Cell Phone use in DR

tomd63

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Feb 25, 2011
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I found out how to unlock my cell phone for using while in DR for 2-3 months but have no idea what or where to purchase a local sims card so that I can make local calls. I am not sure about calls from the DR to the US though. Does the Roaming rates apply to those call. I am confused as to what to do for this time service. AT&T charges $5.95 a month for international calling and the rate is around $1.49 a minute. Is that the best route to go or is there a better one. HELP
 

Ken

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Jan 1, 2002
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Forget AT&T. Register the phone with Orange, they have shops in most towns, and get a number and a sim card. Pre-paid Orange cards in various denominations are widely available.

Use the phone for both local and calls to the US, which cost the same as local calls.

In the DR, you are only charged for outgoing calls.

Making your phone an Orange phone will save you lots of money compared to roaming charges by AT&T.

If you don't use your phone as an Orange phone for a period of time, you will lose the number. But then when you make the next trip, you can register the phone with Orange again and get a new number.
 

SKY

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Apr 11, 2004
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Ken is correct, but you can do the same thing with Claro also and not pay for roaming. You need to check the signal strength for both where you are and decide which to use. But generally they both should work well.
 

greydread

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Jan 3, 2007
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I found out how to unlock my cell phone for using while in DR for 2-3 months but have no idea what or where to purchase a local sims card so that I can make local calls. I am not sure about calls from the DR to the US though. Does the Roaming rates apply to those call. I am confused as to what to do for this time service. AT&T charges $5.95 a month for international calling and the rate is around $1.49 a minute. Is that the best route to go or is there a better one. HELP

Whatever you do, don't put a Dominican phone provider's SIM in your (I'm assuming expensive) US phone. You can go to Claro or Orange or Codetel and buy a cheap flip phone which will cost less than $20 US. This phone will come with a "pay as you go" plan and free (100 - 300) minutes. Buy a telephone card for an additional $700RD ($19 US) and you will be talking and texting for quite some time.

Outgoing calls will be about 4 cents per minute and incoming calls are free.

Put your US phone in the safe and give your contacts your Dominican number for the duration of your stay. I use an Android and a Blackberry in the States but I turn them both off before the plane to D.R. takes off. I have had the same Dominican cell phone for years because since nobody wants a cheap "flip" phone I can't give it away....and more importantly I don't have to worry about it getting stolen.

Blackberry's are hot there right now and if you pull yours out I guarrantee that someone you don't even see will be thinking of a way to get yours from you.
 

Davidl919

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Mar 4, 2011
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Whatever you do, don't put a Dominican phone provider's SIM in your (I'm assuming expensive) US phone.

Does the phone get damaged, I just got back, I used a US Blackberry curve and it gave me some weird Java errors, But Im going back in 2 weeks and I'm either taking my Blackberry bold or my Iphone, Why the warning?
 

Ken

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Jan 1, 2002
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Does the phone get damaged, I just got back, I used a US Blackberry curve and it gave me some weird Java errors, But Im going back in 2 weeks and I'm either taking my Blackberry bold or my Iphone, Why the warning?

Because cell phone theft is not unknown here and somebody using an expensive, highly desirable phone might have it taken from him.
 

shawn27

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May 24, 2010
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Greydread and Ken are right, I have an i phone but kept it in my luggage the whole time. I was in DR for five days and my driver took me to an orange shop. I got a alcantel or something or other phone, added 300 pesos, and still had around 200 pesos left after 5 days. I spent around 700 (around $20) pesos including the phone. Just get a temporary phone there.
 
Feb 7, 2007
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Whatever you do, don't put a Dominican phone provider's SIM in your (I'm assuming expensive) US phone. You can go to Claro or Orange or Codetel and buy a cheap flip phone which will cost less than $20 US. This phone will come with a "pay as you go" plan and free (100 - 300) minutes. Buy a telephone card for an additional $700RD ($19 US) and you will be talking and texting for quite some time.

Outgoing calls will be about 4 cents per minute and incoming calls are free.

Put your US phone in the safe and give your contacts your Dominican number for the duration of your stay. I use an Android and a Blackberry in the States but I turn them both off before the plane to D.R. takes off. I have had the same Dominican cell phone for years because since nobody wants a cheap "flip" phone I can't give it away....and more importantly I don't have to worry about it getting stolen.

Blackberry's are hot there right now and if you pull yours out I guarrantee that someone you don't even see will be thinking of a way to get yours from you.

Please don't give incomplete or misleading information to the OP.

Cheapest prepaid calls are with Viva, 8 dominican cents per second plus taxes, costing one minute about 15 US cents. That is as cheap as the calling gets in the DR. Orange and Claro are both about 25% more expensive. Disadvantage of Viva is they do not have as good coverage as Orange or Claro.

Calling rates are same for calls anywhere within the Dominican Republic landline or mobile as well as for calls to the USA and Canada.

There is no way the OP can get a calling rate of 4 US cents per minute as you mentioned, only on corporate plans.

Viva also has cheapest phones now, they have prepaid phones for 400 pesos including free prepaid activation and 100 pesos calling credit.

For 500 pesos plus taxes per month you can get unlimited prepaid Blackberry service. It can be also purchased for 25 pesos per day, 150 pesos per week, 300 pesos for half month or 500 for full month, plus taxes.
 

RacerX

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Nov 22, 2009
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I use an old blackberry that was unlocked for the GSM network. So when I left AT&T I put the Claro SIM card in it. For me it works better then the cheap AlcaTel I had because it has a functional keyboard for text messages. But you re right the Cheap phones you cant give away. But who cares because they are functional.