I know this has been asked before.......

CariBert · Post by **CariBert** » Sat May 16, 2009 9:21 pm

but, I am wondering if anyone has had any cell phone reception on St. John with Verizon. I know that Sprint and AT&T have coverage, but what about Verizon? I may be moving to Verizon for convenience reasons, and I'd like to be able to "phone home" if I had to.

Thanks in advance for your input and experience!

-Bert

pswlrw · Post by **pswlrw** » Sat May 16, 2009 9:41 pm

Bert,

There is service, but unlike AT&T Verizon considers St. John to be international so you want to check your plan because calls can be VERY expensive.

cypressgirl · Post by **cypressgirl** » Sat May 16, 2009 9:51 pm

My Verizon has worked for years, even on Jost, but it is expensive. You might want to check your rates before you leave. I'm thinking about a Go Phone, but not sure about that either.

Wakey · Post by **Wakey** » Sat May 16, 2009 10:11 pm

Verizon worked fine for me and there was no additional charges either.

toni · Post by **toni** » Sat May 16, 2009 10:44 pm

I had 60cents/minute roaming charges while there in March on Verizon. I didn't use the phone much so not sure if that was true all over the island (apparently it was bouncing to the bvi's?) but reception was fine otherwise.

khud · Post by **khud** » Sat May 16, 2009 11:31 pm

We have used our Verizon cell phones there for the past few years. We had no problems in the areas where there is cell phone reception. This year we are staying on the South Shore and have been told that there is not much reception there. The villa has a phone so we got a phone card (pennytalk.com) that costs 1c per minute plus 49c per call. Verizon will charge us $1.99 per minute on our cells. Don't forget to enable your cell phones for international roaming before you come.(*228 option 2)

bevm · Post by **bevm** » Sun May 17, 2009 12:11 am

I just got my bill and what is normally $58.00 was $134.53. We stayed in Coral Bay and all of the charges were incurred while roaming in the BVI.

cypressgirl · Post by **cypressgirl** » Sun May 17, 2009 1:49 am

khud wrote:We have used our Verizon cell phones there for the past few years. We had no problems in the areas where there is cell phone reception. This year we are staying on the South Shore and have been told that there is not much reception there. The villa has a phone so we got a phone card (pennytalk.com) that costs 1c per minute plus 49c per call. Verizon will charge us $1.99 per minute on our cells. Don't forget to enable your cell phones for international roaming before you come.(*228 option 2)

That sure is steep. I know we pay a lot, but not 1.99 per minute, or at least it use to not be that much. I better look into that. I'm not familiar with this 228 option you mentioned. What's that all about? I am going to check into the phone card you mentioned. That seems like a really cheap way to stay in touch with the family left behind.

Wakey · Post by **Wakey** » Sun May 17, 2009 8:25 am

You can remove roaming charges from your bill, search the forum for Verizon or AT&T.

When I was there I kept calls to a minimum because I thought my plan did not count calls the way it did in the rest of the US.

Turns out it did, NO overages.

I did get some welcome texts from the BVI's while sailing but no charges.

Wakey · Post by **Wakey** » Sun May 17, 2009 8:43 am

I just read a few other cell phone threads and it's bizarre how many people have different stories to tell regarding overages.

Before I left I got 3 different answers from Verizon to my question on roaming so I rarely used my phone and never the Internet.

When I got the bill I had NO overages lol

I used about 15 minutes of talk time and had several texts.

khud · Post by **khud** » Sun May 17, 2009 10:17 am

Go on the Verizon Wireless website and it will explain the charges and the international roaming. I called them last week and confirmed the rate and the roaming (push *228 on your cell and you will be connected to Verizon; they will give you options; choose #2; wait until they say it was successful) They also told me that text messages were free if you have a text plan. On the Pennytalk website the rate is based on calling from the US, Puerto Rico, US Virgin islands and Canada. As soon as you set up an account and put $25 in it, you can use it. The official card comes a week later.

CariBert · Post by **CariBert** » Sun May 17, 2009 2:25 pm

Thanks for all the input, guys! It is really helpful. I still have some investigating to do before I have to change, you've given me some good info!

Thanks again,

-Bert

Wakey · Post by **Wakey** » Sun May 17, 2009 6:29 pm

Thanks khud, I now have 4 answers!

Each time I called I was given a different answer.

Steve S · Post by **Steve S** » Mon May 18, 2009 9:42 am

Last year we switched from ATT to Verizon (can you believe that USVI coverage came into our discussions of whether or not to switch?) On our trip this past March I bought a basic go phone with $35 airtime at ($.25 per minute) on ATT wireless site for $29.99 delivered. We did use up the air time before we left, but refilling a few bucks was a snap.

cypressgirl · Post by **cypressgirl** » Mon May 18, 2009 10:13 am

khud wrote:Go on the Verizon Wireless website and it will explain the charges and the international roaming. I called them last week and confirmed the rate and the roaming (push *228 on your cell and you will be connected to Verizon; they will give you options; choose #2; wait until they say it was successful) They also told me that text messages were free if you have a text plan. On the Pennytalk website the rate is based on calling from the US, Puerto Rico, US Virgin islands and Canada. As soon as you set up an account and put $25 in it, you can use it. The official card comes a week later.

With the pennytalk phone card, can you use it with your cell phone (I also have Verizon) on island, as well as the villa phone?

usvi-on-line

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I know this has been asked before.......

I know this has been asked before.......