Wi-Fi/Internet coverage

I am new to Expat.com but I have been researching retiring in Costa Rica since February 2020. My wife and I will be returning in May for 3 weeks to file for our pensionado residency and more closely fine tune the area that we will rent a house in next June. We will be living on one of the ridges above Grecia and want to find the best area and micro climate for our new life.

Previously we have driven over 1800Km covering almost half of the country without any time doing 'touristy stuff. Given the issues with cellphone coverage using Claro, through our carrier in the US on our last trip, I intend to purchase a local SIM card for my unlocked phone. Can anyone tell me their thoughts on what carrier offers the best coverage (not necessarily price) particularly in the Central Valley for this trip? Particularly in the Grecia/Atenas/Alajuela area.

kolbi or moviestar

It depends on exactly where you live. Sometimes they have a map to help you decide but I've found their map less than accurate.
About all you can do is try one then another. Great if you can have a 2-chip phone. Although I do and I find I only need Claro (in San Ramon area and in travels towards San Jose).
Basically you can buy a "prepago" chip, stick it in, try it for a month for about $3-4, and see what works best for you.
Claro and Movistar will spam you to death. Ask if there's a way you can block them from doing that. What some of them do (I forget , I think it was Claro) is they send you constant spam and then CHARGE you for it, eating up your prepago data! Should be illegal but it's not.

Thanks, every bit of information helps.

Not surprised those Claro would do that.  Anything for undeserved money.

Are those cellphone service providers?

thanks

It's spooky where I live my current internet is DSL because they don't have fiber optic in my area yet I only have 5.5mbs speed I'm looking into Kolbi Satellite service   Does anyone know how the internet is with satellite. Also I don't have TV so that's why I was entertaining Satellite.  I am also looking into getting a CR phone number through Kolbi, well just  a SIM card to switch out with my US #

The biggest problem I have here is since I know very little Spanish it makes it impossible for me to communicate with Kolbi or many other business here

I been down with my bank account because my log in password got deleted some how and when I try to do a reset it doesn't work and locks me out. I have gone into two Groupo Mutual Branches and they look at me like I have a dick on top of my head.  So now I have a bank account I can't use

I mention these in the Chat because these are the little obstacles us Gringos encounter moving abroad

All Good. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Every localion is different, so you must do your own investigation regarding utilities.


We live on one of the Volcan Poas ridges outside Grecia. Here, we have perfectly good cellular sernice from Kolbi and reliable and fast Internet access through our ISP - CR Wi-Fi. The latter will come to your home to determine if you have the necessary line-of-sight to one of their antennas.