Cell Phone Rental Info

[Sweetness]

Info please - I usually get one from Clive's and they no longer provide them.

1. Don't want to buy a phone there just rent
2. My cell won't work w/JA Sim card - neither will 10 old phones I have accumulated over the years I don't think.

I know I can research but too much going on today so I am short on time. Thanks bunches.

[MissBlue]

when do you leave? you're welcome to use mine if there's nuff time to mail it to you before you go - you'd just need to buy a new SIM cause mine is no doubt expired.

[NegrilAddict]

Keith from Westender Inn was renting cell phones at one time. You can check with him. I have rented a phone from him before.

[Sweetness]

coolio - thx ya'll

[SweetSue]

If you are a frequent visitor, why not buy? You could get a perfectly functional phone for about $25 - 30 USD and then all you have to worry about is minutes. If you schedule on automatic online top up for ~$5 monthly, your sim & phone number will stay active and when you come back, you will already have more than enough credits on the phone and you will be ready the minute you hit the island.

[Ohio_Buckeye_1]

Sweetness - I'll second what SweetSue said. And theres a couple other advantages of buying a cheap one over renting.
Your JA phone number will be the same every trip. So you can give that ph# to friends/family at home before you leave.
Also your JA friends won't have to change the number they use to get hold of you each trip.
The other thing is that all the phone numbers you accumulate each trip will all be ready to go - no re-entering them from a paper list onto the rental every trip.
As SweetSue said, you just have to do online topup to keep it active - and every 90 days is enough.

[irieworld]

if you do decide to rent, many hotels will provide, or have a connection they can call to get you one. When I stayed at NBCC, Jean had her phone guy come for me. He dropped off the phone and picked it up. I was only there for a week so it was worth it to me. But since you will be there longer, really it is a better deal to buy one there.

[SweetSue]

Sweetness - I'll second what SweetSue said. And theres a couple other advantages of buying a cheap one over renting.
Your JA phone number will be the same every trip. So you can give that ph# to friends/family at home before you leave.
Also your JA friends won't have to change the number they use to get hold of you each trip.
The other thing is that all the phone numbers you accumulate each trip will all be ready to go - no re-entering them from a paper list onto the rental every trip.
As SweetSue said, you just have to do online top up to keep it active - and every 90 days is enough.

OB - you are right, every 90 days is "enough" but I have had it happen where I hit the island and before I could use my phone, I had to buy a little credit on the street to "reactivate" the phone. The sim card & number were still good but after a certain amount of time, depending upon the amount of your top up, the service goes into a dormant state until the next top up is applied. Plus, I did make the mistake ONCE of missing the 90 day deadline and had to get a new sim I like the convenience of having my phone & same number, it starts ringing almost as soon as I get there!

[Lola]

Sweet Sue posted: I have had it happen where I hit the island and before I could use my phone, I had to buy a little credit on the street to "reactivate" the phone. The sim card & number were still good but after a certain amount of time, depending upon the amount of your top up, the service goes into a dormant state until the next top up is applied.

If on Digicel network, you have something called Airtime Loyalty Rewards. You can activate 100J of credit to make your phone work, once you land. No need to hunt for credit.

[Nancy Marie]

My last 2 trips I topped up 2 days before I left and didn't have to add credit when I got to Negril to make it work.