Cell Phone Questions

[Johio]

At the risk of hijacking the thread, I heard (many years ago) that all phones won't work in Jamaica because of differences in technology. Is this true? If so, how do I know if my phone is compatible?

Also, if I go to Digicel, is it as simple as swapping out the sim card and you are good to go? My phone number stays the same?

(Please don't laugh, I'm a bit technologically challenged when it comes to this type of cell phone chat. So please use small words. )

[RyanP]

At the risk of hijacking the thread, I heard (many years ago) that all phones won't work in Jamaica because of differences in technology. Is this true? If so, how do I know if my phone is compatible?

Also, if I go to Digicel, is it as simple as swapping out the sim card and you are good to go? My phone number stays the same?

(Please don't laugh, I'm a bit technologically challenged when it comes to this type of cell phone chat. So please use small words. )

Yeah. This will take some explaining. There are two types of phones used in the United States; GSM and CDMA. I believe most new phones are GSM. In the past, only AT&T and T-Mobile (I think) used GSM, and I think the rest used CDMA. A GSM phone is compatible with the rest of the cell phone networks in the world, to my knowledge. If you wanted to use an older phone in Jamaica, it will need to be a GSM phone, so you'll need to find one that was on an AT&T network, or maybe T-Mobile (you'll have to check). If you are using a newer phone, you'll either have to research it or contact the carrier to see if it is a GSM phone. A CDMA phone will not work in Jamaica. Verizon used to use CDMA phones, and may still, to some degree. Once you find a GSM phone, you'll have to get it "unlocked", so that it will work on another network, other than the one for which it was originally intended. AT&T has a department that is dedicated to this, now, and you can apply online. If you are getting a phone from someone you know, it needs to be unlocked by them, as the unlocking process requires information that only they may know. Once you get all that done, just pop in the DigiCel SIM card, add minutes, and you are good to go. You're number will not be the same. I wouldn't recommend unlocking the phone that you use day-to-day. I am using an older phone, and would recommend that.

[Johio]

Thanks, Ryan. That all makes sense. It should work out for me then, if I want to go this route. I have a fairly new phone and I'm 99.9% sure it is a GSM phone. My old service provider was bought by Verizon, but I switched to AT&T instead. When that happened, my phone needed to be unlocked so that the AT&T network could be used. So I already have an unlocked, GSM phone. Now I just need to get to a Digicel store, switch out sim cards and pick up some international credits to use when calling home to catch up with our daughter.

Or, I could try to find a JusTalk card and call from the hotel room phone. We'll see.

Thanks again.

[RyanP]

Not 100% positive, but I think you may be subject to roaming charges, unless you use the DigiCel network to call home. I would make sure, before I tested it out.

[TAH]

Not 100% positive, but I think you may be subject to roaming charges, unless you use the DigiCel network to call home. I would make sure, before I tested it out.

Not with international minutes.