Mobile phone service in Caribbean

[BrendanChandler]

A few years ago when planning a years sailing in the Caribbean, I bought a 'World Phone' having been assured that they work anywhere in the world. When we got to the Caribbean, I found that the only service provider in the Windward Islands was Cable and Wireless and that the 'World Phone' did not work with them.

Any ideas what types of phones work in Europe, Caribbean, South America etc etc.

Any advice or guidance would be very welcome.

Brendan

 

[Talbot]

some places in the world are still using the old analogue phones cause they need fewer base stations (e.g. inland Australia, although coastal/built up areas are digital)) AFAIK there are three standards for the digital phones, and there are a very few that will operate on all three (nokia 6310i for example) but this doesnt help if the only service is analogue!

 

[webcraft]

I made a special effort to upgrade my mobile to a triband phone before our trip to the BVI in Oct/Nov, only to find when we got there that the network was still analogue. However, this is due to change in (I think) March this year.


Most phones a year old or less will be triband, so should work in most places in the Caribbean.

Best thing to do if you want info about a specific location would be to contact a local charter company - they are certain to know.

- Nick

 

[philip_stevens]

The Motorola 525 is quad band. One of the few that is.

When I was in Martinque and Guadaloupe a while back, my old Nokia dual band would pick up the local network, but would not connect. the name of that network was Ameris http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/index.shtml.

If you contact your network provider, they will be able to tell you the network you will be able to connect to, that is affiliated to them.

With Vodafone, you can download the world networks. This is their provider in the USA http://snipurl.com/bt9z

regards,
Philip

www.stiveswebdesign.co.uk

 

[webcraft]

If you contact your network provider, they will be able to tell you the network you will be able to connect to

- Well, O2 couldn't tell me for the BVI - they assured me my phone would work . . . that's why a query to a local company might not go amiss IMHO

- Nick

 

[jfm]

Even Quad band phones are still GSM. In most of the carib, they dont use the GSM sytem at all, they use some analog/US stuff.

If you rent a Moorings boat, they normally have analog boatfones installed for you to use. So you'll be ok using that

 

[Tia]

I took my australian digital nokia with me and it worked superbly in both Las Palmas and St Lucia .. .. no problems and it was not quad band ! only dual

 

[mikebirch]

Cant speak for the rest of the Carib but I just returned from St Lucia and my tri-band Nokia worked fine - not with C&W but there are now other networks there.

 

[jerryat]

Hi! I've had exactly the same problem on my trips to the Caribbean despite having had a tri-band mobile on each occasion. C and W have got the Caribbean 'sewn up' via contract to the exclusion of all others, though this was being challenged by a couple of the island governments when I was last there a couple of years ago.

The C and W people in St Lucia had obviously been asked the question mny times before, and courteously advised me that the only solution was to buy one of their 'phones!! I equally politely declined, and bought 'phone cards for important calls and used the internet for the rest.

Unless, C and W (and their exhorbitant charges) have been booted out or tamed, I think you'll find that no mobile other than 'theirs' (they may, as has been mentioned, be analogue, though C and W didn't confirm that) will work.

You can find find good cheap internet facilities away from the tourist traps and you may care to follow this route instead.

Good luck!

Jerry