How do you add money to your prepaid cellphone account?

Nards Barley wrote:

I did it using my debit card with Banco Pichincha.  It was great since I didn't have to talk to anyone.

I still buy my minutes the old-fashioned way, going into any of the zillions of shops in Quito that are authorized to add time to cellphone accounts.  It usually just takes a half a minute.

If minimizing the need to talk to the minutes-seller is a priority, the purchase can be done by handing him or her a paper with your cell-phone number and Claro or Movistar written on it .. and saying these five words...

Añade cinco minutos, por favor.  Add five minutes, please.

The first word is pronounced ahn-YAH-day.

cccmedia

cccmedia wrote:

I still buy my minutes the old-fashioned way, going into any of the zillions of shops in Quito that are authorized to add time to cellphone accounts.  It usually just takes a half a minute.

cccmedia

Aaah, I see. You still haven't acquired an Ecuadorian bank account...............

Nards Barley wrote:

cccmedia wrote:

I still buy my minutes the old-fashioned way, going into any of the zillions of shops in Quito that are authorized to add time to cellphone accounts.  It usually just takes a half a minute.

cccmedia

Aaah, I see. You still haven't acquired an Ecuadorian bank account.

Assumes facts not in evidence.

I have an account with Banco --------, dating back to February 2014, right after I obtained my residency visa and Ecuadorian cédula.

cccmedia in Quito

cccmedia wrote:

Nards Barley wrote:

cccmedia wrote:

I still buy my minutes the old-fashioned way, going into any of the zillions of shops in Quito that are authorized to add time to cellphone accounts.  It usually just takes a half a minute.

cccmedia

Aaah, I see. You still haven't acquired an Ecuadorian bank account.

Assumes facts not in evidence.

I have an account with Banco --------, dating back to February 2014, right after I obtained my residency visa and Ecuadorian cédula.

cccmedia in Quito

Well, I think it was a fair assumption to make considering you didn't comment on my most excellent of threads.

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=631076

P.S.

Unless your real name is ccmedia and you always dress like Elvis, I don't think you have to worry too much about being kidnapped and held for ransom.

Nards Barley wrote:

I think it was a fair assumption to make considering you didn't comment on my most excellent of threads.

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=631076

Obviously, the Unofficial Blog of the Greater Cuenca Expat Community's fact checkers are on a Christmas break .. since I clearly was the first member to make a comment (Report No. 2) on your excellent thread.

Since the phrase "my most excellent of threads" has a double meaning, I will mention that you looked marvelous in the one photo I have seen -- 'Nards Barley and Policia Surveying the Scene at the Ecuadorian Oceanfront.'

All best wishes of the holiday season to you and the Greater Cuenca Expat Community.

cccmedia

Nards Barley wrote:

Unless your real name is cccmedia and you always dress like Elvis, I don't think you have to worry too much about being kidnapped and held for ransom.

After being run off the road by Colombian night riders 12 nights ago, I am taking nothing for granted:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=634337

cccmedia from Zona Cafetera, Colombia

cccmedia wrote:

Nards Barley wrote:

I think it was a fair assumption to make considering you didn't comment on my most excellent of threads.

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=631076

Obviously, the Unofficial Blog of the Greater Cuenca Expat Community's fact checkers are on a Christmas break .. since I clearly was the first member to make a comment (Report No. 2) on your excellent thread.

Since the phrase "my most excellent of threads" has a double meaning, I will mention that you looked marvelous in the one photo I have seen -- 'Nards Barley and Policia Surveying the Scene at the Ecuadorian Oceanfront.'

All best wishes of the holiday season to you and the Greater Cuenca Expat Community.

cccmedia

I stand corrected.  I guess the home office failed to provide me an adequate notification of your reply.

P.S.

I think it is wise that the big money expats in Quito take extra precautions to not disclose where they bank. 

Ding should work https://www.ding.com/

CCC is indeed smart for not mentioning his bank. There are devious people who do nothing but seek out this type of information. Posting a bank name, and email address alone is risky. One of these tactics to exploit people is known as “Phishing.”

Recently I’ve received a professionally disguised email from “Netflix”, in which it basically requested that I update my account details to resume my subscription. A couple of issues with that, number 1 I don’t have a local Netflix, and secondly my service was not suspended. I scrutinized the email because of these facts, and despite the email having a legitimate Netflix email address at the bottom of the email, I am fairly certain the link they wanted me to click on would have either attempted access my private info or either installed a keylogger.

If people want to be extra safe in Ecuador with purchases, you can simply get a pre-paid credit card where you put as much money as you like, and can order what you like from websites you are hesitant to order from for security reasons.

So when I did my "recarga" of $3 with Movistar and received 10 mb (megabytes) of Whatsapp, how many minutes of VOICE calling using my whatsapp does that get me? Again, we are talking about when you are NOT connected to wifi.

While apparently it can vary a little depending what carrier you use,an android-related website did a study  and found that you use about 750 kb per minute of calling using whatsapp. That means, my 10 mb (10,000 kb) gives me about 13.5  minutes in voice calling in total.  (10,000 / 750 = 13.50 )