phone cards

[Hoirch]

Hey guys, just wondering if all prepaid phone cards work from Saba to call to Canada or do only a few. I'm having a real hard time finding some around here and I was just wondering if you can buy some down there that will allow you to call back to Canada? Thanks for the info

Hoirch

[DonnieMD2B]

How about with the US? I'm kinda worried about the cell phone thing. What is the average monthly cell phone bill when calling back to the US and the US calling me while there?

Hoirch...aren't we going to be quadmates?

[md2be123]

whats up guys,

I might as well as join this thread since I'm the 3rd quadmate!

Hoirch -- I'm not sure about calling to and from Canada.

Donnie -- As far as I know, all cell phones on the island receive incoming calls for free, regardless of where they are from. So anyone from the US can call you using a calling card and you won't be charged for the call.

I've been researching calling cards and have found some between 10-15cents/minute that I'm going to give my parents. Lemme know if you want some more info.

Take care guys!
Amar

[rdecastro]

My wife wandered around the student ghettos at Queens (when she was working in Kingston) or Ottawa U (now in Ottawa) and found a couple - $5 for an hour, what we actually got when she called was about 35-40 minutes.

Then, she switched her phone service from Bell Canada to Rogers, and the effective cost of a call was only slightly more than using the card, with much better quality.

Voice over IP (using Skype, Gtalk, etc) also works OK as long as you're not sharing the DSL connection with 5 other people (like I was). Bring a headset with you, they're expensive here.

[Hoirch]

I think we are going to be quad mates donnie. I'll be there on the 30th, you?

As far as the phones go, are there phones in the hillside dorms or can we set up a phone system there? I know my fiance will be pretty upset if all we can do is chat over msn for 4 months. I can't find any prepaid phone cards where I am to call from Saba to Canada. In the pamphlet the school sent over, one flyer said they sold phone and calling cards. Does anybody know anything about this or if there are any cards available there. If not, how would my fiance be able to call me? And if I do have to set up a phone line, should I bring my own phone? Thanks guys.

[rdecastro]

I think we are going to be quad mates donnie. I'll be there on the 30th, you?

As far as the phones go, are there phones in the hillside dorms or can we set up a phone system there? I know my fiance will be pretty upset if all we can do is chat over msn for 4 months. I can't find any prepaid phone cards where I am to call from Saba to Canada. In the pamphlet the school sent over, one flyer said they sold phone and calling cards. Does anybody know anything about this or if there are any cards available there. If not, how would my fiance be able to call me? And if I do have to set up a phone line, should I bring my own phone? Thanks guys.

If you set up phone service, you have to buy their equipment. The phone calls are not a very good deal, they are usually 20-30 cents per minute (or much more).

The cellphones are prepaid. You don't get billed on the cellphone for incoming calls, so the least expensive option seems to be to get a cell and have whomever call you.

[Hoirch]

so if i get a cell phone down there, she could call me from home and it is relatively cheaper than setting up a ground line? Is this what you ended up doing?

[wolfvgang22]

You guys may already know this but here goes:
Most people here buy a Sa-Tel motorola cell phone or a "chippie" cell phone that runs on average about $55. Prepaid phone cards for the chippie cell phones are 29 cents a minute, Sa-Tel cell phones had a special and were running 23 cents a minute recently. Incoming calls are free. You can bring your own cell phone as long as it is a tri-band phone that has a SIM card in it that can be replaced with one here if you want to go the "chippie/UTS" route. You can get a call back number to call the states (and I think canada) for 23 cents a minute from ICS in windwardside. A landline phone costs $500 deposit, then $25 monthly phone bill and then a $55 monthly DSL bill for the slower DSL service. I think the faster one is like 20 bucks more. They are now offerring VOIP here too, but I don't know what they are charging for that off hand.
Note: chippie phones only work on 1/2 the island, from windwardside to the bottom where the school is. The Satel phones are TDMA phones and work everywhere. Both cell services work on St. Maartin.
My family buys phone cards from speedypin.com with some success at 13 cents a minute. Other times they just take opportune deals that they see in stores back home.
Good luck,
~W

[rdecastro]

so if i get a cell phone down there, she could call me from home and it is relatively cheaper than setting up a ground line? Is this what you ended up doing?

I got a cellphone right away. After about a month (and my shipment being delivered by Hasselfree) I got several people in Matthews to go in with me on DSL, since I now had my wireless router. With DSL comes the phone.

BTW, if anyone is going to share DSL with a wireless router, I suggest that you calculate the cost for the entire (remaining) semester, including installation and pro-rate that to everyone up front. It makes the process quite a bit simpler than chasing after everyone for their share of the bill each month. Figure out what you want to do about the deposit yourself, but I just paid for it since I moved the service at the end of the semester (which costs $120, just to transfer it, btw).

Also, if you have a linksys router, I recommend getting the enhanced firmware from Sveasoft that allows you to bump the transmit power from 25 milliwatts to 251 milliwatts. With the concrete construction around here, it gets the signals through better.

[rdecastro]

You guys may already know this but here goes:
Most people here buy a Sa-Tel motorola cell phone or a "chippie" cell phone that runs on average about $55. Prepaid phone cards for the chippie cell phones are 29 cents a minute, Sa-Tel cell phones had a special and were running 23 cents a minute recently. Incoming calls are free. You can bring your own cell phone as long as it is a tri-band phone that has a SIM card in it that can be replaced with one here if you want to go the "chippie/UTS" route. You can get a call back number to call the states (and I think canada) for 23 cents a minute from ICS in windwardside. A landline phone costs $500 deposit, then $25 monthly phone bill and then a $55 monthly DSL bill for the slower DSL service. I think the faster one is like 20 bucks more. They are now offerring VOIP here too, but I don't know what they are charging for that off hand.
Note: chippie phones only work on 1/2 the island, from windwardside to the bottom where the school is. The Satel phones are TDMA phones and work everywhere. Both cell services work on St. Maartin.
My family buys phone cards from speedypin.com with some success at 13 cents a minute. Other times they just take opportune deals that they see in stores back home.
Good luck,
~W

I originally brought a GSM triband phone with a SIM card (Moto V80) with me. It worked for a month, then quit (for no apparent reason - the network would not recognize it). The folks at SaTel were completely unable to help fix it -their attitude was that since they didn't sell that model of Moto, they couldn't/wouldn't help me get it going again.

One of the problems they attibuted to my phone was that if you used the menu to bring up the phone number, the WRONG phone number showed up (ie, not the one on the SIM). Still, it worked for a month that way.

Anyway, not having a lot of time to screw around with it, I bought a brand new moto from them. They put the original SIM in it and it worked fine, had the right amount of money left, etc. OK, fine. A couple of days later, I checked the menu and the same wrong number as before was displayed. What the hell, the phone worked, and I didn't have time to screw with SaTel.

Then, the phone was stolen out of a car (don't leave shiny valuables around in an unlocked car). So, back to SaTel to buy yet another phone (good thing they're only $60 or so). New SIM, new phone number, new pre-paid card, etc. Before I left, I reminded the clerk about the earlier problems with the wrong number and brought up the internal phone number using the menu on the phone. The same, wrong number, that has followed me with 3 phones now, the one I brought with me from the US and two local ones.

The moral? Don't expect much technical competence with anything outiside a very narrow range of experiences with anything on Saba. In theory you should be able to bring any unlocked GSM phone and get a local SIM, and recharge card. In practice, here on Saba anyway, maybe not.

Which reminds me, I need to get a new recharge card.

[DonnieMD2B]

Hey, I will be arriving on the 30th in the morning. Taking the boat over from St. Maarten...Its cheaper and I may have some extra bags and want to avoid not getting them for days or even weeks.

About the phones...I think i will purchase a cell phone down there and just have my family call me since they have a good deal with verizon. It will cost both of us about the same and it seems to be the easiest route...I hope I do not regret this. Once we all arrive, we may decide to get DSL and a phone in the living/kitchen area. If so, we can all split the cost. Who knows, we may not even have time to use the phone much.

Donnie

[Hoirch]

hey donnie, I think I'm also going to get a cell phone when I arrive. I am also interested in getting a wireless connection going too. I'll be arriving in the pm on the 30th, see you then.