TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Canadians - phone plans.

Hello all,,,this is directed to any Canadians that travel to SXM and the plans for using your cells while there. Previously when going to either Myrtle beach or SXM, I would call "Bell Canada" and add the 30 dollar charge for unlimited text and a few minutes of calling. I never paid data, as I would only use it when there was wifi. However.....when I called today to Bell Canada they advise it is now 60.00 travel plan they call it. What?? it doubled in a year.....just curious what other Canadians do for cell usage...I do need to communicate with dog sitter at home, etc. so not sure what to do. Maybe, just maybe,,,get rid of Bell Canada!!!! And, also, when on the topic,,,how is wifi on island, i.e. Royal Palm for instance, I have heard it's sketchy?? As per usual,,,thanks in advance for any info...the countdown is really on now,,,arriving on Jan 7

Your best plan is to rent a cell phone from Sharon Harris Queen of SXM. Her store is right at the Royal Palm and her service is excellent. ONLY about $10 a week to rent and calls to Canada very inexpensive. GO to sponsor section here and contact Sharon. You could also get an unlocked phone and purchase a sim card from Sharon. I highly recommend Sharon for all your cell phone needs.

More like 20.00 a week plus time charges to load phone.
https://queenofsxm.com/page9.php

Since we always rented for several weeks, I guess I was thinking of $10 for additional weeks. In any case, it is very reasonable.When the Op checks it out, she will see the correct information for herself.

Hi, Meg,

I agree with Island Gem - Sharon is definitely the best way for a once a year visitor to go - and $20 or $10 - it's still a great deal. You will have your island phone number before you leave from Canada so you can let your dog sitter have it, but do caution her that it's quite expensive for the occasional caller to call SXM unless there's a real need to. Much more reasonable for you to call her....

And besides all that, Sharon is a peach to do business with. She's located at the Royal Palm so her service couldn't be anymore convenient for you. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

As others said, just go with Sharon for the phone. As far as internet at Royal Palm, it's good for checking email, but usually slow. But if you are in fact on the second floor immediately above the lobby, you should actually have pretty good service there, as the lobby has really good internet connection there. Many people sit in the lobby to access the internet.

Have fun! Wish I was going in a week!

responses are good, but what about texting? is that possible or do all calls have to be actual phone calls? And,,no comments on wifi on island,,,if I remember correctly, it was kinda sketchy These younger people now a days hardly ever respond to a call,,,,only text. I don't like it, but it is a fact.

Also Canadian.....When we used Sharon we had our family text us and then we called them back.....found this less expensive
We now use Virgin Mobile $40.00 per month---husband needs to keep his number for business. We too had many problems with Bell!!!!

It is not so much about wifi ON the island but where you are located on the island or within a resort. 2nd floor at Royal Palm (as Carol said) should be decent. If not, go down one floor to the lobby and access wifi there. As far as texting, I don't do it so I can't comment.

You can use Sharon's phones for texting and I responded to your question about internet.

Sharon, as was mentioned, is great if you have to be able to receive calls. We have used her when a relative was ill and needed to be contacted in an emergency.

If just dialing home to check on things then just put Skype on your phone and use wifi...assuming the wifi is reasonable. Phone is kept on airplane mode from the first step onto the plane until we get back home. WiFi turned on when at the resort (or wherever has wifi). Costs around 3 cents (US) a minute for most calls back home or international calls in country. Outgoing SMS texts work fine also.

When traveling by car in Europe we do sign up for the daily (Verizon) plan because there would be issues while driving to the rental (no wifi). But when we get to the destination it goes back into airplane/wifi mode and Skype.

...and a lot of the increased cost of the Bell monthly plan might be due to the exchange rate changes. The US (Verizon) plan is $40 which IS around $54 CAD so pretty close

My daughter used the Verizon plan this last Xmas week in SXM. Worked flawlessly along with the wifi at the Flamingo. She would call us or face time us and there was no delay what so ever.

We are on Rogers, and there is a plan available from them, like the Bell plan, but we find it easier to buy a Chippie SIM card as we have unlocked phones.

What type phone (iphone or android) do you have and where on the island do you stay? And do you need people to be able to call you or do you just call out?

We mostly use data and make calls using Hangouts from our android phone (over data) as there is no charge when in wifi range. We also use NextPlus for texting - it gives a local Canadian number so people back home can text you without charges.

We stay on the French side (orient bay). For next year, I will be looking into the Orange hotspot plan. It seems to offer data all around Orient Bay and may be cheaper than a chippie plan. I only found out about Orange Hot Spots when the Internet was out all over the island and Orange was the only way to get online for a while.

Are you referring to the Verizon $10 daily plan?
If so, do you know about how the charges work if you cross between the french and dutch side in a given day?
Is it just the $10 daily for the island of St. Maarten/ St. Martin as a collective. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Joy.gif" alt="" />
OR
Verizon regards the island as 2 different countries, Thus charging 10x2 if you cross from one side to the other. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />
Thanks
Nick

I am not familiar with "hangouts" or Nextplus? I have a blackberry priv, so it is an android. I am sure the phone has features I dont use, lol....but damn, does it take good pictures. I will see what I can figure out. We are staying at the Royal Palm on the Dutch side, we always stay on Dutch side.

sorry Carol, i see your comments re wifi,,,thank you...I overlooked them before.

if you have an iPhone and the recipient also has an iPhone you can send iMessages(texts) over wifi. But turn off "Send as SMS" and "MMS Messaging" in Settings under Messages. remember to turn on when you get home.

Virgin Mobile works in SXM??

That question came up on another thread. Verizon lists SXM as two different countries so it is possible to be charged $10 twice for the same day...but...a couple of posters stated that they were only charged once per day but used the product on both sides.

Personally i wouldn't risk it on SXM....anywhere else it works great (and only 2 bucks in Canada/Mexico)

Safer just to go for the monthly international plan

I agree,,,we have decided to pay the 60 dollars for one phone only,,,giving us all the data we want, quite a few minutes for regular calling and of course we will turn on wifi where available. I need to receive emails on a regular basis and text home whenever,,,it also gives unlimited text. as recent as last April,,,60 dollars with Bell gave the same privileges on 2 phones! AFter yet another experience with Bell Canada, we will be looking to find another provider in the future. They should realize they are no longer the "only" provider!

Not entirely positive but I think Virgin Mobile is owned by Bell. We have Virgin and always bought the talk and text plan only as we have great internet where we stay. Not happy that we now have to pay $60 in order to get Data as well. We purchased the coverage for our recent cruise and were never able to connect but received a notice part way through that we had used all of our data. Consequently I will be spending time this afternoon disputing some charges.

We used Verizon last year for trip across Europe. It was just one daily fee. You only had to power off/on the phone when in a different country. Verizon needs to know the countries you will be traveling/using your phone.

Correct..one daily fee per country but in SXm that could be two per day and that was the issue

For us it was one daily charge. Not per country. But all wireless companies change their plans/rates based on the change of weather.

Hmmm...that would confirm the poster from an earlier post that said he used his phone on both sides (of SXM) with one charge...

Needs some research...(or someone with guts to try it out <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />)

Edited to add:

Bingo!

Why do you have to turn off "Send as SMS" and "MMS Messaging" when sending iMessages from SXM iPhone to iPhone over wifi?

For what it is worth I have an Iphone and a Rogers plan...they have a Roam like Home feature...you get all the same things as you do when you are in Canada and it is $10/day when you use it....hence that is unlimited data/text/phone for $10...do not necessarily use it every day.

Sounds like the Verizon plan...if it is the same they will text you when your 24 hour period is almost over so you can get in any messages you can....it is for a 24 hour period not daily...

Bell has the same thing,,,but for 7 days, it's 70 bucks,,,so you get the same thing on Travel 1 pass,,,it's for a month but for 60.00....how stupid is that! Guess it's ok for people who take extended vacays,,,but a lot of people can only get away for a week. I am seriously going to look for another provider besides Bell when I return. For now, I have to suck it up.....buttercup.....lol <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />

It's intended for those who do not need daily calls/texts while on vacay...yes it would not be smart to use it for 7 days...

Vacay for a week? two days of unlimited calls and texts works..$20

We have an island phone with a number from Dauphin.We put $$ on for local and long distance and costs $10 to 20 a year for two months of usage.We keep our same number. It saves using iPhone on beach plus no big deal if stolen.

Just following up, We tried the Orange hot spot for a day. Our experience was not good. It was okay the day the internet from everyone else didn't work, but I would not use it in any other case. It was very, very slow.