Last night (this morning?) at midnight, Costa Rica's telephone monopoly threw a wrench in the works.

We've got an extra digit, folks.

So if you are calling cell phones, you've gotta add a 8 before what used to be the 7 digit number, and if you are calling non-cellular telephones, you add a 2.

Purportedly, they chose the 2 and 8 because it is 2008.

So, for instance, if you were looking to buy a beautiful Costa Rican home or other real estate in the greater Tamarindo area, you would dial 011 506 2 653 1102 to reach Bratton Broyles & Associates' office (assuming you were in the USA).

If you were trying to reach Steve on his cellphone, to ask about the waves this morning (which were utter crap, perhaps in protest of this newfangled telephone thing) you would dial 8 376 6278. That is, assuming you were in Costa Rica. After all, why would you care about the waves if you were out of the country?

It may seem fairly trivial... but in my little real estate brokerage alone we are looking at forking out around $1,000 just to reprint business cards. Let alone the cost of updating signage, websites, printed literature, etc etc. All this to add an 8 or 2 here and there.

Surprisingly, at least to us, the changeover seems to have worked! We tried dialing a few numbers this morning with the additional digit, and it works. Entirely un-North America style, if you dial the old number (without the extra digit) it doesn't give you any sort of gentle reminder. It just says "This is a recording to tell you that the number you dialed doesn't match any of our clients'."

So, to review:

Steve's cell: (011 506) 8.376.6278

Jocelyn's cell: (011 506) 8.376.6417

Our home phone: (011 506) 2.653.1354

Steve's office: (011 506) 2.653.1102

Jocelyn's Studio: (011 506) 2.653.2158*

# posted by Steve Broyles @ 3/20/2008 09:22:00 AM