Call Costa Rica for $0.05/min
Dial Costa Rica (+506) over WiFi or mobile data. Per-second billing, no connection fees. Credits never expire.
What a call to Costa Rica costs
Priced at Telvio's published rate for Costa Rica: $0.05 a minute to a landline, $0.15 to a mobile. Billing is per second, so a call that ends at 4 minutes 12 seconds is charged as 4 minutes 12 seconds.
| Call length | Landline | Mobile |
|---|---|---|
| 1 min | $0.05 | $0.15 |
| 5 min | $0.25 | $0.75 |
| 10 min | $0.50 | $1.50 |
| 30 min | $1.50 | $4.50 |
| 60 min | $3.00 | $9.00 |
No connection fee and no rounding. Figures in USD.
Starter · $1.99
≈10 min to a mobile
≈35 min to a landline
Standard · $4.99
≈30 min to a mobile
≈95 min to a landline
Pro · $9.99
≈65 min to a mobile
≈195 min to a landline
Packs are credit, not minute bundles: a bigger pack is more credit at the same $0.05 rate, not a cheaper minute. Credit does not expire.
The number nobody quotes
A 47-second call to Costa Rica, billed two ways
Per second
$0.12
What Telvio charges
Per whole minute
$0.15
What rounding up costs
A provider that bills in whole minutes charges a full minute for a 47-second call — 28% more for exactly the same conversation. Both figures here are priced at our own rate for Costa Rica, so the comparison isolates the billing unit rather than guessing at somebody else's tariff.
Method: our published per-minute rate × 47/60 against the same rate × 1 minute. Telvio bills per second with no connection fee.
Calculate your call cost
30 min to Costa Rica (landline)
$1.50
Billed per second — pay only for what you use
Why a minute to Costa Rica costs $0.05
The price of an international call is mostly not set by the company you buy it from. It is the wholesale termination rate: what the operator in Costa Rica charges to accept the call onto their network and deliver it to the person you are ringing. Your provider pays that, adds a margin, and quotes you the total.
Costa Rica is one of the markets where the regulator has driven termination rates close to cost, which is why $0.05 a minute is possible. Roughly twenty corridors worldwide are genuinely cheap in this way, and this is one of them.
Calling a mobile in Costa Rica costs $0.15 a minute against $0.05 to a landline, which is the usual pattern: mobile operators charge more to accept an incoming call. If the person you are calling has a landline, using it is the larger saving.
Measured against everywhere we publish a rate, Costa Rica is the 2th cheapest of 93. It also sits below the average for its part of the world — $0.05 against $0.34 — so this is a genuinely cheap corridor rather than one that only looks cheap next to roaming.
There is no connection fee, no minimum charge and no rounding on top of the rate, and credit does not expire. How Telvio pricing works
How to dial Costa Rica
Open Telvio and enter +506 followed by the local phone number. The app handles exit codes automatically.
Example: +506 2234 5678
Full dialing guideHow to read a Costa Rica phone number
A Costa Rica number is +506 followed by 8 digits. Knowing which of those digits mark a mobile is what tells you what the call will cost before you place it.
Costa Rica uses no trunk prefix, so the national number is dialled exactly as written after the country code.
Mobile prefixes
Landline prefixes
Prefix ranges still identify a line as mobile or fixed even where a number has been ported between operators, because the mobile and fixed blocks are separate and numbers do not move between them. Operator identification from a prefix, by contrast, stopped being reliable once portability arrived.
Current time in Costa Rica
--:-- --
Best time to call
8:00 AM – 10:00 PM local
When to call Costa Rica
What the clock reads in Costa Rica when it is mid-morning, early afternoon and evening where you are. Highlighted cells fall between 9:00 and 21:00 local time at the other end.
| Calling from | Offset | 09:00 | 13:00 | 19:00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | −1:00 | 08:00 | 12:00 | 18:00 |
| Los Angeles | +2:00 | 11:00 | 15:00 | 21:00 |
| London | −6:00 | 03:00 | 07:00 | 13:00 |
| Dubai | −10:00 | 23:00 | 03:00 | 09:00 |
| Sydney | −17:00 | 16:00 | 20:00 | 02:00 |
Offsets calculated for mid-January. Countries that observe daylight saving shift by an hour for part of the year — the planner works out today's offset from your own device.
Other American destinations, cheapest first
Rates vary by more than a factor of ten inside a single region, because each one is set by what the operator at the far end charges to accept the call. Mexico is currently the cheapest place we publish a rate for near Costa Rica.
Free tools
All toolsFrequently asked questions
How much does it cost to call Costa Rica?
Telvio charges $0.05/min to Costa Rica landlines and $0.15/min to mobiles. Billing is per second with no connection fees, so you pay only for the seconds you talk.
How much is a 10-minute call to Costa Rica?
Ten minutes to a Costa Rica landline costs $0.50 with Telvio, and $1.50 to a mobile. A full hour to a mobile costs $9.00. Billing is per second with no connection fee, so a call that runs to 10 minutes 30 seconds is charged for 10 minutes 30 seconds rather than being rounded up to 11.
Does Telvio round calls up to the minute?
No. Telvio bills per second. A 47-second call to Costa Rica costs $0.1175; a provider that rounds every call up to a whole minute charges $0.15 for the same conversation, which is 28% more. The difference is largest on short calls and negligible on long ones.
How many minutes does $4.99 of credit buy for Costa Rica?
About 30 minutes to a Costa Rica mobile, or about 95 minutes to a landline, from a $4.99 pack. Credit is spent at the per-country rate rather than as a fixed minute bundle, so the same pack goes further to a cheap destination and less far to an expensive one. It does not expire.
Can I call Costa Rica mobile phones with Telvio?
Yes. Telvio calls both landline and mobile numbers in Costa Rica. Mobile rates are $0.15/min. You dial the full number including the country code +506.
How can I tell if a Costa Rica number is a mobile?
By its leading digits. In Costa Rica, a national number of 8 digits beginning with 8 is a mobile. That still works after a number has been ported between operators, because mobile and fixed-line blocks are separate ranges and numbers do not move between them.
How do I dial Costa Rica from the US?
Open Telvio, tap the dial pad, and enter +506 followed by the local number. Telvio handles the exit code automatically — you just need the country code and phone number.
Is Telvio cheaper than Skype for calling Costa Rica?
Telvio offers per-second billing and no connection fees. For Costa Rica, the rate is $0.05/min (landline) and $0.15/min (mobile). Compare this with your current provider to see the difference.
Do I need to register to call Costa Rica?
No. Telvio requires no registration, no account creation, and no phone number verification. Download the app, buy a credit pack ($1.99, $4.99, or $9.99), and start calling.
What time should I call Costa Rica?
Costa Rica is in the America/Costa Rica timezone. For personal calls, aim for 8 AM to 10 PM local time. Telvio shows the current local time when you dial.
Call Costa Rica for $0.05/min
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