TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Cell Phone Usage

Hello Everyone-

I just a quick question on using my cell phone. I plan on using my Verizon Phone cell when we return to St Martin in February 2017.

My question is how do I dial the local number when I am on the island?

For instance, if I need to get a hold of Lesley how do I exactly dial the number. He is what he gave us for numbers. +1.721-520-4103/1-347-468-7171

I seem to struggle with this every year. Thanks in advance.

Information from Trip Advisor

Have you used your Verizon phone on the island in the past? I found that Verizon service wasn't reliable there, and purchased a local sim card for my phone. I find it much easier.

My daughter Has a personal island phone which she uses mostly for convenience while there but she also uses her Verizon phones regularly to stay in touch with her business at home and she has no problems doing so.

She may pay a daily international fee but I'm not certain on that.......perhaps she'll see this and comment.

Now, there is nothing to struggle with on a dutch side number, you just treat it like it's a US long distance number--1 plus 721 plus the number. Just dial those exact numbers that Leseley gave you. EXCEPT that it is still an overseas call, with attending cost of $2-$3 per minute. The other number he gave must be a Skype number or something, as Dutch SXM numbers start with 721. So I would try that second number first, as that probably is not an overseas call.

We have always used our Verizon Phone every year with no problems.

I can purchase a package for $40 from Verizon that basically gives me 100 minutes of calls, 100 text (sending), unlimited text (receiving), and 100 MB of data which has always worked out good for us.

My problem has been figuring out how to dial the number. We make calls from both the French and Dutch side. Our condo is on the French side but we often need to call for our car or condo when we first arrive at the airport

Also when do you need to use the "+" sign?

French numbers, I don't know, I always get confused. Dutch numbers are as I said.

Good to know, perhaps things have changed since I tried to use mine.

As far as dialing from the French side, or even dialing a French number from a Dutch phone, it's very confusing. Even a French friend couldn't figure out how I could dial her number with my Chippie phone (which had the 721 area code).

Good to know I am not the only one who struggles with the calling French numbers.

Dial +590 xxx xxxxxx. It will be +590 590 xxxxxx for a French landline, and +590 690 xxxxxx for a French mobile. That will work on both sides of the island. If the number is listed as 0590 xxxxxx then drop the leading 0 and substitute with +590.

For example, if you wanted to call Il Nettuno, their number might be listed as 0590 877738. Dial +590 590 877738, which will work no matter if you're connected to a French-side carrier or a Dutch-side carrier.

Good explanation....and the "+" is dialed by holding down the "0"

Thanks for the help. That makes good sense. I will try is out on our next visit.

On Lesley's phone numbers, the area code 347 listed is a New York City (Flushing, Jamaica, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Bronx and Queens) number, so should be included as free with your US based cell phone.

I am from Canada....

In my experience on Verizon with an iPhone is to use the + sign in all calls. The plus sign automatically uses the country exit code.