<p>My D is a rising sophomore and will attend Tulane's CIAPA program in Costa Rica this fall, on Tulane's auxillary type campus.</p>
<p>We are not international travellers, other than a quick trip to Canada or Mexico from time to time. I don't know how to begin getting my D phone service that will work.</p>
<p>We are US Cellular customers and already know that US Cellular does not offer international plans. They suggested a prepaid program, but nothing specific.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any ideas? Is this something she can get before she leaves the US or is it something she needs to buy in Costa Rica?</p>
<p>when i studied in spain i went to a mobile carrier store (they had a mobile carrier called orange which i used, similar to at&t or verizon or what have you in the states) and just bought a cheapie pay-as-you-go phone and added money to it every 2 weeks. i had to go to the store to add money though. i stayed in a small city, so it was fine. if she’s going to be somewhere more remote, i’m not sure if that would work too well.</p>
<p>if there was an emergency or it was late at night and i ran out of money on my phone i would just use my US cell phone. (my parents were nice and were okay with paying the international fees.) i have at&t and i still picked up signal from their “sister” company that was in europe. i’m not sure how much fees my parents ended up paying though.</p>
<p>she will figure it out when she gets there. that’s what most of the people i know did when we studied abroad.</p>
<p>Honestly, it probably depends on the program. I know some programs give students cell phones or instructions to find cell phones, but I’m not sure about the Costa Rica program.</p>
<p>Why not use a program like Skype, and have your daughter get a phone for emergencies, though? It’s free, easy to setup, easy to use, and works as long as you have wifi.</p>