The short answer
AT&T lists Costa Rica among the International Day Pass destinations, and the pass costs $12 a day on land, added to your usual bill. Fourteen days is $168 and thirty is $360. I read both pages, and Ringo Light does the data part for $44.99 over 2 weeks or $56.99 over 30 days, unlimited at full speed, though it will not carry your calls and texts the way AT&T does.
Unlimited data at full speed for $44.99 over 2 weeks or $56.99 over 30 days, charged once. The same stretch of days on AT&T comes to $168 and $360.
The pass is added to the line you already have. Calls and texts carry on as at home, there is no eSIM slot to find and no scan to do, and you are billed only for days the phone is used in Costa Rica.
Prices read on 1 November 2026: AT&T, Ringo Light on their own sites or listings, Ringo Light from its catalogue. All in US dollars unless stated. Treat every number as a snapshot.
See the full price index for every country.
Travelling further? Compare the best eSIM for Colombia, the best eSIM for Brazil and the eSIM for Argentina.
The prices, charted
US dollars, read 1 November 2026. AT&T at $12 a day for 14 days, $168 in total, against Ringo Light for 2 weeks, unlimited data at full speed.
AT&T at $12 a day for 30 days, $360 in total, since the pages read show no monthly plan. Ringo Light is the 30-day plan.
Side by side
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AT&T day pass or Ringo Light in Costa Rica
I would buy Ringo Light from about a week onward, because it is the cheaper choice. It costs $44.99 for two weeks where AT&T would add up to $168, and $56.99 for a month where AT&T would reach $360. AT&T is the easier choice, and it earns that: no purchase, no scan, no new app, and the number your family dials still reaches you. A short work visit to San José fits the pass well. A trip with Arenal, a night drive to Monteverde and a week of Pacific beaches, with Maps running throughout, fits Ringo Light.
What the days add up to
AT&T's page, read on 1 November 2026, puts the International Day Pass at $12 a day on land, and $6 for each additional line used on the same calendar day. Costa Rica appears on the destination list with no price next to it, so $12 is the page's land rate. Two weeks is $168 and thirty days is $360, because no monthly plan shows up on the pages.
I compared that with Ringo Light, which is one payment in US dollars: $44.99 for 2 weeks, $56.99 for 30 days. Compared with AT&T it saves $123.01 on a fortnight and $303.01 on a month. Moving from the fortnight to the month adds just $12.00, one AT&T day.
Because AT&T bills only for days of use, a day with the phone in a drawer may cost nothing, but the charts treat every day as used. Ringo Light has no one-day plan for Costa Rica, so a single day is cheaper with the pass.
Data allowance and speed
For land use, AT&T describes unlimited data with the pass when it is added to an eligible unlimited plan, with coverage and data speed varying by destination. No daily limit is stated. If your plan is a smaller one, I would read its terms for roaming before you leave.
Ringo Light is unlimited data at full speed from landing to departure, with no daily number to watch. Fair use policy, see Terms.
Calls, texts and the number people know
AT&T has the better answer here, and I say so plainly. Unlimited talk and text come with the pass in 210 or so destinations, running on your own number, so a call from home or a login code from your bank behaves as it does in your living room.
Ringo Light carries data and nothing more. Calls go over apps that run on data, and in Costa Rica, where lodges and guides take messages on WhatsApp, that is rarely a problem. Your own SIM remains in the phone for calls, and your number stays on your own SIM next to it.
Starting and paying
AT&T starts a 24-hour pass the first time the phone uses data, sends a text or makes or receives a call in an included destination. The daily fees show up on your bill at the end of the billing cycle, which can be a surprise once you are home.
I would buy Ringo Light before the trip. The eSIM comes by email, installs in one scan on home Wi-Fi, and you turn it on for data when you land in Liberia or San José. You pay once. The phone has to support eSIM. AT&T also says business and government accounts are not eligible for the pass, and that the destination list can change without notice.
About Ringo Light, honestly
I write for Ringo, which makes Ringo Light, a data eSIM sold to fund the full Ringo, one plan that works everywhere. For Costa Rica it sells three trips, all unlimited data at full speed: 7 days at $26.99, 2 weeks at $44.99 and 30 days at $56.99. One payment, nothing renews.
It is data only, with no number of its own, so it cannot take the place of the calls and texts AT&T includes. It is not charged by the day and it is the wrong tool for a single overnight stop.
The comparison of the travel eSIM brands for Costa Rica is at /blog/best-esim-for-costa-rica. The card to buy Ringo Light is further up this page, just after the side-by-side table.
Which to pick
- ✓Ringo Light, for 2 weeks or more in Costa Rica. $44.99 covers 2 weeks and $56.99 covers 30 days; the pass would be $168 and $360.
- ✓Ringo Light, if you lean on data. Unlimited data at full speed handles maps, video and a hotspot for a laptop.
- ✓AT&T, if calls on your own line are a must. The pass runs on your number, so nothing changes for the people who call.
- ✓AT&T, if you would rather install nothing. No email, no scan and no eSIM; the pass begins when the phone is used abroad.
Pick by trip
Ringo Light, $44.99 for 2 weeks, against $168 at $12 a day on AT&T.
Ringo Light, $56.99 for 30 days, unlimited at full speed. AT&T would be $360.
AT&T. You pay for the days used and do nothing beforehand.
Ringo Light, one eSIM each. AT&T charges $6 a day for the second line on the same calendar day.
AT&T, or leave your own SIM in the phone beside Ringo Light, which does data alone.
Frequently asked questions
How we compared, and our sources
AT&T, Ringo Light, Ringo Light
We priced AT&T and Ringo Light for Costa Rica on 1 November 2026, all on the same day, in US dollars. Each rival's price comes from its own website where it showed dollars, otherwise from an esimdb.com listing, and every source and its date is listed below. Ringo Light's prices come from the catalogue our checkout charges.
We compare the trips people actually book: a week, two weeks and a month of unlimited data, and a 10 GB bucket. We read each brand's fair use and speed rules and quote them as the brands state them. We did not run speed tests, so this page makes no speed claims for any brand.
Ringo Light is our own product. We put it in the table on the same terms as everyone else, and where a rival is the better buy the page says so.
Left out: Verizon. Is compared with Ringo Light on its own page. Here the contest is AT&T's day pass against Ringo Light, and nothing else. Left out: A shorter Ringo Light plan. Costa Rica is sold as 7 days, 2 weeks or 30 days, so the page draws no weekend chart. Left out: Cruise-ship rates. AT&T charges more at sea, which a land trip through the Central Valley and the coast never meets.
- AT&T: www.att.com/international/day-pass/, International Day Pass price, additional lines and what it includes, with the destination list at att.com/support/article/wireless/KM1395068/ naming Costa Rica, read 1 November 2026
- Ringo Light: ringoesim.com/costa-rica, the catalogue the checkout charges, read the same day
- Ringo Light: our own catalogue, the prices the checkout charges on 1 November 2026.
Written and priced by the Ringo team. Prices change often; if you spot one that has moved, tell us through the contact page and we will update the table.
