The 21st-Century Traveler

For directory assistance: Dial tel. 104.

For operator assistance: If you need operator assistance in making a call, dial tel. 105.

Toll-free numbers: While all toll-free numbers in Ecuador begin with 1800, there's no hard and fast rule about how many digits you'll find following them. Many toll-free numbers are just six digits long (after the 1800), while others are seven digits long. Calling a toll-free number in the United States from Ecuador is not toll-free. In fact, it costs the same as an overseas call.

Most mid- to high-end hotels in Ecuador have international direct-dial and long-distance service and in-house fax transmission. But these calls tend to be quite expensive, especially since hotels often levy a surcharge.

The least expensive way to make local phone calls is to go to one of the many cabinas telefónicas offices found in every Ecuadorian town. There, you'll have a private booth where you can make all your calls and pay the attendant after you are done.

You must pay in cash at the cabinas. Cost is roughly 5¢ to 30¢ (3p-15p) per minute for calls within Ecuador.; 40¢ (20p) per minute to the U.S. and 60¢ (30p) to the U.K.

Your best bet for making international calls, though, is to head to any Internet cafe with an international calling option. These cafes have connections to Skype, Net2Phone, or some other VoIP service. International calls made this way can range anywhere from 5¢ to $1 (3p-55p) per minute. If you have your own Skype or similar account, you just need to find an Internet cafe that provides a computer with a headset.

Cellphones -- The three letters that define much of the world's wireless capabilities are GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), a big, seamless network that makes for easy cross-border cellphone use throughout Europe and dozens of other countries worldwide. In the U.S., T-Mobile, AT&T Wireless, and Cingular use this quasi-universal system; in Canada, Microcell and some Rogers customers are GSM, and all Europeans and most Australians use GSM. GSM phones function with a removable plastic SIM card, encoded with your phone number and account information. If your cellphone is on a GSM system, and you have a world-capable multiband phone such as many Sony Ericsson, Motorola, or Samsung models, you can make and receive calls across civilized areas around much of the globe. Just call your wireless operator and ask for "international roaming" to be activated on your account. Unfortunately, per-minute charges can be high -- usually $1 to $1.50 in Western Europe and up to $5 in places like Russia and Indonesia.

For many, renting a phone is a good idea. While you can rent a phone from any number of overseas sites, including kiosks at airports and at car-rental agencies, we suggest renting the phone before you leave home. North Americans can rent one before leaving home from InTouch USA (tel. 800/872-7626; www.intouchglobal.com) or RoadPost (tel. 888/290-1606 or 905/272-5665; www.roadpost.com). InTouch will also, for free, advise you on whether your existing phone will work overseas; simply call tel. 703/222-7161 between 9am and 4pm EST, or go to http://intouchglobal.com/travel.htm.

Unfortunately, per-minute charges can be high -- usually $1 to $4 (55p-£2.20) in Ecuador. There are several competing cellphone companies in Ecuador. All have numerous outlets and dealers around the country. They sell pre-paid GSM chips that can be used in any unlocked triband GSM cellphone, as well as new phones with or without calling plans. Many also rent phones. Telefonia Celular (tel. 02/3301-757) at the Mariscal Sucre International airport offers cellphone rental for $2.50 to $3 (£1.40-£1.65) per day, with a $50 (£28) deposit. However, if you're not carrying your own GSM phone, you are probably best off just buying one either before you travel or even in Ecuador. Most of the cellphone outlets around the country, including Telefonia Celular at the airport, sell already activated phones, with a few dollars of calling time loaded onto the chip. After that you simply buy pre-paid minutes in denominations of $3, $6, or $10 (£1.65-£5.50). The cheapest of these phones -- a fully functional Siemens A71 -- costs just $36 (£20) activated and ready to go.

The main cellphone companies in Ecuador are Porta, Movistar, and Alegro. According to my Ecuadorian friends, Porta has the best coverage.

Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP)

If you have web access while traveling, you might consider a broadband-based telephone service (in technical terms, Voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP) such as Skype (www.skype.com) or Vonage (www.vonage.com), which allows you to make free international calls if you use their services from your laptop or in a cybercafe. Check the sites for details.

Internet/E-Mail

Without Your Own Computer -- To find cybercafes in your destination, check www.cybercaptive.com and www.cybercafe.com. Quito's Mariscal district has an abundance of Internet cafes.

Most major airports have Internet kiosks that provide basic Web access for a per-minute fee that's usually higher than cybercafe prices. Check out copy shops like Kinko's (FedEx Kinko's), which offers computer stations with fully loaded software (as well as Wi-Fi).

With Your Own Computer -- More and more hotels, resorts, airports, cafes, and retailers are going Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity), becoming "hotspots" that offer free high-speed Wi-Fi access or charge a small fee for usage. Most laptops sold today have built-in wireless capability. To find public Wi-Fi hotspots at your destination, go to www.jiwire.com; its Hotspot Finder holds the world's largest directory of public wireless hotspots.

For dial-up access, most business-class hotels throughout the world offer dataports for laptop modems, and a few thousand hotels in Europe now offer free high-speed Internet access.

Wherever you go, bring a connection kit of the right power and phone adapters, a spare phone cord, and a spare Ethernet network cable -- or find out whether your hotel supplies them to guests.

Online Traveler's Toolbox

Veteran travelers usually carry some essential items to make their trips easier. Following is a selection of handy online tools to bookmark and use.

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Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

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				Frommer's Ecuador, 1st Edition Author: Eliot Greenspan Pub Date: August 06, 2007 Price: $22.99				Related Titles: Frommer's Argentina, 1st Edition Frommer's Brazil, 4th Edition Frommer's Buenos Aires, 2nd Edition

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