different cell phone rules for extranjeros?

pernizzo

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Aug 10, 2010
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my wife and i are living here (in santo domingo) for the next 2 years, and we went to get her a cheap cell to use while here. tried to sign up with orange for a 18-month contract of 300 minutes a month, were told that because we were extranjeros we had to sign up for (what i thought i heard was) a "quinientos minutos" plan, but now we only have 50 minutes available on her phone. while it is possible that i misunderstood, it's not likely. my wife and i both speak spanish very well.

have any of you heard of foreigners only being able to get very limited cell plans? i need a phone too, and would like to get a plan with 500 minutes, minimensajes, and data included for my iphone... anyone know if that is possible?
 
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johnny

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Feb 8, 2003
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kind of strange, never heard of different plans for foreigns.
I dont understand also how does she know she has 50 mins available (just prepaid can)
560 mins plans in Claro is good if you need to make lot of calls.
this is the plan I have and pay around 1700 plus tax. if you have BB or Iphone you need to pay extra for internet data. I pay 995.00pesos for BB full data service.
 

pernizzo

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Aug 10, 2010
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in one of the menus, she can get a text with how many minutes she has left... i guess we just need to go to an orange office (not a tienda) and see what's up. just don't want to deal with that since our car isn't here yet and i have a 2-year-old in tow.
 
Feb 7, 2007
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As a foreigner without residency and credit history you will not get "open" plan. You can get semi-prepaid (Orange Flex or Claro Control) which give you minutes for virtually the same rates as open plans, but you have to prepay instead of postpay. Also, open plans will give you "open" access if you go over the minutes, semi-prepaid plans will cut you once you reach all the minutes in the plan. You will have to enter the preiad card after that, but the additional minutes deducted form the prepaid card will be at the same rate as the in-plan minutes, vs pure prepaid plans in which you just enter the prepaidcard and call for about RD$10 per minute.

Semi-prepaid plans have minutes as low as 3 pesos per minute + taxes.

You will NOT get open postpaid plan as a foreigner with no credit history. It took me 2 and 1/2 years of huge semi-prepaid usage to get approved for postpaid with Orange. Now two years later I am in charge of corporate plan (fleet) for my company where my own lines has 1000 minutes and is open to additional usage, my rate is RD$1.250 + taxes for the 1000 minutes and additional minutes are as low as RD$1.50 per minute + taxes. Unlimited in-fleet calling, of course. I still do not have credit history in the DR (never took a loan or credit) but now I DO have history with Orange.
 
Feb 7, 2007
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were told that because we were extranjeros we had to sign up for (what i thought i heard was) a "quinientos minutos" plan, but now we only have 50 minutes available on her phone.

Two possibilities.

I.
You signed up for a plan on around the 12th or 27th of the month. Your available minutes will be "pro-rated" until the cut off billing cycle. For personal lines, there are two billing cycles, I think, on the 16th and on the 1st of month. Once new billing cycle starts, you will be given full amount of minutes.

II.
You signed up for Orange Flex Annual, which you pay a full year in advance and they will give you 50 minutes every month.
Orange Dominicana ? - Orange flex anual

Best for you is to check the contract (the white computer printed sheet) with your PIN number and the phone number, there it should say the plan name. If you have regular semi-prepaid plan with 500 minutes it would say Orange Flex 500. If you have annual plan it would say Orange Flex Annual 50.

One more thing, it's BS you cannot get 150 or 300 minute plan. Mentira. But now you are stuck with this plan ... Orange has NOOO considerations (I know it from my own experience where they screwed up on my fleet and would not reimburse me/forgive the costs incurred).
 

pernizzo

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Aug 10, 2010
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we signed up on 6 Aug. We had all of 3 minutes until the 8th, when we got the 50 we see now. it's not that huge of a deal for my wife, fwiw, she has a phone in her office. but i want to be able to have a decent cell plan with data, etc. because my son and i will be doing some exploring of the island.

i think i'll go to the orange store off of lincoln and talk with someone there. explain our situation, etc. and see what they can do for me.
 

Acira

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Sep 20, 2009
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Max with Claro is 160 minutes and unlimited data without a credit check.
Rest of the minutes you have to buy either through going to an office and load the cell phone or through buying cards.
 

belgiank

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Jun 13, 2009
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and they told us that if we paid this plan correctly for about 6 months, we could upgrade without problems... but I can't guarantee this info...
 
I opened a monthly plan on claro several months back, They would not give me their best plans as I have no Cedula and no credit history in the DR. I was told that after 3 months I could upgrade my plan if I paid my bill on time for first 3 months. I now have the plan I wanted in just a few months. You have to establish yourself before they will open doors for you. At least at claro.
 

MikeFisher

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Feb 28, 2006
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kind of strange, never heard of different plans for foreigns.
I dont understand also how does she know she has 50 mins available (just prepaid can)
560 mins plans in Claro is good if you need to make lot of calls.
this is the plan I have and pay around 1700 plus tax. if you have BB or Iphone you need to pay extra for internet data. I pay 995.00pesos for BB full data service.

it is available at Orange, Johnny,
I have for each of the Boys a 50 minutes per month Plan, 376.- Pesos per Month each.
Mike
 

Eddy

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Jan 1, 2002
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I opened a monthly plan on claro several months back, They would not give me their best plans as I have no Cedula and no credit history in the DR. I was told that after 3 months I could upgrade my plan if I paid my bill on time for first 3 months. I now have the plan I wanted in just a few months. You have to establish yourself before they will open doors for you. At least at claro.

Claro, even if expensive, IMHO are better than Orange. I have 3 Claro phones and wouldn't touch Orange.
 

belgiank

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Jun 13, 2009
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Orange here has perfect and constant reception... when their 3G plan kicks in here... I will definitely look into it... to be honest, Claro sucks here...
 

AlterEgo

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Jan 9, 2009
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Claro, even if expensive, IMHO are better than Orange. I have 3 Claro phones and wouldn't touch Orange.

It depends where you are in the country. We've run into so many problems that for the past several years my husband and I get different carriers for our phones, so if one has poor service the other hopefully works. So far so good

AE
 
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MikeFisher

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Feb 28, 2006
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It depends where you are in the country. We've run into so many problems that for the past several years my husband and I get different carriers for our phones, so if one has poor service the other hopefully works. So far so good

AE

exactly that.
my own plan is a 1250 per month Billed Plan from Claro.
the Boys cellphones are from Orange and the wife's plan is from Orange.
if one fails hopefully the other works.
usually we have here on thhe East for both 1005 full coverage in thhe whole area.
in case of the Plans and Customer ""Service"" I like Claro over Orange, even thhat Claro at Times can suck a lot, too, lol.
Mike
 

Bob K

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Aug 16, 2004
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So 4 years ago i went to get an orange plan. I was told i needed three months of a credit card history here. So off to the bank and got a card. I used it once a month for three months and returned. No problem, howver it took them a month to appove it then they denied it because i did not have three months of credit history. So off to the bank for the latest months bill and submitted it. Got the plan a week later. When the bill came due I went to the Orange store (Sosua where the plan was initiated) and was told, "sorry we don't take credit cards". You got to love it.

Bob K
 

MikeFisher

The Fisherman/Weather Mod
Feb 28, 2006
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ha ha ha,
great Bob, that's what people call the Island's logic way, lol.
my plan been hassle free but since a long while ago,
I have the same Claro number since much over 10 years now, I started with a small amount minutes plan and over the years they always added and still add additional minutes and services at no extra costs, so the plan grew during over a decade to a big one.
I firstly bought the cellphone on a Dominican partner's name, we've been told when the plan is min 3 months old and I bring the bills/payment receipts that proof that I paid the Bills, then I can switch the same number and plan from his name into My name. that proof of payment been easy, we had back in the day only one spot here in bavaro where we could pay the services, so they knew me anyways due my monthly appearance to pay the Bill every month, plus our office phone Bills.
so around 6 months later I asked about the name change and there been no problem, since then the phonenumber is in my name.
if you have a legal Residency status as a permanent resident in the Country, just snip them your cedula and you should get a Plan, but it been a 3 or even 4 years ago that I took the Orange Plan for the Mrs that way, she had a simple Claro prepaid phone the time til then, but for trouble with the local Tower here we did not have Claro Signal for most Time during several Days, that pi$$ed me off and I threw the phone off the Boat, yep, it died.
so I went to the next Orange Store, didn't need to present more than my Cedula, and 25 minutes later I walked out the Door with a Orange Plan which is Today's the Wife's Plan, they did not ask me for anything else as requisits, it was just me the Gringo with a Cedula in Hands.
maybe their policies changed since then.
cheers
Mike
 

Eddy

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Jan 1, 2002
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It depends where you are in the country. We've run into so many problems that for the past several years my husband and I get different carriers for our phones, so if one has poor service the other hopefully works. So far so good

AE
Plan B. Use an unlocked cell phone that has 2 slots. Claro in one and Orange in the other. Win-win situation. Your 2nd chip can be a prepaid to use should you not have a good signal where you happen to be. Both will ring for incomming and you get to chose the one you want to use for your outgoing.