Cell phones in Colombia

[Jedimaster]

Where is a good place to buy a descent cell phone in Colombia?  Also, is the sim card generally sold at the same place as the phone? 
 
I am thinking something on the lines of a Nokia hopefully between 40k and 80k pesos.   
 
 
 

[JimD]

There are cel phone kiosks often several of the same brand in all major the major department stores like Exito and Carrefour and all the shopping centers. Yes the sim comes with the phone and Nokia is a good choice and that's the right price range.  Mine fell out of the truck and spent the night in the rain. It was still turned on and working when I found it in the morning.

[V_Man]

I can confirm all that Jim said. Also if you shop around you'll find the same phone at different prices with different carriers. From memory I think I paid 60K - 70K for mine including the SIM card and some minutes.
It took me a few days to realise it was worth while for me to change the interface language on the phone to English. I have just enough Spanish but if you don't know any Spanish then get the guys in the shop to change it for you.
Say something like: "Por favor, cambia el idioma a inglés para mí."

[John W]

Last week I bought a Nokia 1616 at a Tigo store in Cartagena.  I paid 55,000 COP for the phone and sim card.  It is a pre-paid phone so I added another 20,000 COP in minutes.  I was only looking for something that I could use for calls and texting, so it is fine.  However, back home I use a smart phone with full key board, so texting on the old style phone with three letters assigned to each number on the phone takes some time to get used to.   I went with Tigo because my girlfriend uses Tigo and calls within the same network are charged a lower per minute rate.  I brought the phone home with me because I am going back in six weeks, but per the Tigo people the phone number on a pre-paid phone will terminate if it is not used within three months.  Also, my girlfriend had to give her cedula number when we purchased the phone.  They said a cedula is required to get a phone number. 

[V_Man]

I used a colour photo copy of my passport.
Actually I needed this many times. It became a bit tatty after awhile and started to fall apart in the final few days I was there. So yeah - defintely take a colour photo copy of your passport and carry it with you at all times.