Thread Archive > STAR 2016
Riding after STAR
qman8:
--- Quote from: TN2Wheeler on February 09, 2016, 03:51:13 pm ---Re cell phones in other countries:
We are going to Costa Rica soon and our phones are Verizon also. We spoke with their international calls unit and arranged for our Android phones to work there. However, it will be somewhat expensive at around $2 per minute for voice and $2 per megabyte for data.
So, instead of using the Verizon towers we are going to use a smartphone application called Viber which provides VOIP phone calls and text messaging over Wi-Fi. We will have Wi-Fi access at our hotels in the evenings. Viber provides FREE calling or texting to any other Viber user ANYWHERE in the world. It connects to landlines and non-Viber mobiles for a very modest fee which varies by country. From Costa Rica calls to landlines in the USA are only $0.06 per minute - much better than the $2 that Verizon would charge for calls over their towers. Viber integrates with your existing contact list which means you do not have to maintain a separate list of Viber users and supports video calling if your Wi-Fi connection has adequate bandwidth. It's really a very cool app!
We will be able to make or receive cellular calls IF NEEDED but we intend to use Viber for most of our communications with friends and family back home.
One important thing to note is that if you have to pay for data and you use text messaging, Facebook or any other kind of data sychcronization with web-based servers you will want to turn off your phone's cellular data access before leaving the country, or even riding along the border where you might be picked up by the towers across the border.
--- End quote ---
Jim:
Looking at the Viber app...it doesn't look like you can use it to text to non-viber users. Can you confirm this?
Thanks
QAM
TN2Wheeler:
--- Quote from: qman8 on March 17, 2016, 08:23:17 am ---
--- Quote from: TN2Wheeler on February 09, 2016, 03:51:13 pm ---Re cell phones in other countries:
We are going to Costa Rica soon and our phones are Verizon also. We spoke with their international calls unit and arranged for our Android phones to work there. However, it will be somewhat expensive at around $2 per minute for voice and $2 per megabyte for data.
So, instead of using the Verizon towers we are going to use a smartphone application called Viber which provides VOIP phone calls and text messaging over Wi-Fi. We will have Wi-Fi access at our hotels in the evenings. Viber provides FREE calling or texting to any other Viber user ANYWHERE in the world. It connects to landlines and non-Viber mobiles for a very modest fee which varies by country. From Costa Rica calls to landlines in the USA are only $0.06 per minute - much better than the $2 that Verizon would charge for calls over their towers. Viber integrates with your existing contact list which means you do not have to maintain a separate list of Viber users and supports video calling if your Wi-Fi connection has adequate bandwidth. It's really a very cool app!
We will be able to make or receive cellular calls IF NEEDED but we intend to use Viber for most of our communications with friends and family back home.
One important thing to note is that if you have to pay for data and you use text messaging, Facebook or any other kind of data sychcronization with web-based servers you will want to turn off your phone's cellular data access before leaving the country, or even riding along the border where you might be picked up by the towers across the border.
--- End quote ---
Jim:
Looking at the Viber app...it doesn't look like you can use it to text to non-viber users. Can you confirm this?
Thanks
QAM
--- End quote ---
We all had viber which worked perfectly. However you can purchase viber "credit" that facilitates connection to non-viber phones at a fraction of the carrier's cost. Nancy and I have a $5 credit we did not use.
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