cell phone service price

[darkmansaad]

i think i posted something about this earlier but i forgot to ask for the prices of using a cell phone. i know i have to bring an unlocked GSM quad band phone thats taken care of, i just need to know how much it costs for how many minutes, etc so i bring enough cash down to start it up as soon as i get there

[rdecastro]

Greetings.

Before I came down here, I used to think that the students who would tell people posting messages that have been discussed ad infinitum to do a search was, well, kind of rude. I understand their frustration now.

Cellphones on the island are pre-paid. You buy a card worth $20 or whatever, and enter a magic code number into your phone, and have $20 worth of credit to call.

Calls to various countries are different rates. The US is (I think) $0.30/minute, and Canada is $0.40 USD/minute.

It's far cheaper to have folks call you. Or, get DSL ($82/mo) and Vonage ($30/mo) and call them, if you're going to call a lot. OTOH, you may not have time to call a lot.

[wacky]

Greetings.

Before I came down here, I used to think that the students who would tell people posting messages that have been discussed ad infinitum to do a search was, well, kind of rude. I understand their frustration now.

Cellphones on the island are pre-paid. You buy a card worth $20 or whatever, and enter a magic code number into your phone, and have $20 worth of credit to call.

Calls to various countries are different rates. The US is (I think) $0.30/minute, and Canada is $0.40 USD/minute.

It's far cheaper to have folks call you. Or, get DSL ($82/mo) and Vonage ($30/mo) and call them, if you're going to call a lot. OTOH, you may not have time to call a lot.

As well an easy way would be to use the high speed internet in the Library, and just use a service like Skype or yahoo and voice chat with ppl at home.
Its free and not too much of a hassle.

[rdecastro]

As well an easy way would be to use the high speed internet in the Library, and just use a service like Skype or yahoo and voice chat with ppl at home.
Its free and not too much of a hassle.

Those ports are blocked on the library network.

[krust3]

Cellphones on the island are pre-paid. You buy a card worth $20 or whatever, and enter a magic code number into your phone, and have $20 worth of credit to call.

Calls to various countries are different rates. The US is (I think) $0.30/minute, and Canada is $0.40 USD/minute.

It's far cheaper to have folks call you. Or, get DSL ($82/mo) and Vonage ($30/mo) and call them, if you're going to call a lot. OTOH, you may not have time to call a lot.

so do you purchase the phone on the island? or just the service

[rdecastro]

so do you purchase the phone on the island? or just the service


I brought an unlocked GSM phone down and got the SIM and account card here. A month later the network quit recognizing the phone, and since the local folks didn't sell it, they couldn't provide tech support for it (a Moto V70). So, I got a new phone.

Startup (phone, SIM and $20 card) is usually a student bargain $85, I think. The phone is a no-frills Moto. This is with Tel-Cell (Satel), they have better coverage than chippie (Chippie has NO coverage in lower hells gate where I live). They often have specials ($50 worth of cards for $40) but use the cheap cards FIRST, they tend to have short expiration dates.

[krust3]

thanks Decast, you're a tremendous help.