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

In prior trips to St. Martin we have rented a cell phone from the Queen of SXM. That no longer seems to be an option.
Anyone have any suggestions about where we can rent a phone?
We will be staying on the French side, if that matters, and only plan on using the phone for local calls and/or emergencies.

Thanks,

I believe Jeannie from Shop and Drop does. I think she bought Sharon's inventory.

SHOP N DROP CELL PHONE RENTAL

Assuming Jeannie is still doing this.

Some rental car agencies rents phones as well.

I believe it has been posted here that Jeannie no longer is doing cell phone rentals. You can check with Bob/Craig at Packlight, but not sure he still does them either.

I will say that, depending on where you stay on the French side, a Dutch side cell phone may not work very well. We stayed at a villa close to Grand Case in June this year and our Dutch side cell phone basically did NOT work there, unless it was connected by roaming with Anguilla..

I think the last time I recommended Bob/Craig he wasn't doing it either. But don't quote me on that....it may have been a stroller.

Have you considered buying a SIM card?

I wasn't sure but it was still listed on her site.

I always rented from Sharon. Long Live the Queen. When we were on island this year though....we did what I never thought was possible. We now have T Mobile for our cell phone use....and added for the weeks we were on island, their international plan. I think it was fifteen dollars plus a couple of fees added on. It included all calls from SXM to the states on a landline. This worked perfect for my ninety six year old mom...so i was able to keep in touch with her. A few cell to cell calls cost a couple fo bucks extra...but very minimal. A lot of our other calls were made on WhatsApp, which i never heard of before this trip. It is wi fi calling from cell to any phone in the world....even with video...over the web. I used it often, at LaPlage during the evenings.....I did have the internet plan there. As for the French side...i don't think that whats app would make any difference where it is.....IF you are near a wi fi signal. In other words....maybe check with your current carrier. I really was amazed at how cheap i got away with this year for all my cell phone needsf. It also was convenient carrying my own phone with me...with my handy dandy built in camera. Didn't miss too many moments on film.

Cellphone rental is no longer as necessary as it used to be. I think that both ATT and Verizon offer $10/day plans, which will only apply on the days which you power-up your phone and use it. I have different needs, and use the older ATT Passport program, which fits better with my extended stays (looking at 28 days on my upcoming inter-island trip).

Consider this - if there was a good profit margin in providing a cellphone rental service then someone would. And they would advertise it. Can you hear the Silence?

For the $10/day plans, turn your phone off if you don't need it. Keep it in Airplane Mode and use Wi-Fi if it is available, as Wi-Fi more widely is. Turn on Cellular Roaming only if you need to.

WiFi calling, at least with AT&T, also works from SXM without triggering the international day pass.

As of last March, neither Packlite nor Jeannie/ShopnDrop were renting cell phones. in other posts there have been discussions of buying an SXM sim card. Not sure how that works.

Whatsapp is great. We use it all the time to call or text our friends in St Maarten. Lots of restaurants use it and we make our reservations while on island using Whatsapp. too.

If your phone is unlocked just buy a Chippie Sim Card its the best way to go !!!

They will be on the French side, so perhaps Orange or Dauphin. They offer roaming without surcharges in the Dutchpart through TelCell (or at least they did.)

Thanks for the great information. It sounds like Whatsapp maybe all that I need while on the island.

We used our Verizon phone in August and traveled on Dutch and French side with no problems. We also stayed in the same villa Carol did and had no problem at all. It was $10 per day only on days you use it.

Keep in mind that Whatsapp has to be on the recipients phone too to receive a text or call.

At&t worked great for us, $10.00 a day and no charge if u dont use it.

We use Chippie on both the French and Dutch side with no issues (we stay in orient Bay Village). We found Chippie was cheaper than Dauphin. My suggestion is to get a Dutch side SIM card (Chippie offers both French side and Dutch side numbers) if you are used to the Noth American dialing system.