Cell phone usage for USA and "maybe" Caribbean

[TQA]

We could not use the call forwarding option as we did not have a contract phone in the USA. Having an island sim in one phone at all times allowed us to get incoming calls from the UK and Europe without a problem. Then the other phone with it's local sim was used for outgoing calls.

Basic phones are about $40 US

I am not sure of my facts on this topic and things keep changing but believe that roaming charges in islands like St Lucia can be 5 to 10 times higher than the costs of calls made with the local sim.

[Paddyd]

I am a cell phone manufacturer ,1st buy a cheap 25dollar phone that has multiple sims card slots , GSM quad band .
once you get in the area you are staying at purchase a pay as you go sim card or oay as you use .
I have 4 slots in my phones , I put all 4 sim cards in my phone .... for the usa , mexico china and Costa rica [China and Costa rica are pay as you go cards ]
Buy GSM phone quad band phone ,this is important buy a quad band phone!!!!!not just a GSM phone ,they are cheaper than cdma or wcdma and can be used anywhere .....

[TQA]

Originally Posted by Paddyd

I am a cell phone manufacturer ,1st buy a cheap 25dollar phone that has multiple sims card slots , GSM quad band .
.....

Can you give a specific make/model of phone and a supplier please.

[F15EWSO]

Originally Posted by Paddyd

I am a cell phone manufacturer ,1st buy a cheap 25dollar phone that has multiple sims card slots , GSM quad band .
once you get in the area you are staying at purchase a pay as you go sim card or oay as you use .
I have 4 slots in my phones , I put all 4 sim cards in my phone .... for the usa , mexico china and Costa rica [China and Costa rica are pay as you go cards ]
Buy GSM phone quad band phone ,this is important buy a quad band phone!!!!!not just a GSM phone ,they are cheaper than cdma or wcdma and can be used anywhere .....

You sound very adamant about this and I appreciate your enthusiasm. As mentioned above can you offer a few brands that meet this criteria?

[hellosailor]

f15, do a web search for "4 sim cell phone" and you'll get a horde of hits from alibaba and a dozen companies from Shenzhen (surprised?) that all sell for $25-40. How good they are and whether a US carrier will provision them, prepaid or otherwise, is a whole other question. And that's mostly "2g" voice phones, nothing fancy.

[F15EWSO]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

f15, do a web search for "4 sim cell phone" and you'll get a horde of hits from alibaba and a dozen companies from Shenzhen (surprised?) that all sell for $25-40. How good they are and whether a US carrier will provision them, prepaid or otherwise, is a whole other question. And that's mostly "2g" voice phones, nothing fancy.

Got it, buyer beware but that's fine. Been in 3rd worlds countries so you get what you get and 2 G will be fine.

THanks

[Paddyd]

F15 ,

go to Amigo Movil SA. LLC
you need a basic phone for your plans right?
calls and texts only ?
one you can plug a sims card into and use ?
call 409-457-2049 tomorrow around 12

tks Paddy

[beachbm61]

In prep to go back to they western carib I attempted to get our old nokia unlocked in Clearwater, Fl. The shop said it would be $75, and three weeks. Ended taking locked phone on trip, had it unlocked in Roatan for $5, in about 10 minutes. I now have a Nokia, unlocked, quad band, model 2700-c2, which I purchased off Amazon for $80. We carried sim cards for each country/cell provider. Some prepaid and some pay as you go. The phone works fine when back home in Clearwater with ATT sim on contract.

[sww914]

Not in the Caribbean, but we bought a prepaid $17.00 phone here in Mexico and it's great. It came with 100 pesos credit on it too. ($7.50)

[sck5]

check out Telestial on the internet (just google it). They have an excellent primer on cell phones abroad and also sell unlocked tri-band cell phones that will work in any country overseas. I got one of their cheaper models and got sim cards in the various islands I went to for 10-15 bucks. Worked great until I dropped it in the water.