Cellular question

[siestalola]

I'm hoping someone can tell me, if I am sailing round the British Virgin Islands will my cell phone roam to a US tower or British? I am Canadian and if my phone roams to the US no problem but if it roams to a British tower whoa...it will be very expensive.

Thanks for any ideas or suggestions

[lprof]

I would suggest talking with your service carrier prior to your trip... this is based on a recent learning experience my husband and I had. We were not sailing but our ATT iphone did roam; all is good now, but we could have had a better experience by checking with ATT first.
Enjoy your sailing adventures!

[Pia]

99.9999% of the time it will be a BVI tower and you are right, verrrry expensive

A fun fact - I get a US tower when sitting at Soggy Dollar on Jost but a BVI tower when sitting on Cinnamon and sometimes Trunk on STJ - it's just the island way

[theshopper3]

Hi Sisestalola,

I am also from Ontario & agree that the costs for roaming are expensive. What I have done for the last 3 years is I purchased a US AT&T pay as you go phone, now I am not sure about the roaming charges, but the cost for phone & text msg is so cheap. A text is like .10, phone calls to home are about $2.50 for half an hour, this is fron St John & St Thomas. I haven't used in in the BVI'S. Now if you are only doing a one time vacation it may not be worth it.

The first phone I bought, I picked up at Best Buy in Michigan for $20.00 & it came with a $10.00 air credit. I picked up an additional card for $25.00 & had plenty of $$ left on the phone.
Now & just buy a $100.00 card which is good for a year so it more than covers all our trips to the south.

Hope this helps.

The Shopper

[siestalola]

99.9999% of the time it will be a BVI tower and you are right, verrrry expensive

A fun fact - I get a US tower when sitting at Soggy Dollar on Jost but a BVI tower when sitting on Cinnamon and sometimes Trunk on STJ - it's just the island way

Pia,
Thank you for your reply.

Will I be able to tell from looking at my phone where I am roaming to?

[siestalola]

Hi Sisestalola,

I am also from Ontario & agree that the costs for roaming are expensive. What I have done for the last 3 years is I purchased a US AT&T pay as you go phone, now I am not sure about the roaming charges, but the cost for phone & text msg is so cheap. A text is like .10, phone calls to home are about $2.50 for half an hour, this is fron St John & St Thomas. I haven't used in in the BVI'S. Now if you are only doing a one time vacation it may not be worth it.

The first phone I bought, I picked up at Best Buy in Michigan for $20.00 & it came with a $10.00 air credit. I picked up an additional card for $25.00 & had plenty of $$ left on the phone.
Now & just buy a $100.00 card which is good for a year so it more than covers all our trips to the south.

Hope this helps.

The Shopper

The Shopper,
What a great idea I hadn't thought of that. Perhaps I can just buy a card when I get there and load it into my phone.

Thank you!

[theshopper3]

Hi Sisiestlola,

If you have a Canadian phone I don't beleive we can put a SIM card in our's. I had a friends from Scotland here & that is what he does, & we tried to put his in mine & it can't be done. I beleive I even called about it.

Are you flying out of the states by chance???, That is where I bought mine.Not sure if you can order it on line or not. You could give AT&T a call & see what they say about roaming in the BVI'S

I can also access my email on mine which is a bonus as well.

When are you heading down??? I am going May 1 & will b in the BVI's for 4 days, so I may have an answer after that trip.

The Shopper

[siestalola]

Hi Sisiestlola,

If you have a Canadian phone I don't beleive we can put a SIM card in our's. I had a friends from Scotland here & that is what he does, & we tried to put his in mine & it can't be done. I beleive I even called about it.

Are you flying out of the states by chance???, That is where I bought mine.Not sure if you can order it on line or not. You could give AT&T a call & see what they say about roaming in the BVI'S

I can also access my email on mine which is a bonus as well.

When are you heading down??? I am going May 1 & will b in the BVI's for 4 days, so I may have an answer after that trip.

The Shopper

I just got off the phone with bell for the 3rd time today. I have a Blackberry 8830 World Edition they tell me if I purchase a Sim Card my phone number will change. GEEEEEZ

I think I will have to bite the bullet and buy a US package for $70 (ouch) and hope I'm only roaming the US tower

I am flying out of Detroit on Thursday morning, arrive St Thomas at 4:00 YAY! Our first trip to that part of the world.

[theshopper3]

What is your real need for the phone???
Can you get by with texting or emailing??? A text msg is .15 cents & I never got a charge for using email.

You may find it cheaper to go with the AT&T phone. If you are flying out of Detroit you can pick one up at the mall that is about 10 minutes from the airport, for the life of me I can't remember the name but can email you later tonight. I have it in the car.

Thanks
The Shopper

A word of caution::: Keep the phone in a zip lock bag, my first one got hit by a wave while hanging on the back of my chair in a pouch at Maho & died....

[theshopper3]

Hi again,
The mall is the Oakland Mall, if you are interested in checking it out.

When Bell said your phone # will change is that just temporary, that is what happened when our friend from Scotland put the sim card in his. I beleive his reverts back once he takes the card out.

Good Luck & have an awesome trip.
We love STJ & are counting our sleeps until our 7th Adventure in Paradise with a little Tortola on the side.

Detroit is awesome to fly out of, you get through security in no time.

The Shopper

[siestalola]

Shopper3,

Thank you for all the information you have provided me.

When you install a Sim Card you get a new phone number until you remove the sim card, so thats a great idea for outgoing calls.

The reason I need/want my phone handy is I like to know my children can reach me at anytime. I have decided to put the travel package on while I'm away for $70.

From following this board, and reading all the positive comments, I have a pretty good feeling about our vacation. Can't wait to get there!