These services are efficient and widespread. You will find:

Telephone services - There is a wide telephone network in Costa Rica (provided by ICE), and it's coverage is good. The residential service is very cheap; costing around 0.007 USD (in January 04) per minute depending on the time of day.

In some very isolated areas, the service is offered via strategically-placed telephone administrators. The telephone administrator makes the call and you pay after the call has been made. There are also 3 types of public telephones: telephones which use coins (at present these phones accept 10 and 20 colon coins), chip-card phones (electronic cards of 500 colones or 1000 colones) and 197 telephones. For these phones you have to buy a 197 or Colibri card of 500 or 1000 colones (+/- 1 or 2 dollars), and dial 197 followed by the code number and the telephone number you wish to call.

You can also acquire a cell-phone; but to be honest, ICE has made an effort to offer the best service and has tried two technological methods. The mountainous topography of Costa Rica is such that it is often difficult to receive a signal. In the flat regions, reception is excellent, however. To call by cell phone currently costs +/- 0.07 USD per minute (January 04).

Internet: Internet services are offered by Racsa (tel: 800-navegar), and there are different access packages available with different speeds. The popular choices for internet access are: modem and telephone line, RDSI, cable modem. There are also many places (usually internet or net cafes) where internet can be accessed at very low prices, from 0.5 USD to 2 USD per hour.

 Postal Services: postal services are offered by Correos de Costa Rica, and the service is excellent within, and outside the country.