I posted on this very same topic, the other day but haven't gotten any feedback yet.

I have T-mobile, and they told me that when I'm in the USVI, I will be on Cingular towers. One person told me it was included in the cost of my nationwide plan and didn't cost extra, but another person told me I'd have to pay for each call, so I'm not sure what to believe.

One thing's for sure, from Cingular's coverage map, it looks like we'll be getting a signal most of the time!

Thanks Lulu. Guess we can only go by what our carriers told us, and Cingular told me it's a freebe; however, someone reading this has had to have had first hand experience and will post a reply.

Yes, we used Cingular & it is free. However, in certain places on STJ you will end up using a BVI tower ( no idea where we were ). Just check your bill and if you have BVI charges, just call them up & explain that you never used the phone in BVI and they will take off the charges.

Yes, if you have the AT&T (no longer called cingular) nationwide plan in the states, calls from the USVI to the US mainland are just like any other calls made from the states. No Long Dsitance or Intl charges.

As others have said, you may get picked up by a BVI tower, which will make it look like you were calling from the BVI, in that case, Intl roaming charges would apply on the next bill. if you call and explain, they'll remove those charges. If he first person you speak with gives you are hard time about, call back and get someone else - or ask for a supervisor.

You can usually tell if you are in the intl roaming zone because the display on your phone will change. Some people have reported that they turn their phone off and back on, and they're back on the US signal. There is also a way to manually lock your phone into US tower, but I forget how and it doesn't matter anyway since you can get the charges adjusted.

I have also read that AT&T will sometimes tell people that the adjustment is a "one time courtesy". Just politely tell them that if it happens again, you'll expect another credit for the charges. Make sure you also get the related taxes and fees adjusted, which might have to be done on the following month's bill.

Been down this road with AT&T (Cingular) more than enough.

Be careful just assuming your carrier will waive the charges. I had a friend with a hefty phone bill after a trip, and her cell phone company would not budge on it.

I have always been told that the display usually has numbers on it and will say something that bears no resemblance to AT&T if you are roaming on a British tower.

Personally, I think I may call them to see about how to manually select a network so I don't make any accidental expensive calls.

I got my bill from last month today.

I have Verizon and I was charged for every call from St John. Looks like it only picked a BVI tower a couple of times. I had two teenagers with me so ended up costing over $150.00 for the week I was there. I did not expect that.

You have been warned!

Ric

Your information is correct. STJ and STT are in the Cingular network. We actually bought a pay as you go Go Phone for our use on STJ (our regular carrier is Verizon). The Go Phone worked out great.

Diana....how much did that cost you from Verizon.

Sounds like a good idea!

I didn't buy the Go Phone from Verizon. (Sorry for the confusion.) I actually bought the Cingular/AT&T phone (Go Phone) at Best Buy but you get get them at other stores. Our local Cingular store suggested we buy the phone at Best Buy because it was cheaper than buying it from them {go figure???}. So we bought the phone and then went back to a local Cingular store and they helped us sign up for the type of plan that we wanted (we chose the one month plan but they also have a by the minute plan). I think we bought the number of calling minutes from them. Anyway it worked out great. My daughter who lives in California did the same thing (her carrier is T-Mobile I think and she wanted to be sure that she would have a working phone while we were in STJ. Hope this clarifies things.

Did she try to use her T-mobile phone? They've assured me that they rent Cingular/AT&T's towers and I'll get coverage (even e-mailed me the link to AT&T's VI coverage map), but I still get nervous because I've traveled with my friend who has Cingular before and she's gotten a signal and I have not.

We have used our Sprint phone on St. Thomas and St. John several times with no additional charges. We are planning a two week trip in Dec./Jan. and plan to use our wireless card to access the Internet and make calls while on St. John. I believe they are still on 3rd generation there, so the service is slower than what we are used to here, but still works to check e-mail.

We used T-Mobile and were covered under the national plan...no charges. I assume they use the ATT towers but it did not cost us additional. Can't get a signal everywhere on STJ but that is due to sight line with the towers.

Verizon Wireless, I think, is a regional carrier, unlike AT&T/Cingular. Verizon, since they are only regional, is likely to charge for calls made from STT/STJ. Hence, docric's experience.

Diana's carrier is Verizon, but I guess she realized that she needed a National carrier in the USVI, to avoid the charges so she bought an AT&T (formerly Cingular) "go phone" (no contract - pay as you use) to be used in the VI.

I have no idea about the T-Mobile deal, but I wonder if "renting the AT&T tower for coverage" means no roaming and no long distance charges. Getting coverage (a signal) is one thing, getting it for FREE is another. If T Mobile "rents" the AT&T towers, who pays for that? What's the charge for a call? Is there any roaming? Is there a long distance charge? Is there a surcharge?

I make no professional claims about any of this. I used to work for AT&T Wireless....and am still in the telecommunications/IT field......but it has been 8 years since I've done wireless. My advice is based on what I know from having a cell phone and traveling to the VI.

We used the go phone from Cingular. It worked great and everything was paid for upfront. They had 2 different plans. One was .$.25/min. the other was $.10/min and a $1 fee each day you used your phone. The actual phone cost $18 and came with $10 in free calling. So I basically spent $18 to be able to call home for the week. You can buy phone cards or call Cingular directly to add more mins. We'll be using the same phone next year just adding minutes before we leave. Good luck. KK

AT&T has a lot more towers than T-mobile. T-mobile often rents towers from AT&T when they don't have their own, but that cost is just their cost of doing business, and the customer never sees it if their plan includes roaming, which mine does. I just wasn't sure how good the coverage really was. Like I said, I've traveled with friends who had Cingular and got a signal when I didn't and allegedly my company has an agreement to use those towers.

It sounds like I'm going to be covered. But because I can't afford a huge phone bill when I get back, I am going to call and double check. I think the only real problem will be if I use it while I'm on Jost. (Although people tell me that you pick up U.S. towers there, if anything...)

My suggestion...

You're on vacation so don't use it. Follow the Corona ads advice and bury the phone. 🙂

Wouldn't that be fantastic in a perfect world?

But this world is not perfect, and I'd have to spend my whole vacation at the Cruz Bay ferry dock if our real estate agent doesn't get a call saying that we've landed ...

Lulu, I don't think my daughter even brought her T-Mobile phone down with her. KK explaned the GoPhone exactly. We did the $1/day and 10 cents a minute plan.

How did we ever manage before the advent of the cell phone?