Sorry folks but another cell phone question.

Travel discussion for St. John
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nascarfan59
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Sorry folks but another cell phone question.

Post by nascarfan59 »

Got a new DroidX smart phone (my 1st smart phone) from Verizon. I've had Verizon for years and have had mixed results on STJ. Sometimes roaming sometimes not. I have several apps that update constantly such as Facebook, Fox Sports, home email, etc. Am I taking the risk of getting roaming charges every time I turn on the phone? Should I delete all these apps before I go down? I got the phone with hopes of leaving the laptop at home. Works great for trips in the states but I'm not sure about USVI. Thanks for the help.
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scoob
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Post by scoob »

Do NOT use Verizon in the Virgin Islands..
Not sure about if you upgrade to International plan.
If you don't and use all of bells and whistles of your Droid- you will be SCREWED by Verison.
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jimg20
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Post by jimg20 »

It's been my experience that the ATT phones roam when on the north beaches. When the phones get too close to BVI they pick up the cell towers there. In fact, when we went to JVD we turned off the phones. The other thing most phones will allow you to do is to switch off the roaming feature. This may prevent your phone from hitting the BVI towers.

JIM
Man it's like some dream we live down here....

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bdkane
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Post by bdkane »

A friend of mine has also been whacked by a verizon bill while on STJ. Last trip he actually purchased an ATT buy as you go phone and brought it it was only around $40 for a month I believe it was like 400 minutes with unlimited text and free mobile to mobile, no data

Funny thing, when I was on Jost I had a full signal with ATT, but while on STJ at the villa I was connected to "LIME" I guess its the BVI?
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pmk
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Post by pmk »

Just be glad you don't have T-Mobile!

http://consumerist.com/2011/10/t-mobile ... -bill.html

pmk
melmd
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Post by melmd »

I just called Verizon for my upcoming trip and they told me it would be $1.99 per minute for voice (phone calls), but texting would be the same.

I am going to get a "go phone", can someone tell me the best one to get. I keep seeing AT&T is a good choice, do all AT&T go phones cover the USVI?

Any info would be helpful. I will be calling home alot and need a good phone.

Thanks
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Chet
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Post by Chet »

Left the BBerry in the safe most of the time. By sunrise and first coffee the electronica unfolded...wireless speaker, cell phones, iPads, laptop, iPod, cameras. Then it all goes back in the safe before heading out to a beach.
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

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PA Girl
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Post by PA Girl »

Back when we had Nextel phones (which didn't work anywhere in the VIs) we used an ATT Go Phone for St. John trips. It worked well on both STT and STJ. There were some dead spots in Cruz Bay but we would just walk down the street and pick up a signal.
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liamsaunt
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Post by liamsaunt »

scoob wrote:Do NOT use Verizon in the Virgin Islands..
Not sure about if you upgrade to International plan.
If you don't and use all of bells and whistles of your Droid- you will be SCREWED by Verison.
I second this. I had my iphone with me last trip, and it is Verizon. I think my overage charges were around $90. I only made two or three brief phone calls, so it must have been the data use charges. The house we rented had the worst internet connection I have ever experienced, so I used my phone occasionally to do things like look up restaurant phone numbers. After a couple of days I just turned my phone off competely and used John's since he has AT+T's international plan.
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
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scoob
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Post by scoob »

Bought a AT+T go phone last year and it worked very well.It only cost $8.63 last January including shipping.
$2 a day for unlimited use..
Alot better than the $ 300 overage a couple years ago !
Scoob
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ronbo3107
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Post by ronbo3107 »

I would leave that phone at home and get the go phone
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nascarfan59
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Post by nascarfan59 »

Thanks all for your responses. I figured out to just put the smart phone in airplane mode and use the wifi from the villa for email. I'm going to check out the AT&T go phone this weekend for cell calls. Not going to worry about work for 10 days! I just need to stay in touch with elderly parents and the dog sitter. Again, thanks to all and hope to see some forumites at the Beach Bar.

Thanks,
Nascarfan
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