kid on cellphone

If you have been calling lately from the US and have had some problems to reach the people in Costa Rica, let me tell you the reason why. It all began last Thursday at midnight to be precise, an eighth digit was added to all current telephone numbers in order to make room for many more future telephone lines.

The decision was made by the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), To prepare for these changes, ICE has made some serious improvements to their central computer systems, totaling about $8 million, or ¢4.000 million; and for us that live here, they distributed a new phone book this month that reflects the additional digit.

Many people were afraid that something could go wrong during the transition; however that was not the case at all. (Yet)

So for those of you that have no way of knowing this, here is a brief explanation on the new phone numbers:

For the land lines all you need to do is add an extra 2 in front, so if your old Phone number was: 297 54 76, the new one will be: 2 297 54 76. For the cell phones all you need to do is add an extra 8 in the beginning, so if the number was 899 65 43, the new one will be 8899 65 43. (911 and other services will remain the same)

And for those of you guys, who call out of country, the process will remain the same; so just follow the “procedure” described above and you won’t have a problem.

The ICE also has an internet page for those that are not so good with their Spanish, here is the link:

http://www.grupoice.com/esp/temas/camp/2_8_dig/index_eng.htm

So now that you now the news do me a favor and spread the word…LOL, sorry that must be the Semana Santa influence in the air; and please remember to update the Costa Rica phone numbers in your computer and cell phone directories.