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1st post here, and yes, I did do a search! Only 2 links came up with neither offering direct info as to where to buy a prepaid phone in St John and the approximate costs. I have Nextel and there's no service there. I need phone usage, ALOT of usage while I'm there for business. We'll be staying at the Westin St John. I just called them and they said the place to get a prepaid phone would ONLY be at the Cingular Store at Crown Bay on St Thomas. So... there are no Cingular locations to buy a prepaid phone or extra prepaid time on St John? It's just that if we don't have time to do it after our plane lands and they pick us up for St John, I'd have to shlep the whole way back to St Thomas just to get the phone the next day.
Is this how people get phone usage in St John that are stuck with stinky, worthless Nextel phones? :o)
Thanks in advance. We are so excited to go to St John. I was there 17 years ago but it was only for 1 day, not overnight. Always wanted to go back to see the pretty beaches. Our 13 year lives for the beach and is very happy to be going. It's her 1st trip out of the continental USA.
Lastly, with 8 nights on the island, is it worth going to Tortola for a day?
Steve R
Silver Spring MD
Try The Mail Center of St John, 340-714-7250. They may be able to refer you to a solution.
If that doesn't work, Genesis Communications in St Thomas, 776-3811, offers temporary cell phones. After you've arranged for the phone, you could have the company, I'll Do It For You, deliver it to you at the airport or Westin's dock. 776-0635. Or maybe one of the services could have the phone delivered/mailed to you at the Westin.
I thought Nextel was now Sprint. Sprint works fine in STT/STJ.
And isn't Cingular now "the new ATT"?
Why can't you buy a prepaid cingular before you go? Cingular - the new ATT&T - works just like it does in US, so a prepaid bought here should work fine in STJ. Remember that in parts of STJ you will connect through BVI cell & be charged for that connection. A call to Cingular explaining that you indeed were not in BVIs will be enough for them to remove those charges. How that works with a prepaid I don't know.
Stever, you should definitely check to see if you can get the pre-paid AT&T (Cingular) phone before you leave. If not, there is an AT&T wireless store right in Crown Bay .....almost right next to the Westing ferry dock/slip in Crown Bay Marina. Their phone number in the VI Phone Book is 340-777-7777.
I mis-spelled WESTIN in my previous post. The Westin ferry dock/slip is in Crown Bay Marina, approximately 5 minute taxi ride from the airport. The AT&T store is next to the slips.
http://www.caribbeans.com/2usvi/3westin/3westin.htm
The Westin St. John offers a ferry service from St Thomas Airport to the hotel. Rates are US$ 75 roundtrip per adult and US$ 55 per child 4-12 years. Guests who reserve the Westin ferry get unlimited trips to and from St Thomas.
We used Cingular (yes, now AT&T) prepaid there a week or so ago. Worked fine. We used on STJ and STT without any roaming charges. We already had these phones. I agree you could potentially get it all set up before you go, both to be sure it works and to avoid burning valuable vacation time trying to buy a phone. You can also just add time via credit card when you get low on time (online or via phone), or if you prefer to actually use a "prepaid card", you could also purchase a spare before you go (use later if you didn't end up needing it).
I bought a Cingular prepay in the States 2 years ago and routinely use it in the USVI, and as the earlier post said refill it by credit card when it notifies me I'm running low. Just a simple Nokia with no bells and whistles. Coverage is very good. And yes, the Cingular store is about 200 feet from where the ferry leaves from Crown Bay to the Westin. Verizon used to have no coverage but recently has had some, but the advantage with Cingular is no roaming fees.
I bought mine at Walmart. It was $18 and came with $10 in "free" calling. It was called pay as you go or something like that. Another poster wrote about this. The phone worked great and you can add minutes whenever you need to using your credit card. We had a calling card too. We used the calling card in the villa and cell phone when we were out and about. It worked great! Good luck. PS AT &T and Cingular are the same thing now.
Thx alot everyone. Just got my phone at Radio Shack for $20 with that free $10 calling card. I am so excited.
Cheers,
Steve R
Does Cingular still charge a dollar a day for usage? I was looking to switch our cell phone sevice to pre-paid last year and the dollar a day charge on top of per minute rate turned me off. Ended up going with T-mobile. Loaded $100 worth of airtime last November and only added another $100 today. Still had $10 worth to go though. Not bad considering we were paying $80 a month before wether we used it or not.
You have a choice with Cingular. You can pay $1for each day you use your phone plus $.10 / min. or $.25 per minute. We just paid the $.25 per min and it worked great.
