Phone Booths Spanish-owned Telefonica Peru is the main telephone company within Peru. In most towns it’s easy to make international calls even from public payphones on the street. Most of these work with phonecards or coins. For example, it costs around US$1.50 per minute to Europe, New Zealand and Australia or around US$1 to North America. There are also many internet cafes which have phone booths from where you can phone abroad. Call Centres Many villages and most towns and cities have any number of locutorios (call centres) which are easy to use although they are probably more expensive. You’ll be directed to a booth from where you call and then you’ll be charged when you finish. Most locutorios also offer internet services. Calling Cards International calls can be expensive. A cheap way of phoning home is to use international prepaid calling cards (tarjetas telefonicas). They often offer very low rates and you can use them from most phones. Usually there is a huge selection of cards from which to choose and those selling them don’t always offer the best advice and just sell you what they’ve available. Many cards expire after up to 90 days after you make your first call. You really have to explore what’s out there and what best suits you, which may not always offer the cheapest rate. Some have higher connection charges which make short calls more expensive. You have to dial an access number (either you pay for a local call for access or you dial a toll-free access number like 0800), enter your code number (which you scratch off the back of the card) and dial your number. Many cards give you your remaining balance when you enter your code and when you dial your number you will be told how many minutes you have remaining. Phone cards are economical although they are not always the quickest way of dialling so you’ll need to be patient. Phone cards are widely available from newspaper stands, chemists, supermarkets, librerias and other shops Telefonica Peru 147 tarjeta is a popular option for international calls and you can also use it for the internet or Telefonica also sells Hola Peru which you can also use for calling abroad. Others include Peru Global, Numero 1 and World Telecom among plenty of others.To find out the cheapest option visit from Peru to your home country visit www.tarjetastelefonicas.com which lists what phone cards are available and their tariffs. Mobile/Cell Phones If you bring your own cell phone it must be compatible with the Peruvian network and be SIM-Lock Free Triband GSM world phone. Prepaid SIM-cards are available from kioscos, telephone companies and supermarkets. They are usually cheapest in kioscos. Claro has the best coverage.