Do I really need a Jamaican cell?

[nutz4travel]

Getting close now and a lot of (stupid?) questions are popping up in my head! Should we get a Jamaican phone - is it really necessary? I can see using it to call a driver? Are there not phones in the rooms or do they charge for local calls? Could you not just get the hotel or restaurant to call your driver for you?

We don't need it to call home and we don't know anyone in Jamaica that we'd need to call. Just wondering why so many people feel the need to get one??

Thanks

[Jim-Donna]

We use a driver that price includes use of a phone while there. It is very convenient ! Yes you can have someone call, or call from your room. It is nice to be able to be dropped off someplace and tell your driver you will call when you are ready to be picked up. It's also nice with so many boardies in town, if something fun comes up its easy to get together.

[Accompong]

Getting close now and a lot of (stupid?) questions are popping up in my head! Should we get a Jamaican phone - is it really necessary? I can see using it to call a driver? Are there not phones in the rooms or do they charge for local calls? Could you not just get the hotel or restaurant to call your driver for you?

We don't need it to call home and we don't know anyone in Jamaica that we'd need to call. Just wondering why so many people feel the need to get one??

Thanks

Not a "stupid" question at all.

If you don't want to call or receive calls from home then a phone is unnecessary. You can have someone at your hotel or restaurant can call a driver for you or you can just use the "route taxi" system.

Once you get a "driver" and you like the way he moves, ask him for his number or just have him pick you up at a certain time at a certain place. Make sure you get the fare correct before you get in the car. If you don't do that, it can be a learning experience that you don't need.

Don't fret about a phone. Most everyone has a cell and will call for you when you need to make a call. You just may need to give them a few J's for phone credit.

Peace and Guidance

[captaind]

2nutz,

Linston will have a phone you can use. You'll just have to buy credit which is cheap.

Cap

[mdsn]

I assume my own phone will work in JA as long as I have international roaming? if so, is the only reason to buy a JA phone the difference in cost for the calls? My verizon service is about $2/ minute which is expensive but how much will I really be calling? Am I missing something?

[sunray]

No! I find if I need to make a call, I will buy credit for a friend to load on their phone. I am happy to have borrowed their phone, and they have a little more credit.

[rjonsun]

I never use a cell phone in the States, but it is worth the $25 for a new Jamaican Lime phone just to call friends and let them know what they are missing. LOL
Regards,
Bob

[Accompong]

I assume my own phone will work in JA as long as I have international roaming? if so, is the only reason to buy a JA phone the difference in cost for the calls? My verizon service is about $2/ minute which is expensive but how much will I really be calling? Am I missing something?

Well, only you can answer "how much will I really be calling?". It is my observation that a lot of people are joined at the hip with their cell phones so you are only "missing something" if that applies to you.

After all, if you talk for 30 minutes on your Verizon roaming cell phone, you will pay $60.00 US which will buy you a cheap Ja. phone and 700 minutes of international credit to boot.

Yeah, if you are a "talker" then you are missing something.

Peace and Guidance

[HarryS]

The other option over buying/borrowing a phone there is to unlock your current device and use a Jamaican SIM card in it. This would work with just about any phone from AT+T or T-Mobile (or any other GSM provider). Will not work with CDMA (Sprint/Verizon), but they do have a few dual devices (Like iPhone 5) that have a SIM slot to use GSM service.

I know T-Mobile will allow you to unlock your phone after 90 days of service, you call customer care, let them know you'll be travelling, and in a few days they send you an email with the unlocking instructions. AT+T is not so easy about it, I think you may need to be out of contract to get them to do it.

Once you have an unlocked device, you can put a SIM card in it from just about anywhere in the world, no need to buy a phone, just the SIM and minutes.

[TKim]

I was pondering about this, as well.

I just called T-Mo to get my old cell unlocked - thinking maybe I can buy a SIM card while I'm there. Not "joined at the hip" but I do prefer to be independent rather than having to beg a stranger to user their phone.

Then again, where I'm at, nobody would ever let you borrow their phone, so that's probably why my mindset is what it is. We'll see how I feel when I get there!