The Big 3 wireless carriers in Costa Rica are expecting a massive spike in voice calls, text messages and mobile Internet use right at the stroke of midnight on the 25^th and 31^st of December. Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets have become the favorite delivery method for Christmas and New Year’s greetings in Costa Rica, and users are not particularly concerned about technical issues such as network load and saturation. Nonetheless, wireless carriers are gearing up for a holiday communications extravaganza.

 

According to a report by Karla Barquero of online news daily CRHoy.com, major wireless service provider ICE expect to handle more than a hundred million SMS greetings tonight and even more during New Year’s Eve. ICE is the former telecommunications monopoly that currently operates under the Kolbi brand. The current capacity for this carrier can support 5,000 text messages per second, and ICE can always turn to IRAT handover to allow even more SMS traffic.

 

ICE and rival carrier Movistar, owned by Spanish telecom giant Telefonica, boast a 98 percent success rate when it comes to handling SMS and voice call holiday greetings. The third major carrier, Claro, achieved a 97 percent success rate last year. All three wireless providers explain that they are boosting their capacity in anticipation of the holiday spike.

 

An even greater test of wireless network management in Costa Rica will be related to broadband Internet connectivity. Mobile messaging social networks such as WhatsApp are quickly displacing wireless voice calls and SMS in our country; this will actually alleviate network load for the Big 3 since many people are expected to connect to local Wi-Fi networks instead of using up their wireless data allotment. Important to note: Visitors from the U.S. who subscribe to T-Mobile are served by Kolbi while in Costa Rica, and they can even enjoy free wireless data under certain plans, albeit at very slow speeds.

 

A good idea with regard to avoiding wireless congestion during the holidays in Costa Rica is to avoid waiting until midnight to deliver greetings and using Wi-Fi networks when possible.