Using Verizon, if you can get a signal, will cost you .69 a minute.

Last time we bought a Spring Calling Card. Best thing we ever did. Not only did it work great, if I talked for ONE minute, ONE minute was taken off the card, no more. Now, we called from the Villa, so the 800 number we had to call was not a problem. From what I can understand, and what it says on the card, if you call from a payphone, or if you're staying at a hotel, more minutes will be taken off. How much I don't know because of staying in the Villa.

I bought a 20.00 Spring card and I still have over 300 minutes left on it. It saved me over 100.00 because the last time I was in STT, my cell phone for the week was 120.00. I still carried my cell phone because of emergencies or for calling other people in my party (which didn't happen), but at least I had that security with me at all times.

Hope this helps!

Sorry, meant to type SPRINT card.

Thank you for letting me know...I'll take care of that tomorrow as we leave on Sunday!
Leslee

you may want to consider going to ATT or Sprint and get a disposable phone
ATT on STT and STJ north side you get a great signal
About Maho on STJ it switches over to Tortola
However when you call ATT they fix right away - no charge

I am pretty sure you can get the throw away phones with 2 or 3 hours of time from ATT
Then all is good

My husband and I just got back from St. Thomas. He had called Verizon to put our phones on an international plan, but he never had service and I only had it in spurts while on STT. I'm not too sure about St. John because we were only there for a day, but I do know my mom's ATT phone worked all the time with no trouble.

Verizon not here, period! Sprint good, ATT good but watch out for any roaming charges if you get hooked up with a BVI tower. Cheers!

Yes when you stay at hotels or villas, more minutes will be deducted from your calling card.

I was just there for a pre move visit and I have verizon, its $1.99 roaming for verizon, so I went to the local radio shack and bought a prepaid virgin mobile phone, the phone was $20 and I bought 1000 minutes for $50 but you can buy less. This phone also works stateside so you won't lose the minutes you buy.
Have fun on your trip!

snglgirl...that surprises me about 1.99 roaming charge because I've seen alot of posts on different forums and verizon customers agree that it's .69 roamin??

Thank you all for replying! I really appreciate it!
Leslee

Connie I have verizon and I know what my bill is, the rates just went up to $1.99/minute roaming. Maybe those other folks haven't used theirs recently on roam and don't realize the rates went up. If you still don't believe me check the verizon website.

snglgirl, i believe you. We were just there in May and before we left, we checked and at that time it was still .69 per minute roaming. 1.99 is a big jump, but then again, everything is going up.

Yes, it was a big jump ,really ridiculous actually,and thats why I chose to buy a prepaid while there, more cost effective and I can still use it in the states.

" LOCAL Radio Shack " meaning in the VI local or stateside local?? Thanks.

I went to the Virgin islands radio shack, they were very helpful there, I was on STX.

I just took a look at the new roaming charges from Verizon, and I can't believe what a rip off it is. Early May .69 cents and now 1.99? I'm wondering why it went up almost 300%???? Now I know that I won't use my phone in the islands anymore.

Time to get AT&T if you're going to be going to the VI often. I couldn't be happier with the change that I made.

Connie, Its crazy isn't it? If I hadn't just renewed my contract I would change carriers but I'm stuck, I'll be using my prepaid in the islands.