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I think I read somewhere It's more cost effective to get a couple cell phones in Jamaica for the duration of your stay than pay the costs of charges for smart phones. Is there truth to this and how much and where can I get some if true? We're traveling with a large group to negril in June and want to have some way to communicate to meet up. Thanks in advance for anyone who can offer info on this.
Most cell phone services like tmobile, sprint are able to unlock your phone if you request. Once your phone is unlocked you can always buy a digicel sim card in town at the digicel store. Ask your cell phone network about unlocking your phone to get cell phone service in Jamaica.
Thanks. I thought with the roaming charges and data plans required for smart phones that it would be a very expensive option to do it that way? I will look into it. But also wanted some info on how to get a cell phone in Jamaica.....
Thanks butterfly :)
across the street from bank of nove scotia is a digicel outlet-for under $50 new phone and sim card-starting Jan. 14 their valentines sale usually starts up-phones then are 40-50%off(that has been in the past and no way of knowing about this year)
Assuming your cell is unlocked, you can buy an inexpensive sim card from the digicell noted above (around $20 - $25). Then it's simply purchasing Jamaican minutes which are inexpensive. The service and phone number will be from Digicell, not your home provider. Therefore no roaming or data charges from your home provider.
Many providers lock your service because your in a contract in exchange for a break in the phone price. That's understandable. Most (all) will be unwilling to unlock your phone. However, there are "grey market" websites that will, for a fee of around $15, provide a "key" and instructions on how to unlock your phone.
Your other option is to rent or buy a Jamaican phone. It will already have a Jamaican sim card so you simply purchase the minutes you require. Some airport transfers offer a phone when using their service. Give them a $50 deposit and but your minutes and it's yours to use for the duration of your trip. I belive, Alfred's and Rocky's both offer this as part of their service to you.
In Oct I picked up a Digicel phone for approx $50 US which included the phone, 1000 international minutes and 125 local minutes. The piece of mind made it more then worth it. I picked it up as referenced above at the Digicel store across from Scotia bank.
Just rent one from a driver or purchase a cheap digicel as stated above...I wouldn't want to take my expensive smartphone down to Jam..Would hate to lose it/gte it stolen and not a good idea to be flashing an expensive phone around...IMHO...
I have in the past done the unlock cell, buy sim card and minutes option only to have the $600 phone water damaged. This time around I plan on using the free phone supplied by the airport transfer service. Simple, convenient and inexpensive.