what is the best cell phone carrier in Panama. the best coverage??

Question

what is the best cell phone carrier in Panama. the best coverage?? the best price for calls within Panama and to and from the USA.
Is it worth buying a phone there??

Answer 1

ok..

you have another option.

very cheap.

when in panama, try clarocom.....

prices are about 0.05 cents x minute. the only drawback is you have to use regular phone lines.

hope it helps...

Answer 2

Panama Guide is right in everything he says. It should also be noted you should expect daily service problems with you cell and some times your land phones. Both C & W and Moviestar will have dropped calls, network jams, and failed dialing. Even ClaroCom has its warts. When we moved here a year ago it wasn’t as frequent as it is now. Maybe this is because of the large influx of people moving to and visiting Panama (for more info see http://www.panamaexpertos.com/ ) to the extent the service providers can’t keep up with the demand, in any event it can be frustrating. Upon arrival many people visiting Panama will purchase a prepaid cell phone for around $30, sometimes with specials less and charge the phone with a $5 or $10 card. This allows them to receive unlimited incoming call for thirty days once the phone is activated even if they use up their outgoing minutes. Concerning the ‘specials’ on the calling cards with double and triple the face value, once you activate it if you do not let the minutes totally expire but add additional minute from a regular card the value of the regular card will continue to be triple the value. An additional tip here would be to have the counter person you purchase the phone through change the language (idiom) in your cell phone to English it will make working with your phone a lot easier. We know of a couple of people in Panama who carry a contract cell from one company and a prepaid from the other so they are never out of a coverage area. But it is also important to note with the mountains in the country if you are traveling in a mountainous area you will have places you can’t get coverage from either service.

As for land lines, calling back to the US from Panama costs about 10 cents a minute. VOIP is a workable alternative here. There is SKPE which we do not use, we weren’t happy with the quality of the service and calls to US cost about 3 cents a minute. There is VONAGE, which we use, we established the number before leaving the US and have a second line from Europe. The two numbers cost us around $35 a month for each and we have unlimited calls back and forth. With the VOIP service the numbers are a US number and a European number so for those calling us to them it is like calling a number within their country.

Answer 3

There are two primary cell phone providers, Cable and Wireless (C&W) and Movistar.

Both companies offer a choice of using either prepaid cards, or signing a contract with monthly payments.

There are more people on the Movistar network and they offer discounts for calls between cellphones on the same network. Both C&W and Movistar have similar levels of coverage nationwide, but if you're specifically planning to visit or live in an area outsite of Panama City or away from the main highways then you should check to see which company covers that specific area.

The problem is that the cell phone companies are putting up new towers and extending their networks all the time so its hard (if not impossible) to give you an accurate and complete answer.
In general, both companies cover most of the country very well.

As far as rates are concerned both companies offer plans that are very competetive. Here's a link to the contract rates for C&W: http://www.cwmovil.com/Movil/Planes/Individuales.htm. To read these, the number at the end of the plan name is the minutes included in the plan. The price is per month, and the on net and off net overages are costs per minute once you've used up your contract minutes.

I tried to get the same information from the Movistar website (http://www.movistar.com.pa/) but it appears they are updating their prices. I would suspect that they are adjusting prices for a Christmas push or promition, and every time they adjust their prices its good news for customers (more time in the contract, less cost per minute).

Both C&W and Movistar offer pre-paid cards, so if you don't want to sign up for a contract then you can just buy the cards and pay as you go. And, they often put on "specials" in which the $5 and $10 cards will give you double or triple airtime, and those prices end up working out to be the same effective price as if you were on a contract.

As far as buying a phone is concerned, that's usually your best bet. If you're moving to Panama and you have a phone with a GSM chip then you can just buy a new chip for local service and stick it in. Most people buy a cheap phone when they get here and use prepaid cards. It ends up being the cheapest way for a short haul. If you're going to be here for a long time and live on the cell phone, then it makes more sense to get a contract, and the companies usually will give you a better phone at a discount when you sign the contract.

Between the two, I use Movistar and I'm happy with the service. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

I like Movistar the best.