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just got off the phone with verizon.
they said i can use my US cell phone w/ a JA calling card and I will only be deducted normal minutes from my normal monthly plan (using my cell without a calling card is $1.99 per minute!)
has anybody else heard of this or can confirm this is correct???
don't want to get home to a $500 cell phone bill :)
thanks!
it may be 'technically' correct but it is not the whole story -- what will kill you on the bill is the roaming charges.
the only way to do this without incurring roaming charges is - if the phone is unlocked, and it's a quad-band GSM model that uses a SIM card, and you take out the USA SIM and put in a JA SIM card so you are making calls on the local JA network. If that's not the case and you're trying to use your regular USA phone - humungus roaming charges will be incurred anytime you make calls.
also not sure how you would be able to use a Jamaican phone card with a USA phone either. i don't know that it would work at all, but if it did, you would still have to call an 876- number to access the Jamaican phone card - and that is an international call.
I have a basic plan (no 3G, 4G or whatever) & a basic phone w/ Verizon (no camera, no sim card, was an older model when I got it in 2005). I turned it on in Negril in Feb. to get some updated phone numbers to add to my JA cell phone. I immediately got a text that they were charging me $20.43 for turning my phone on in JA (roaming charge???). It could be that's the daily charge, in which case you'd have a heck of a phone bill on your return. Got that issue fixed when I returned home. I would follow MissBlue's advice. It will probably cost more than what they told you because there's more to the story. They just haven't told you everything. Too many horror stories about people using their US cell phones - even after doing their homework - to take the chance. Rent a phone there or borrow someone's. I frequently loan my JA cellie when I'm there when someone wants to make a brief call home. If it's more than brief or if it's frequent, I'd suggest renting one.
they NEVER give customers the 'whole' story - not necessarily maliciously or on purpose, but the random CS rep you get when you call VZW, often just doesn't know what they're talking about.
honestly is it just SO much simpler - and WAY cheaper, no matter howya slice it - to use a local cheap JA cell phone while there. You never have to think about cost every moment you're using the phone, you can just make calls as normal, and be relaxed and talk. Plus you also have the added bonus of not flashing a fancy farrin phone around, and not having to be concerned about protecting it from the sun, sand and seawater - if you drop your cheapo local cell, or it gets wet, it's cheap and easy to replace; you can leave it in a beachbag and go swimming without worrying it might get stolen, if you're out dancing or on an excursion it can get wet and sweaty and you don't have to worry about it cause 'all' your data and contacts wil not be lost, only the few numbers you have stored on the local SIM .... but if anything happens to your 'good' phone, it will be a real bummer.
and sevenmile, if you look on the T.A. boards this exact same question is asked over and over again, down to the same explanation of the 1.99/minute, ja phone card, etc etc - this is a common inquiry and the response is always the same.
personally, i just don't understand what the attachment is to using one's home phone while there. to my way of thinking, there is just no upside to it at all. The LAST thing i would ever want to do with my fancy smartphone is have it around all that heat, sand, and salt water (not to mention all the eyes upon it). Mine happens to be a 4G Verizon smartphone that does use a SIM... so it would be an extra-tempting target for pickpocketing as well.
You have to be very careful. If you use a Verizon phone to make calls, it may be true you will not pay the 1.99 per minute for a Jamaican call but IF YOU USE THE PHONE IN JAMAICA you will incur roaming charges. You have to be very careful. The first time I went to Jamaica, I called Verizon, obtained the international calling plan and was told that my calls from Jamaica to the US would be 0.39 per minute. OK, I thought... Not too bad. THEN I CAME HOME & RECEIVED A $500 plus phone bill!!!!! I called Verizon and fortunately the young lady who had quoted me that price had documented our conversation accurately and they reversed the charges to fit what I had been told. ACTUALLY - the 39 cents per minute was supposed to be for calls FROM the US TO JAMAICA - not the other way around as I had been told. Thank goodness they were honest and stood behind their employee's mistake. It could have been VERY expensive for me.
IF you have plan on multiple trips to Jamaica, it might behoove you to buy an inexpensive phone from Digicel with a sim card and have at it that way. Another advantage of that method is you know in advance how much it is costing you. I have a Nokia phone I acquired in Ghana, bought a Digicel sim, it works fine and I have had the same phone number for years now. $50 USD and you will probably be good to go.
Another options is IF you have a US phone with GLOBAL READY capabilities that is UNLOCKED you can then switch out the sim card for a Jamaican one (Digicel, Lime, etc.).
Good Luck, Enjoy Fully and Happy Calling!!
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Buy a Digicell phone and put 1000 international minutes and some local minutes. It will be much cheaper and much easier!!!
you don't even need to put that "International Plan" on a local cell phone - it's less than half the cost to just use regular old Digicel phone cards, which work fine for both local and international. that international plan is a good savings for someone who lives there, or plans to stay for a long visit - but for just a week or two, it's not likely that you would use 1000 international minutes - plus it 'only' works for international calling - you would then still have to buy local credit on top of that, to make local calls.
Regular Digical phone cards are less than half the cost of the int'l plan, and are really all that's needed.
The international minutes cost under $20 and if you are going to be calling back to the States it is better. If you put regular local minutes on your digicel and make a call to the States that ONE call will eat up alot of your minutes.
just personal preference. i never get the int'l plan -- but i only call back to the states a few times while there; so local phone cards work fine for me for a 1-2 week visit.
My point in mentioning that was to let people know you don't "have to" get the int'l plan to be able to make int'l calls. Of course they will try to sell it to you - because 'upselling' is their job - and many people wind up thinking that they must buy it in order to make calls to the states -- and that's not so. This int'l plan is pushed to everyone, but most ppl wind up paying for all these minutes that they never use.
It's a great economical plan for someone who's there for a long time and makes a lot of calls internationally - but it's not a requirement. Calls to the states can be made with regular phone cards.
I can speak a bit to the attachment to using one's home phone in Jamaica. I have one kid in college (away from home) and a 12 year old daughter, and would love them to still be able to speed dial me in case of an emergency. I've done a lot of research on the phone thing and will probably just borrow a phone from Rocky, but the attachment/need to research and ask lots of questions, for me, comes from my desire to be available to my kids if there was a bona-fide emergency.Quote:
Originally Posted by MissBlue
well yes, your own phone can be accessible to receive emergency calls - mine is as well - I leave it in the room with data & updating turned off, just ICOE. That still doesn't mean it's necessary to carry it around with me 24-7 and use it for all calls, for making reservations, drivers, meeting up with friends, etc.
Besides which you can always give your local JA number to people back home to call you on your local phone as easily as they can call you on your home phone. if it's an emergency they are not gonna care about paying for the call. I also check my home voicemail throughout the day by calling it from the local Digicel phone -- if there was an emergency I could call them back from the local phone or just use my home phone, cause again in a true emergency I would not care about the roaming charges or cost.
'ICOE' still doesn't make it worth it - to me - to use my regular home phone for everything while there.
ONLY if you make a lot of LONG calls to the US. Last time I bought the international plan, I had to share my phone with every Jamaican I knew just to use up half of the minutes. It is only about 8 to 12 JD per minute to make calls - That is plenty cheap to phone home, make sure the kids are OK or to make a friend jealous. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Luvsdaislands
i'll need my smartphone to make/receive calls and receive/send emails. i have my own small business that i unfortuntaly cannot block-out during vacation.
probably only a hand ful of emails and 20+/- minutes worth of calls each day (if that).
guess i need to call verizon back and speak with an experienced customer service rep to get the facts straight. thanks!
If you have a smartphone, I would suggest putting it in "airplane mode" so that you don't incurr any of the roaming charges but can still access internet and e-mail using wifi. Then use your JA phone to call your US phone's voice mail to check messages and call people back from your JA phone. I check my US cell VM about every 3-4 days for messages when I'm there but if you need it for business, just check your Voice Mail 3-4 times a day if you have to. You can still get business done and won't have to deal with any mega cell phone bills when you get home.
Also, I was told by my cell company (can't remember if it was AT&T or Verizon at the time) that the cost was $1.50 per minute and it didn't matter if I made the call or I rec'd the call and also didn't matter if I answered it. Basically, if someone called my number and I didn't pick up, I'd still get charged $1.50/minute for them to listen to my outgoing message and leave me a voice mail (if my phone was turned on - if it's in airplane mode thats equivalent to the phone being turned off).
I've been putting it in airplane mode ever since and never had a problem. The only thing you can't do in airplane mode is text. I still e-mail using wifi and can still check voice mail messages using my JA phone so I'm good to go. I just tell all my friends who normally text me that they need to either send an e-mail or leave a voicemial while I'm gone.
oh, yah, if you gotta have it for business that's a different story..... co-sign BJL; airplane mode w/local wifi & JA phone for outgoing calls, will be the least costly way to do it.
Thank you Brenda. I didn't realize you can put the Iphone in airplane mode and use it to receive emails. I didn't think emails would come through that way.
you can get online and do e-mail if you have a local WiFi connection, Mo -
Yep, they will come through as long as the phone is connected to the internet. So if your hotel has wifi, just connect to it via your phone and you're good to go. Otherwise, just carry the phone with you and when you get to a place with wifi, hook up and check e-mail.Quote:
Originally Posted by MoFromMonroe
Just a note, if you stay at a place with security wifi and have a laptop with you as well, you may have to get two codes from the front desk, one for computer and one for phone. I had to do that at CocoLaPalm after my computer fried. I kept trying to get on from my phone and couldn't get the code to work. Finally asked the front desk and found out that once it's used on a device, it can't be used again (and they expire after 7 days). So after I had used it for the computer, it wasn't good on a 2nd device. I guess that's their way of preventing guests from giving out the code to other people.
Brenda-I was at CCLP when you were in Dec. Spoke to you a few times. I also lost my access after 7 days. Good to know I need two codes for laptop and Iphone. Thanks. Staying there again in another week.
Love my Jamaica phone .... Rings more while in Jamaica than my verizon phone!
Hi Mo, I don't know why I wasn't putting two and two together. I remember you. Jealous you'll be back there again in a week. Have a blast! That was my 2nd stay at Coco. Love it there!
If you're going to run a laptop there, I would suggest bringing a good surge protector with you. I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the electrical outlets in the room that fried the cord. It would be working fine, then go to battery power (while still plugged in). Then I'd switch outlets and fine again for about 10-20 minutes then go to battery. I kept doing musical outlets until finally poof, the cord was done. I suppose I should have been smart and just stopped using it as soon as I knew there was a problem with the outlets. Oh well. So it goes.
Brenda-thanks will definitely bring the surge protector. Just to confirm I can take a pic with my iphone and email it without cost??? Sorry for all the questions but it's a company phone so I don't want to incur any charges to the company bill since I WON'T be talking to them from Jamaica. Are you going back in Nov/Dec? We are already booked for Thanksgiving for 2 wks. I am a nutty plan ahead person. While the good deal was there through Negrilonestop I took it.