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GSM PHONES |
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| Digicel
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GSM phones
are now widely
available in the Caribbean and work well on yachts. With a GRSM enabled
phone or PCMIA slot aerial card, you can use this system for both phone
calls and internet connection. Any yachtsperson can own one of these for a
minimal investment and have a phone on board. Overseas calls are, by
international standards, reasonable (Antigua excepted). For those going on
holiday and wishing to stay in touch with home or office. This is a good
way to way to go.
The range is about 20 miles offshore and in many cases the phones work seamlessly as you sail through the islands. If you start with an unlocked GSM phone you can just buy SIMS as you need them, they cost about $10 US. To buy a SIM you will need some form of identification. Some people may want to see a receipt or some evidence you did not steal your phone. If cost is a consideration, Antigua SIM call rates are higher than most other islands. You can buy a phone locally, but it will usually be locked to the phone company you buy it from. You need to make sure it will at least roam and accept the same company's SIMS throughout their range. This is not automatic. I had a Grenada Cable and Wireless phone that roamed but was locked to Grenada Cable and Wireless, so I could not replace the SIM with a Cable and Wireless SIM from another island. You can store numbers in your GSM phone either in the phone itself or on the SIM card. Selection is normally through the contacts setup menu. If you are going to be changing SIMS, store valuable numbers in the phone, not on the SIM. (This works very well till you you flood the phone but manage to save the sim at which point you will wish you had done the other!). I notice on the internet now you can buy a program so you can back up your sim phone infomation. Here is one site selling such devices If you own a GSM phone, you can pick up a new SIM card in the islands for about $10 US. If you need to buy a phone prices vary widely, but you should be able to find a phone for around $100US. The SIM becomes defunct if you do not use the phone for about 6 months. Since I first wrote this, roaming has become much easier. In many of the islands you will do fine with Digicel or Cable and Wireless (Bfree) mobile. Digicell works exceptionally well in the Windwards (St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada and Barbados). There are no roaming charges within this group. Digicel cards also appear to work throughout the islands. Cable and Wireless is a bit more complicated because each island seems to work as an independent company. Phone cards are not interchangeable, but they have numerous shops where you just take your phone in, and it will be recharged online. This works very well. Roaming charges vary a lot. They can be very expensive, but there has also been a tendency to lower them, so you have to check on the current rates. With the exception of the Digicel and the Windwards (mentioned above) you can expect to pay roaming whenever you leave the island your phone comes from. With roaming charges 0.25 US cents a call on up (and sometimes charges on incoming calls) it often pays to change sims as you change countries. This is not difficult or expensive, but it does change your phone number. Antigua has such high phone charges that it sometimes does not pay to change your sim when you get there. Cable & Wireless (Bfree) and Digicell work well through the English-speaking islands and can sometimes roam in the French and Dutch islands. If you are spending time in the French and Dutch islands it may pay to get a local phone. Cart Orange works well in all French territories and also Dominica. Their French cards are all interchangeable, the Dominica ones are not. In the Dutch islands Telcel or UTS phones work well throughout as do the cards. If you are hanging out in Trinidad TSTT works well. Internet Connection You can use GRSM enabled phones or PCMIA-GRSM PCMIA aerial cards to do internet from your boat. The PCMIA cards sell for about $1000 EC in the islands, they are considerably less expensive in the US (about $260US). The service is somewhat slow, but faster than SSB-type systems and adequate for sending and receiving text emails, even long ones, and small photos. For internet, I have used a Digicel PCMIA (Sony Ericsson GC 75) card with great success in the islands where they operate. They charge a monthly fee, which they can take from your credit card. Roaming charges apply in all the islands except the one where you bought your card, which can make it quite expensive. Although Digicel can offer this service, I think it is kept up mainly for old Cingular One customers (they took over Cingular One). I have now given up using the PCMIA card - the companies at the moment are not that interested in providing the service, and wifi has become better. At some point we will go onto high-speed GRSM access at which point this situation will change.
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