Costa Rica Phone Service - Costa Rica is the owner of the least liberalized telecom market on this side of the continent. Here Grupo ICE (short for Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad) and its subsidiary RACSA (both owned by the Costa Rican government) possesses all telecommunications (apart from pay-TV of course). As a result be it land-line telephone connections or mobile telephone connections or Internet connections, everything is state-owned and thereby unavailable to non-residents. But even if you belong to the privileged resident community do not expect quick results following your application for a telephone line, long lulls between applications and a resultant action is a rule in this part of the world.

If despite the obvious glitches in the system you do dare to apply for a land-line telephone connection you will be expected to provide the following;
1.The whole name of the candidate
2.His/her passport or cedula number
3.Full address of the house or place where the line has to be set
4.The number of the telephone closest to the house/establishment where the line is to be set (the telephone has to be within 75 meters from the house). Only this information will help you learn if it is possible for you to obtain a telephone connection at all.
5.Some sort of a contact number, so that you maybe got in touch with.
6.The electric meter number of where the line will be setup.

If you aren't a permanent resident of Costa Rica and have obtained a landline through someone else who is, do remember to get their authorization to ensure that it is your name and not theirs which ultimately makes it to the phone directory. If the applicant is a minor he/she will also have to produce their birth certificate and an authorizing document from their Guardian (or parents). Changing the name in the phone directory will cost you 350 Colones.
As of January 2006 the charge for a landline installation was around 37,945 Colones or 75 US dollars (inclusive of tax and security deposit).

Changing an existing landline number will cost you no more than 1375 Colones, just call telegestion at 115. In case it has to be altered due to some sort of technical hazard the changes will be absolutely free!

With the Costa Rica phone service if you are going to make regular international calls or make about 900 calls to 900 different numbers in a month cut yourself a smart deal by getting a special connection which will cost you 95 Colones/month. The one-time application fee will set you back by a meager 350 Colones.