Using US Mobile phones in Jamaica

[HoneymoonNMay]

Hello, everyone. My fiance (will be husband) and I will be honeymooning at CSA in May! I've never been to Jamaica, my fiance has... so looking forward to visiting this beautiful place! We've heard that using our verizon wireless phones in Jamaica will be EXPENSIVE. Since Verizon does not have SIM cards, any recommendations what we should do instead? I also heard that we can rent mobile phones at the airport in Jamaica? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. SO EXCITED!

[Justin N' Nicole]

I will be on my honeymoon at CSA in May and I can honestly say I am so looking forward to having my cell phone off for an entire week

[Coloradojuli]

Using a US cell phone is expensive. I don't recommend it. If you are wanting to just briefly talk with family and friends back home letting them know you are alright, there are free computers available for use and you can send emails back and forth. Or you can get a "Jus Talk" phone card from the gift shop and call back home. They are very inexpensive and you will just be charged a minimum fee for each call you make. (I can't remember if it is $1 or $2.) There is also free WiFi if you want to bring your laptop and Skype.

[sherrynchuck]

You are on your honeymoon...when you get on the plane turn off the phones and don't turn them back on until you get back home. If you have a family necessity for checking in you can use a variety of other means...skype, facebook chat, etc. but unless you really NEED to I'd say lose the connection to home for the duration of your trip and enjoy each other.

[melody]

I don't know about renting phones but I know this. There are a lot of apps you can use over wifi if you have an Android phone or iphone. Some let you call, some let you text for free and some let you do video chatting. You could also use video chatting or skype on a laptop too. Many of the free messengers (AIM, Yahoo, MSN, etc) have free webcam options. If you do that you might want to bring a pair of headphones to avoid the echo from the speakers to the mic. Also, if you have ipods or iphones that support facetime you could do that over the wifi.

[Jeffmon]

You'll be on your honeymoon so why need a mobile phone??? I say don't rent one at the airport and just turn yours off for the trip.

[mjt]

We have been to CSA twice and going for our third time in August. We haven't taken our phones with us because the gift shop sells international calling cards. I think around $20 gets you an hour and it's very easy to use. Hope this helps.

[cuse]

You can add an international plan to your Verizon phone account and then tell them to take it off when you return. You just need to make sure how much it will be per minute. (i.e. to Germany it is 27 cents per minute and to Afghanistan it is $1.99 per minute. So you can see how things could add up. Check with your Verizon dealer and they can look it up.

[warren.cple]

My wife and I will be going to CTI in November, and looked at what it would run to use our Verizon phones...

Not going to pay the ~$2/min rate. So, when we're on our layover in Charlotte, we're going to put our phones in airplane mode, and maybe even turn them off (although I use mine as an MP3, so maybe not.)

We'll probably get a Skype account, for at least the month, to use so we can check up on our house-sitter (her Mom) a couple times. I've already started warning people at work that the phone is going to be off, and if someone figures out how to call the resort and ask for me, I'll hang up on them...


I'm on *VACATION* for crying out loud, if something goes so seriously wrong with the network or the servers that they can't fix it our work around it, what am I going to be able to do from close to 1000 miles away over-the-phone?


Jason
212 days
17 hours
51 minutes
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[MurciMe]

Using a US cell phone is expensive. I don't recommend it. If you are wanting to just briefly talk with family and friends back home letting them know you are alright, there are free computers available for use and you can send emails back and forth. Or you can get a "Jus Talk" phone card from the gift shop and call back home. They are very inexpensive and you will just be charged a minimum fee for each call you make. (I can't remember if it is $1 or $2.) There is also free WiFi if you want to bring your laptop and Skype.

Cool, I was worried about connecting my iPad, I ususually tether with my Verizon phone to get Wifi but didn't know how that would work in Jamaica.

[MnK]

I called Verizon and they suggested a temporary upgrade for international service. Voice and data was going to be $30. I think we'll just try to be disconnected for the week and pocket the money.

[madtown mom]

What about apple- iPhones?

[LauraH]

turn your phones off and lock them in the safe!!!

[MandC]

Jason, I understand about the servers going down, they will be on their own.

This will be our first trip to CSS so I am working on a way to communicate back home the cheapest way possible. For AT&T you can add the World plan for 6.99 and then your calls are $1 a min, not really that great of a deal. Not sure about Verizon, but you would think they have comparable plans.

I am going to try and use my iPhone with just wireless to use Skype and google voice to make and receive calls. If you use Google Voice with the Talkatone app you can use it internationally since it would route through Google talk. Hopefully it works. Sorry if this was too technical.

Michael

[Phishwich]

We used wifi calling on our T-mobile G2. Normal rates apply. It uses our plan minutes as normal. If we didn't have kids, it would've been off. )

[suzancr]

If you want the option of using it you must call Verizon before you leave to activate international calling. It is very expensive.

[Chris]

I have a friend who uses AT&T for his iPhone... when he gets to the island he asks a friend to pick up a card for him and at the end of the week he just gives the friend the remaining time on the card... its that easy.

Now I don't know squat about the Verizon service, so I'm not sure about what to do there. I DO know that CDMA companies are beginning to make inroads on the island, so perhaps there ARE opportunities.