Easiest way is going to be getting an AT&T go phone BEFORE you leave the states...AT&T is just like a domestic carrier here and is part of their US coverage zone.

Has anyone had any experience with Verizon cell phone usage on St. John? Does it work and are there roaming charges?

Forget about Verizon--$1.99 per minute voice and charge for data. I think texting is .25 per--bottom line, you use Verizon here and you'll be paying out the nose--all roaming in the VI

Thanks ventogt! That is good to know. I will be leaving my cell phone at home. Guess we will just have to give our families the phone number of where we will be staying. It will be nice to forget about technology for a week. 🙂

Hello...okay, this really interests me. So you are saying that if we have an AT & T Go Phone, there will be no roaming charges for that phone, at all, regardless if we are calling numbers back in the states or local VI numbers? I'll be anxiously awaiting replies. Thanks...

Long distance between the VI and, Virginia, for example, is just the same as between Illinois and Virginia. No roaming.

Yep, just a different area code, like dialing a different area code from your cell phone now--so long as it's not international you're fine!

AT&T nationwide plans includes Puerto Rico, and their outlying islands, and the four separate U.S. Virgin Islands within the coverage area along with all the individual States. Roaming is charged only for International calls such as to/from the British Virgin Islands.

Rocky Dock
Water Island

Virgin Mobile also works fine in the islands; just like in the states.

We have Verizon phones and travel to the USVI and BVI's every year. Verizon offers a package for $45.00 for the month that allows you to use your phone in both places and you don't get any roaming/texting extra charges. We always take the $45.00 plan for the month we are there and then we return to Vermont we cancel the plan. We've never had any addition fees applied aside from the $45.00 and we can send pictures, texts and make calls no problem. Your other option would be to stop on STT and buy a disposable phone w/ prepaid minutes. We looked into that and almost did it until we found out about Verizon's "Caribbean" package. We were told that if you buy the phone on the U.S. Mainland in may not work in the USVI's and where advised to buy them there. They cost around $50.00 bucks each and you can only make calls to anywhere in U.S. which includes STT and STJ as well as the mainland, put no texting or pictures can be used! Hope this helps.

pretty sure that sprint works the same as att down there (considered nationwide plan) but not sure which gets better service. also if you have an ipad or laptop w/camera that you can video skype home with it is free. otherwise you can phone skype home through ipad/laptop by purchasing minutes and you can call home and/or cellphones through it. apple products can facetime too

Sprint.
Works very well. No roaming or "long distance" charges.
BUT: 1) Be careful some spots on the STJ north shore, pick up the BVI tower, which is different... Just check the display before dialing/sending. 2) If you call sprint or 411 the operator greats you in spanish first, just speak English, they'll code switch..

Thank you very much for your help. I purchased two cheap ($9.99 each) AT & T Go Phones at Best Buy, then I bought two cards of refillable minutes for $15.00 apiece which will last us for 7 days. They double-checked coverage in the USVI and assured me that there will be coverage and we will have unlimited calls and texting while there. I so appreciate your willingness to assist me in this!

As previously mentioned, make sure that you have an AT&T signal before using your phone. Areas such as Coral Bay, East End, and John's Folly Bay can pick up British towers and cruise ships. We have had bills of $2000 and $3000. AT&T did take most of this off, but it was a struggle and took a long time to get it handled.

Please post after your trip and let us know how these phones worked out for you. We are traveling to STT and STJ in January and are thinking of doing the same exact thing you are doing. Thanks!

i just returned from stt and i am a sprint customer. i had no problems using my phone while in stt. there were a few places in st. john where i didn't get any reception.

puerto rico and the usvi are included in the nationwide plan. only charges i incurred were for calls and texts to the bvi.

As stated above, look for the AT&T symbol on your phone. If you see LIME (BVI network)- turn it off!

Hello...we are back from our first trip to the USVI and I have to tell you, it's a spectacular vacation spot. Every day was perfect. We kept asking ourselves if we were really there because the views are breathtaking, especially on St John, where we stayed, but also the west and north shore of St Thomas. I have a new favorite drink...the Bushwhacker...and brought home the liquors to make it here. 🙂
I'm reporting on our cell phone coverage with our AT&T Go Phones. We were VERY pleased with they way they worked. I think we had coverage every time we needed it and they were used on St Thomas, St John, St Croix and Water Island. I bought cheap little $9.99 phones at Best Buy, along with the refillable $15 minute cards. That card deducts $2.00/day if you use the phone on that day. The rest of the day, you have unlimited calling and texting...so we had 7 days of use (with one dollar left over on our plan) and spent $25.00/per phone. AT&T treats the USVI's like continental USA, so there were no roaming charges. I was told that the phones will not work unless you are using an AT&T tower...they will not roam on other towers, so we never had a problem with the British VI networks. A couple of warnings that you may or may not be told by people at Best Buy. Do not activate the phones until you are close to departure because there is something like 31 days of use, at least with the minute plan we bought. Also, you need to use AT&T towers to activate your phones, so I had to wait until we got to Denver the night before flying out because there are no AT&T towers near our home. The activation code needs a zipcode of wherever you are going to be spending the most time...so I used St John's zip in ours. My first call was made as soon as we landed on St Thomas, still on the plane, to let our 5 year old granddaughter know we had "flown across the ocean" safely. 🙂