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wehokev

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 18, 2007
86
0
I will be traveling to Buenos Aires and Mendoza in Argentina and Santiago in Chile soon.

I am trying to decide how many megabytes to pre buy from AT&T. When I went to Europe last I bought 100 mb and only used about 60. But virtually everywhere I went there I was on 3g.

I've heard that most of Argentina and Chile are still edge, so I wouldn't be able to download much even if I wanted to.

I was hoping that some folks could tell me if, in fact, Buenos Aires, Mendoza, and/or Santiago are mostly edge still or if those carriers have stepped up to 3g. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

-kevin
 

delta mono

macrumors newbie
Dec 7, 2009
8
0
I had to look it up, because I wasn't sure. But considering how Chile is quite developed and ahead of the curve on these types of things, I would be surprised if they don't use something equivalent to 3G. I have not taken my cellular phone when I travel to Chile (last in 2009), so I did some research.

Sure enough according to this Wikipedia page: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telefonía_móvil#Conexi.C3.B3n_a_Internet , all of the major cellular providers are equipped with what they refer to as 3.5G. And according the link above, Entel PCS has speeds of 3 to 12 Mbps, which would be good enough to be called 4G by some companies in the States.

If you go to the Entel PCS site (in English this time): http://www.entelpcs.cl/internacional/welcome_02.iws you will see that among other things they will lend you a phone at the airport for you to use while you are there if you don't have a dual band handset!

The rest of the site is a little spotty as far as information and some links have information only in Spanish, but it looks like you're covered with the iPhone being able to use the network and with speeds being sufficiently fast.
 

wehokev

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 18, 2007
86
0
Thanks delta mono.

Anyone have thoughts on Argentina?

-kevin
 

wehokev

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 18, 2007
86
0
I'm back

Well, I am pleased to report that there was 3G coverage in all three cities. Even in parts of the winery areas outside Mendoza.

Most of my data usage went to maps. I hope that Apple (with or without Goggle) can come up with a more data efficient maps application.

-kevin
 
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