This is definitely a concern for anyone moving abroad, and having lived in Costa Rica since 2010, I've researched all of the options!
There are many choices to help you stay connected with friends and family back home! The world is so small now with all of the programs and apps available through the Internet. Of course you will have Internet in the TESOL school, your homestay and when you get set up in your own place, but you can also connect to free Wifi in so many public places in Costa Rica, like coffee shops, restaurants and even some buses. Through both prepaid and postpaid local cell phone lines, you can also pay to connect to the Internet if you feel the need.
Once connected, you can make free calls user-to-user using programs like Viber, Facetime and Skype. You can text, call, leave voice messages and video call user-to-user for free with Whatsapp, which is used by nearly everyone in Costa Rica. Actually, many people here don't even use their regular phone line and will only respond to calls and messages via Whatsapp. Programs like Skype and Google Voice offer very cheap rates to make calls to cell phones or landlines back home also!
If you purchase a local cell phone line, you will be able to receive international calls and texts for free, and you can pay to return the calls or messages. It's quite costly to call home with your local phone, but when I first moved here and was using a prepaid line, I always liked to have a little extra money on my line, just in case of an emergency.
As you can see, it'll be quite easy for you to stay connected to your family and friends back home while you are living in Costa Rica! Check this concern off your list, and contact us today to sign up for your 4-week, onsite TESOL course in Costa Rica!
