Telephone country code: 506
International Call Prefix: 00
As of 2010 the government body in charge of allocations is the Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones SUTEL.SUTEL
History of allocations Prefix 00 was reserved for international calls, while prefix 9 was assigned to special numbers, such as 911. Toll-free numbers start with 800 followed by 7 digits while premium-rate numbers start with 900 followed by 7 digits.
Before 1994, all phone numbers in Costa Rica were six digits long. The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, which at that time had the monopoly on telecommunications, introduced a system in which the telephone numbers in every province were assigned a prefix to make them 7 digits long. This numbering system was effective for some time. However, the boom of mobile phone customers since the introduction of GSM around 2000 and the expansion of metropolitan areas caused a serious shortage of available numbers. Thus many GSM-based customers used numbers starting with 3 and many residents of San Jose province had telephone numbers starting with prefixes other than 2.
Since March 20, 2008, a renewed numbering system added the prefix 2 for all landlines and 8 for all mobile phone numbers. This system was implemented in order to face the introduction of 1.5 million 3G W-CDMA customers in Q1 2009. The transition to 8-digit numbers was heavily publicized in Costa Rican media. However, the change caused considerable confusion among foreigners. Also, all calls dialed using the old 7-digit version of the phone number are automatically redirected to a voice message with information about the change.
In 2010, after the end of the government monopoly in telecommunications, prefixes 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 were assigned to private operators.
8-digit numbers are commonly written one of two ways: "xxxxxxxx" or "xxxx-xxxx"
Current Costa Rica number plan Number RangeAnexo registro de numeracion11 May 2015 Type of Service Province Provider 21XX-XXXX VoIP Countrywide Kölbi 22XX-XXXX Fixed San Jose and Heredia GrupoICE 24XX-XXXX Alajuela 25XX-XXXX Cartago, San Jose and Heredia 2511-XXXX Reserved to Universidad de Costa Rica 26XX-XXXX Guanacaste, Central and North Puntarenas 27XX-XXXX Limon and South Puntarenas Province 3XXX-XXXX Reserved for private mobile services Countrywide Unallocated 4XXX-XXXX VoIP Multiple private operators 4070-XXXX InterPhone 500X-XXXX to 504X-XXXX Mobile GSM MVNO's 570X-XXXX to 571X-XXXX Tuyo 6XXX-XXXX Liberty 7XXX-XXXX Claro 8XXX-XXXX GrupoICE - Kölbi
Special Costa Rica numbers Class Length or Range Type Example Special Services 1XXX Service Provider, Government and Services 1110, 1113, 1115, 1118, 1119, 1124, 1134, 1155, 1187, 1193, 1197, 1199, 1719, 1720 Special Services 18XX,19XX Outbound call operator selection 1901, 1902, 1903, 1908 SMS Services 4 Digit 3rd Party SMS Content Providers 7777 800 Toll Free Numbers 10 Digits 3rd Party Company or Organization 800-286-0101 900 and 905 Premium-Toll Numbers 10 Digits 3rd Party Company or Organization 900-365-4632
References
Sources SUTEL Registro de Numeración (In Spanish) SUTEL Plan Nacional de Numeración (In Spanish)
External links 800 Toll Free Numbers Costa Rica - Phonebook Database