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Yes indeed...ATT U-verse is "only" $ .43 per minute. There is a new International Calling Plan, but the reduced rates therein do not include Jamaica.
If you are going to call Jamaica frequently, your wireless carrier might offer an international plan which does include reduced rate calls to Jamaica.
I never use anywhere near the 1000 minutes in the separate calling plan when in Jamaica. So, I top off my JA phone from the US on-line just before we leave for the island and usually get a double minutes bonus from Digicell and I don't bother buying the international minutes while on the island. I just use the local minutes to call home. Don't have to keep track of 2 separate balances that way either.
The bonus minutes have to be used up in a week.
I bought a calling card for my Jamaica calls.
I installed Rebtel on my computer and the app on my phone. You pre-buy credits. Jamaica costs about 16 cents a minute from Canada.
Rebtel is up to .24 a minute
Treehouse Magic Jack Number 305-974-7218 answers in reservationsQuote:
Originally Posted by Mark & Deana
In Canada you can use 10 10 620 before the 1-876 etc number and get the first 15 min for $1....and low cents/min thereafter (it goes onto your regular phone bill) at least with Bell land lines......
Or, once you have a cellphone & sim card, just top it up every 60 days with the last top up just before you reach. When you land the phone will be active and ready to use with credits on board. You can keep your same phone number and no having to buy another SIM. I have a monthly automatic top up set up for about $6 per month so I don't even have to think about it.
There is a lot more to pricing than this. For starters, it is way more expensive to cover a huge land mass like the USA with cell towers, and those costs get passed on to consumers. To build out wireless towers on a small island is way less expensive, especially when you're not trying to cover everywhere and aren't terribly concerned with data speeds. Those basic phones you puchase in JA sure are cheap, they're also 15+ year old technology that is extremely cheap to manufacture.
The other main issue is that when you call from JA to the USA with your USA SIM card, you are using the Jamaican cell phone company to complete the call, and they will bill your carrier (Verizon, AT+T, etc) whatever they can get away with... and then your carrier passes those costs on to you.
I usually get an 'international pack' for voice/text...$50 gets me all I need for 1-2 weeks. It's a bit more than a JA. SIM/minutes (I have an old phone that would work unlocked), but I don't have to worry about carrying two phones for inbound comm.