TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Verizon phone

Has anybody used Verizon international services .I will be in st Marteen for 5 weeks starting March3 they have two plans for a monthly fee one is $ 70 a month and $130 a month its for talk,text and data .would like a phone when I’m out and about for emergencies.

We have used them in the past. In all honesty we didn't really get our money's worth. We just never used the phone that much. Actually, Verizon has an international plan that only charges you for the days you actually use your phone. I think it's like $10 day. So, if you only intend to use this for emergencies that may be an option. But, if you use the phone daily to call for taxi's, etc. you may be better off with the plans they are offering above,

Don't know about Verizon but someone on the forum has info on someone on island that rents phones for a small fee. I'm sorry but I don't remember the name. Do a search for cell phone rental and something should pop up here if no one answers you.


Or repost with heading: Who rents cell phones on SXM

WOW. That plan used to be 40 a month for calling and texts.

Craig, aka Bob, rents cell phones. Google Packlight SXM for info.

Otherwise, we bought a cell phone that accepts a local SIM card, which we use on island. IF you're going fairly often, or for a long period of time, like this poster, that makes sense.

Yes, the Verizon international plan used to be $40 a month. Then it jumped suddenly to $70 a month. Seems like robbery...

I think I read somewhere that Jeannie of Shop and Drop grocery service is also renting phones.

Seems like some of the rental car companies are getting into the phone rental business also.

We have the Verizon family plan, and verizon told me today that our Galaxy S8's will work fine on our current plan

Yes they will WORK, and it will be roaming, at a cost of something like $2 a minute..

You could also use Viber, it's free voice/text over WiFi, just need to have the person you are calling have the app on their phone also, or if you are on FB,Messenger will do the same. For the most part, WiFi is available in most restaurants and hotels on both sides of the Island. Works great for us.

We use WhatsApp for texting, calling and video calling. Other party needs WhatsApp on their phone. Works with either WiFi or data. Can't beat free.

You sign up for the international plan which is $10 a day in most countries (like 140), the plan is better for Mexico and Canada but cant remember how.
You get like 140 MB of fast data and if go over that they charge another $10. But, you get unlimited calling and messaging as i recall. Check all that but i used it in Germany and Prague last Summer and worked well. Maybe went over once.
Download Google map for St martin to your phone then you can use GPS w/o data use.
If you wait until on WiFi at hotel or wherever to send pics and stuff the 140 mb will last you for quick search’s and such.

Make sure you add the international plan though, if not charged by the second and very expensive. If you don't turn on the phone on cellular/data you aren’t charged that 24 hours.

I have tried them all-whats app, free wi-fi, FB and Google phone. This year being on the island for 5 weeks I stopped at the Texaco gas station in Simpson Bay and bought a SIM card from TelEm. The card is $20 and you get $10 of air time, data etc. I have a local phone # and did a top up for $10 last week. It works great and I emailed the number to family and friends and they are able to phone me at any time. Last year I did the Verizon plan and with limited use I spent $130.00. Very satisfied with my SIM card purchase.

Agree, if more than a week or two buy a SIM card or rent a phone. If only a week $70 is worth it not to have to deal with new phone numbers and the other hassles. Newer Apple phones have 2 sim ability so conceivably would just add the sim and have a phone with 2 numbers. Very nice for people who now carry around 2 phones (work, personal, etc.).

We have an old phone with an island sim card, and it works great for us. However, there is a reason to also sign up for the Verizon International Plan, even if you have an island phone. When we departed in December, our flight was delayed for six hours, causing us to miss our connection and get stranded in Miami for three days. There was no WiFi at the airport at that time (maybe still isn't?), and we were unable to get timely updates on the situation and make alternate travel arrangements for the rest of our trip. Had we had the international plan on our Verizon phones, we would have been able to use that data. We did purchase data for our island phone, but it didn't work, for some reason that I still haven't been able to ascertain.

We have Verizon phones and want them available only for emergency use, because we use WiFi for most needs. I think in 2 weeks we only used them once, so that $10 a day (only if used) option worked fine for us.

Georgia--are you talking about one of Sharon's old flip phones? Ours didn't work at ALL after Irma.

No, I purchased an island sim card a couple of years ago, and put it in an old smartphone I had.

Just back and the Verizon $10 made some sense. IF you didnt use it, you weren't charged the day. That said, there were days I needed it and days I didnt and simply kept the phone in airplane mode.


Paying as you go .....DO NOT DO. I made that mistake once. Then I got buttdialed. The buttdialed led to a 10 minute message of sounds of bing shuffled in a backpacker.. And learned that although the buttdial left a 10 minute message, that I didnt check back until I was in the states, I still got charged for those 10 minutes.. (WTF?!)


All that being said, for a week or 2, Id opt for verizon's $10 a day and keep it in airplane mode, only using wifi. If my office called, I would pick up. Otherwise I could handle email on wifi. For 5-6 weeks, I think a sim card or local phone is more cost effective

Yes, pay as you go can be costly. A few years ago i signed up for a month International plan with verizon for a 10 day trip to Thailand. Well, something went wrong and didn’t work right. I got home and got a bill for $2200. I called Verizon and straightened it out but good example of cost of pay as you go. And most of time there was no service so can’t imagine what bill would have been if there was.

Even if you are renting a phone or buying a SIM card, no harm in signing up for the International plan because costs nothing if don’t use it. And if you accidentally turn on Data while using WiFi at hotel or something cost will be minimal compared to paying for local Data ......

I have an old iPhone 5. Who sells a sim card that will work on the French side? I have looked online with no luck. I realize its an old phone but....

There's Dauphin, Digicell, and Chippie for the French side.

http://www.dauphintelecom.fr/

I have a Verizon plan. On my last trip, I put the phone on airplane mode before landing and set the phone up to only make calls on wifi (no cell towers). I was able to make calls and send texts back to the US at no charge as long as I had wifi. There was a small charge when making local calls (something like 0.99 per minute and only used to make dinner reservations) so it was much cheaper than the $10 per day or monthly international rate. Obvious downside was having to have wifi to make calls but since I was always in my room when calling, this was not an issue for me.

At .99 a minute a 10 min call would be $10.00. Might as well do that 10.00 daily rate.

I can make a dinner reservation on the phone in one minute and most reservations I make online or in person. So I only made 4 or 5 local calls during a two week period. Cost me less than $10 total.

I have a smart phone and use a chippie, but I can no longer check my balance since their site does not work. Anyone know where to check my balance, stateside?

I have checked it stateside. It roams off of T-Mobile. To check the balance does not seem to use much roaming #191# -- you get the balance and expire date. Now a phone call is another story, the screen that I had said the roaming to call SXM was $1.75 per minute.

The buychippie online site is working again to check the expire date, but you could never check the balance from the online site. If you know you balance when you leave the island then it will not change as long as you add to the expire date. I put a $1 on every 60 days.

It works great excellent reception...data not that fast..WiFi whenever you can