with a Brazil SIM card and this issue?

I use Tim and my number always comes up as blocked on international calls.

I use Claro and it also comes up blocked.

What about verizon? I have an LG chocolate, can I call verizon and have my phone unlocked so it works in Rio?

Verizon is CDMA.

can i buy a chap trac phone here and get a sim card down there?

FYI-

I just had Brazil Specialist rig up a Vivo phone for me. He called my cell phone and I confirmed that it comes in as an unkown number. Does anyone know if an unknown number's origin is visible on a cell phone bill statement?

Thanks,

CB

I recommend that you keep your cell phone bill away from the wifey!

Two years ago I roamed on a CDMA network in Rio using a verizon phone. Anyone know if you can still roam in Rio with Verizon's CDMA service?