# Cell phone usage for USA and "maybe" Caribbean



## F15EWSO (Feb 18, 2011)

All,
We are finishing our current contract with Verizon in December 2012 just about the time we will cross over for a standard 5 month trip through the Caribbean. 

With no contract, we can use any carrier we want, bear in mind in May when we return we'll be back to normal US operations. We need to get some sort of of contract to support our two college kiddos so going without is not an option as the "family plan" stuff has proved economical and a good deal overall. Also coming out of the Caribbean after 5 months we'll just hook back up with our kids in the usual "unlimited" minutes we'be using for years. We are inclined to use an android in this family plan as we can use it as a "hub" for our PCs when we are out of WiFi but within cell phone coverage if needed. 

We've seen the posts about SIM cards in the Caribbean; changing as needed. Does this work with a "cheap" phone from Wal-Mart? Will our US based contract be cost prohibitive in the islands (it appears so looking at BTCBahamas.com)

We'll use WiFi and Skype when able, I also have a Google phone number that I "own". 

Doing a search for cell-phones here on sail-net was a hodge-podge of satellite, cell, WiFi, and quite often dated material in the ever evolving world of telecom. 

Is anybody doing the same thing right now or recently with a great idea that worked for them and might work for us?

I'm sure my novella is clear as mud but that is how I feel about my solutions as well....please help

THanks


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## dacap06 (Feb 2, 2008)

Most of the world uses the GSM phone standard, but Verizon and most other carriers in the USA use the CDMA standard. You cannot use a phone for one on the other. You might find 



 useful. Most of the islands supports GSM.

If you want a US GSM phone that you can use in other countries, get one from T-Mobile or AT&T, but *make sure it is unlocked* or that you can unlock it yourself so you can use it with other phone companies' systems. You'll have to investigate to see what AT&T or T-Mobile offers in terms of family plans. I'm a Verizon subscriber and have no idea.

Tom


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## denverd0n (Jun 20, 2008)

FYI, when my contract period with AT&T was up they willingly gave me the instructions for unlocking the phone. I just called customer service and asked.

We have since switched to a Verizon phone and plan here in Tampa, but keep the unlocked, GSM, AT&T phone for overseas use with cheap SIM cards.


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## F15EWSO (Feb 18, 2011)

Gentlemen,
thanks for the words and the link. My wife is tuned into the GSM issue and unlocking phones. I think we'll be able to avoid any huge pitfalls, just trying to optimize our capability in the various countries we'll visit with the least amount of hardware.


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## TQA (Apr 4, 2009)

If you plan to make calls out of the Leeward/Windward islands then the best option is to have TWO phones on either Lime or Digicell. Keep one phone for incoming cals with the same sim therefor the same no. and a second phone with a sim from the current island for outgoing calls. 

As a visitor to the US I could not get a contract phone so used payasyougo Net10 from Walmart and found it to be OK for my needs.


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## F15EWSO (Feb 18, 2011)

TQA said:


> If you plan to make calls out of the Leeward/Windward islands then the best option is to have TWO phones on either Lime or Digicell. Keep one phone for incoming cals with the same sim therefor the same no. and a second phone with a sim from the current island for outgoing calls.
> 
> As a visitor to the US I could not get a contract phone so used payasyougo Net10 from Walmart and found it to be OK for my needs.


TQA,
So I am to understand that if I have my GSM phone I might purchase when entering the Bahamas for example it will still work at the usual rates (maybe) but outgoing calls would be high with that phone so get another SIM through Lime or Digicell for outgoing calls?


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## wingNwing (Apr 28, 2008)

We bought a SIM thru "BaTelCo" (Bahamas Telephone Company) for $15 to use with our unlocked GSM phone. You could then buy pay as you go minutes for 50 cents or less to the USA, cheaper in-island. The same phone worked in Aruba on the same kind of contract, $15 for the SIM card with a local phone number, and then the per-minute rate was pretty inexpensive depending on how much you bought (60 minutes, the price per minute was more expensive than 120 minutes, etc). We also "trained" our USA contacts to use email to communicate with us - that was the best savings.


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## rablack (Aug 10, 2011)

You might consider tollfreeforwarding.com We use a us number and change sim cards whenever we want. All U.S. contacts call the same U.S. number and it forwards flawlessly and inexpensively to our local cell. It is very similar to Google Voice; however, it allows you to forward to a foreign cell phone. You could set it up with Google Voice forwarding to Tollfreeforwarding that forwards to your local (temporary sim) number if you wanted to be able to receive texts and voice mail via email.


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## BreakAwayFL (Sep 20, 2010)

I would definitely take in everyone's input here, but an AT&T iPhone 4 or 4S has been wonderful for traveling in the Caribbean for me. When I'm traveling for pleasure, I often buy local SIM cards, and when traveling on business the AT&T SIM works great (at their expense).

It can be easily unlocked by anyone who is reasonably technically savvy, and A paper clip is all that is needed to swap out SIM cards. Having an iPhone also lets you have a great backup tool for GPS/chart plotting.


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

I can't help you on the Carib side but on the US, Verizon DOES have a few 'global' phones that will do GSM and CDMA and work outside the US. If you really want to stay with them.

But if you are heading out, I'd suggest looking into Straight Path (only available at WalMart) or one of the other new "unlimited no contract" carriers. They have only recently started carrying smartphones and have a limited selection, but you're looking at $45-50 per month for unlimited everything. SP uses the Verizon network as their backbone, so the coverage is about the same. MetroPCS is even cheaper, not real national coverage yet. There are a lot of options that would pay off over just a 5-month period, and give you the chance to look at the US market afresh when you come back.

Meanwhile, that GVoice number means you give out one number, and no one needs to know if you've changed carriers or whatnot behind the scenes.


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## TQA (Apr 4, 2009)

We could not use the call forwarding option as we did not have a contract phone in the USA. Having an island sim in one phone at all times allowed us to get incoming calls from the UK and Europe without a problem. Then the other phone with it's local sim was used for outgoing calls. 

Basic phones are about $40 US

I am not sure of my facts on this topic and things keep changing but believe that roaming charges in islands like St Lucia can be 5 to 10 times higher than the costs of calls made with the local sim.


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## Paddyd (Jun 14, 2012)

I am a cell phone manufacturer ,1st buy a cheap 25dollar phone that has multiple sims card slots , GSM quad band .
once you get in the area you are staying at purchase a pay as you go sim card or oay as you use .
I have 4 slots in my phones , I put all 4 sim cards in my phone .... for the usa , mexico china and Costa rica [China and Costa rica are pay as you go cards ] 
Buy GSM phone quad band phone ,this is important buy a quad band phone!!!!!not just a GSM phone ,they are cheaper than cdma or wcdma and can be used anywhere .....


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## TQA (Apr 4, 2009)

Paddyd said:


> I am a cell phone manufacturer ,1st buy a cheap 25dollar phone that has multiple sims card slots , GSM quad band .
> .....


Can you give a specific make/model of phone and a supplier please.


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## F15EWSO (Feb 18, 2011)

Paddyd said:


> I am a cell phone manufacturer ,1st buy a cheap 25dollar phone that has multiple sims card slots , GSM quad band .
> once you get in the area you are staying at purchase a pay as you go sim card or oay as you use .
> I have 4 slots in my phones , I put all 4 sim cards in my phone .... for the usa , mexico china and Costa rica [China and Costa rica are pay as you go cards ]
> Buy GSM phone quad band phone ,this is important buy a quad band phone!!!!!not just a GSM phone ,they are cheaper than cdma or wcdma and can be used anywhere .....


You sound very adamant about this and I appreciate your enthusiasm. As mentioned above can you offer a few brands that meet this criteria?


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

f15, do a web search for "4 sim cell phone" and you'll get a horde of hits from alibaba and a dozen companies from Shenzhen (surprised?) that all sell for $25-40. How good they are and whether a US carrier will provision them, prepaid or otherwise, is a whole other question. And that's mostly "2g" voice phones, nothing fancy.


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## F15EWSO (Feb 18, 2011)

hellosailor said:


> f15, do a web search for "4 sim cell phone" and you'll get a horde of hits from alibaba and a dozen companies from Shenzhen (surprised?) that all sell for $25-40. How good they are and whether a US carrier will provision them, prepaid or otherwise, is a whole other question. And that's mostly "2g" voice phones, nothing fancy.


Got it, buyer beware but that's fine. Been in 3rd worlds countries so you get what you get and 2 G will be fine.

THanks


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## Paddyd (Jun 14, 2012)

F15 ,

go to Amigo Movil SA. LLC 
you need a basic phone for your plans right?
calls and texts only ?
one you can plug a sims card into and use ?
call 409-457-2049 tomorrow around 12

tks Paddy


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## beachbm61 (Feb 18, 2006)

In prep to go back to they western carib I attempted to get our old nokia unlocked in Clearwater, Fl. The shop said it would be $75, and three weeks. Ended taking locked phone on trip, had it unlocked in Roatan for $5, in about 10 minutes. I now have a Nokia, unlocked, quad band, model 2700-c2, which I purchased off Amazon for $80. We carried sim cards for each country/cell provider. Some prepaid and some pay as you go. The phone works fine when back home in Clearwater with ATT sim on contract.


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## sww914 (Oct 25, 2008)

Not in the Caribbean, but we bought a prepaid $17.00 phone here in Mexico and it's great. It came with 100 pesos credit on it too. ($7.50)


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## sck5 (Aug 20, 2007)

check out Telestial on the internet (just google it). They have an excellent primer on cell phones abroad and also sell unlocked tri-band cell phones that will work in any country overseas. I got one of their cheaper models and got sim cards in the various islands I went to for 10-15 bucks. Worked great until I dropped it in the water.


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## boating2go (Jul 12, 2012)

Okay you people are way over my head with this, I understand the 2g, 4g, parts but the rest of the techie stuff is way beyond my knowledge of phones. I have an AT&T 3g IPhone can I change the card in that to what you or talking about. Is there a site someone can go to and get information. Or is there a Cellphone for Dummies I can use?


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## RobGallagher (Aug 22, 2001)

boating2go said:


> Okay you people are way over my head with this, I understand the 2g, 4g, parts but the rest of the techie stuff is way beyond my knowledge of phones. I have an AT&T 3g IPhone can I change the card in that to what you or talking about. Is there a site someone can go to and get information. Or is there a Cellphone for Dummies I can use?


In a BIG nutshell:

US cell phone providers SELL you a phone but it is "locked" to their service and technology. Sometimes, if you tell them you are traveling they will be so kind as to give you a code and instructions to "unlock" the phone YOU PURCHASED from them so you can use it with another company. Most, if not all of the time they will not do this with any type of smart phone.

Companies like Sprint and Verizon even use another frequency, that most of the rest of the planet does not use, so you can't use your phone with any other company in the world.

Most of the rest of the planet simply goes out and buys a phone, then chooses what company works best for them. Just like you would buy a TV, then choose Cable or a Dish, then choose what company to go with. Your flat screen will work with any provider. Imagine if you only had a "Comcast" TV...

So there is a 12 yr old kid in Cambodia who buys a phone, he then stops at 7/11 and buys a sim card. There is no contract and he can't go over his minutes and get a $1500 phone bill or insane roaming/overseas charges or have to pay hundreds of dollars to get out of his "family plan" if he doesn't get service in his own home or work. When he runs out of minutes, he simply stops at 7/11 and buys a scratch off card with a code, or more likely, goes online and orders more minutes. If he is not happy with the service, he chooses another companies sim card and gets a new phone number, instantly, no ******** activation or fees, etc.

So when you motor up the Mekong river and there are kids playing on a tire swing and each one of them has a cell phone, you know they are a smarter consumer than most of us :laugher

As usual, the USA lets corporations run the entire country through unethical, yet legal, contracts and near monopolies. What law maker, in their right mind would let cable, phone, or credit companies entice their customers into complicated legal agreements over the phone, or better yet, allow these contracts to bind them for years with the threat of ridiculous buy out fees or ruined credit for those who simply want to change their mind or change the channel?

Now that I have that out of my system,

If you need an unlocked GSM cell phone, try ebay. You can also find a multi sim card phone if that's what you want. If you want an unlocked smart phone and don't mind paying for a new one, go to the Apple store and buy an iphone, then go out and get a pay as you go plan.

If you shop around, the money you save on a "pay as you go" plan will more than pay for the cost of buying a phone outright, even an Iphone.

ATT's "iphone plan" is $35.00/ month on top of your phone bill. That is $700 over two years. A new, unlocked Iphone will run you about $700 and it's worth more if you resell it later as it is unlocked by Apple and not some internet hack (not that there is anything wrong with the hack).

Rant completed, over and out.


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

2go, here's the deal. You bought an Apple product, you're not supposed to do anything besides "use" it. Apple and AT&T make sure of the by using a "micro" SIM card in most of their iPhones, so a standard SIM card used in much of the rest of the world just can't be put in there. IF your phone still uses a standard size SIM card, yes, you can put in SIM cards from other carriers and countries and use the phone there. (Not all countries use GSM phone systems, like AT&T, T-Mobile, or most of the EU does.)

An AT&T phone is "subsidy locked" by AT&T but if you have been an AT&T customer and had your phone for more than a year, you can call 611 and they will give you an "unlock code" that allows the phone to be used with other carriers. In order to use that code, you usually need to first put in a SIM card from another carrier, so again, you'll need to check to see if you have a standard size SIM card, or else take the code with you and try it when you do purchase another SIM card. 

This time around, size counts.


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## boating2go (Jul 12, 2012)

Rob go ahead and rant but thanks for the info, hellosailor I appreciate the input makes things a lot clearer. I'll never understand why our companies think it is okay to use different standards than the rest of the world which puts consumers at a disadvantage. We do it in the IT world also and I always had a problem with that. Seems to me if you want a market economy you should be willing to compete with all instead of restricting your US consumers to just what is available in the US. I'll stop my rant and keep the rest of my 2 cents worth in my pocket.


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

2go-
"I'll never understand why our companies think it is okay to use different standards than the rest of the world which puts consumers at a disadvantage."
Maybe you've heard the old Lily Tomlin routine about the telephone company? Punch line, "Because we're the telephone company and we don't give a damn."

The US actually invented and deployed cellular as a private corporate offering before the rest of the world. Yes, US technology. So they did what they pleased without a lot of advance planning. While the rest of the world chose different standards in different areas but some type of regulators or planners were involved before there was any deployment.

In the US, we've had several chances to catch up with that and several replacements of the technologies, but "open market" has been allowed to make captive customers. Is it scandalous? I don't know but suggest it should be called that, or worse. My cellco tells me that my cell phone needs to cost $600 unless it is "subsidized" down to $200. But I see tablets with bigger more expensive screens, etc. selling for the same $200, UNsubsidized. And if I don't replace my phone, somehow, I don't get allowed to stop subsidizing it either. Hmmm....When someone tries the same story with a little table and three-card-monte, the cops chase 'em away. 
Buy an unlocked standard phone, either from a pay-as-you-go carrier or used, and then use it with whoever you please. Apple can be attractive, but I try not to patronize companies that insist I need a nanny.


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