US Unlocked Smart Phones in DR

Deyvi

*** I love DR1 ***
Dec 23, 2009
579
2
0
There are some deals to be had on unlocked Smarties in the US.
I did a DR1 search. Is a CDMA useless for Data. I Phone 5s cheap but CDMA. Is GSM a must?
 

texan

Member
Apr 1, 2014
442
2
18
I am not for sure but I think you need GSM. You need a sim card. I think AT&T and Tmobile phones work. Not sure about using a sprint or version. I have about 5 iPhones down here and they are all AT&T phones. After the contract is over AT&T will unlock it for you. If it is still in contract it could be unlocked but you would have to know how to do it or pay someone to do it. With AT&T it is much easier for the original owner of the phone to get AT&T to unlock it.
 

jinty05

Bronze
Feb 11, 2005
925
38
48
The entire Dominican cellphone system is based on GSM technology ie SIM card phones so you might as well forget cheap CDMA type phones they can be adapted here to make/receive calls but not access data.


There are some deals to be had on unlocked Smarties in the US.
I did a DR1 search. Is a CDMA useless for Data. I Phone 5s cheap but CDMA. Is GSM a must?
 

Deyvi

*** I love DR1 ***
Dec 23, 2009
579
2
0
From your response. It is not your favorite..
For $200 would it be?
 
Aug 6, 2006
8,775
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From your response. It is not your favorite..

For $200 would it be?

Do not bother with unlocking used phones. Locked phones are a hateful things, akin to buying a car that would only burn Shell gasoline. Buy an unlocked phone. I bought a Niu android phone at BrandsMart in Miami for under $54, tax included. All it needed was a memory card, and it can accommodate two SIM chips, so you can use it with one chip in the DR (I use Claro) and in the US or anywhere else where SIM is used (US, Canada) for the other. There is a feature for switching between the SIM chips. It has Bluetooth and can do Email and Gmail and will connect to the Internet, but I have not used it for that. The screen is the same size as a Galaxy Android, which I deem too small for any serious Internettery. But that is my preference. It has options for eight languages, including Spanish and English

I had a Claro SIM chip from a Samsung T Mobile flip phone I unlocked that I installed in it, and when I got to the SDQ airport all the Niu Android phone did was give some weird Chinese messages. The Claro people at SDQ proved to be incompetent, and said they did not know what to do to make it work, but when I took it to a Claro store in Barahona, they got it working in a minute or so. I had to bring my passport, since as we all know, people with passports do not ever steal phones. In retrospect, I should have brought the receipt from BrandsMart. The Samsung flip phone had very low volume and even with a new battery, would not hold a charge for over a day. It cost me $5.

The Niu phone has two cameras, a flashlight, web access (that I have not used) and will hold as much in photos and music as your MicroSD card will hold. Do not assume that anyone at the SDQ Claro office will do any more than the most basic stuff. Claro trains people well at other offices, and why they send the dummies to SDQ I cannot fathom.

If you DO buy a locked phone in the US, get it unlocked in the DR, because (1) it will be cheaper, and (2) you can test it working there and make sure it is unlocked. The scammers in Miami I took the T Mobile locked phone to charged me $20 and told me it was unlocked, but it wasn't. Getting unlocked in Barahona cost me under $200 pesos. They looked up some crap on the Internet and got it to pop up some alleged program that made it LOOK unlocked, but it wasn't. Some of the spendy new phones you buy in the US locked are ILLEGAL to unlock. Older ones are not.

In my opinion, if you want to make calls., leave messages and do the usual phone things, spending more than $100 is overkill. And of course, a $400 phone if lost, broken or stolen will set you back $400, whereas a $53 phone and a decent 8 gig chip might cost you $70.

The other large cell provider in the DR is Orange, and I have no knowledge of them besides knowing their favorite color.
 

amp

Bronze
Oct 5, 2010
730
8
18
GSM phones work on Claro, Viva, Orange

CDMA phones ONLY work on Tricom
 

Jaime809

Bronze
Aug 23, 2012
1,152
0
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---snipped---

Some of the spendy new phones you buy in the US locked are ILLEGAL to unlock. Older ones are not.

--- snipped---

This is incorrect. It's illegal to *bypass the encryption* on the phone (per DMCA) but the FCC ruled years ago that the consumer must be granted the right to be able to unlock the phone. The contracts took a long time to catch up to the ruling, and the CS reps even longer to be trained, but it's not illegal (and never has been, really; the carriers said it was illegal when in fact it simply went against the contracts at one time).
 

texan

Member
Apr 1, 2014
442
2
18
Do not bother with unlocking used phones. Locked phones are a hateful things, akin to buying a car that would only burn Shell gasoline.

I have five iphones here that were unlocked in the USA and no problems. The easiest way is if you know the person and their contract is up for that phone. I have been buying phones from AT&T people and I use AT&T myself. AT&T use to not unlock them at all but now they will unlocked them after the contract is over for that phone.

You can test the phone in the US. Just put in a sim card from another company. If you have a AT&T phone then put in a Tmobile sim card. I had the guy at the store put in his sim card to make sure the phone was unlocked.

I like that iPhones have FaceTime, facetime audio and iMessage. I try to buy them from friends who ask the trade in value when they upgrade. I got my last iPhone 4 8GB white for $100 and it is working great so far. Once the iPhone 6 comes out I am guessing there will be a lot more iPhone 4's and 5's to buy and the price will come down.

Then buy a good case so the screen won't get cracked.
 

barker1964

Silver
Apr 1, 2009
3,413
2
38
T-Mobile phones use 1700AWS on most models so be careful or you will be stuck on EDGE speeds AT&T no problems in the DR
 

nexx

Member
Jul 11, 2014
58
4
8
GSM phones work on Claro, Viva, Orange

CDMA phones ONLY work on Tricom


I have a US Verizon iPhone 5 (not 5s). It is a world phone. In the US (it is only compatible with Verizon) it only supports CDMA for voice and uses GSM for LTE coverage. When you leave the US (and use it in DR), it is unlocked and you can use a nano-sim card for voice and data service (3G only). I connected my phone to CLARO while I was in DR two weeks ago.

Data Plan: 60MB = 40 Peso; 150 MB = 156 Peso; 700mb will cost you 240 pesos and must be used up within a week.

Here's something I had to learn the hard way. Do not recharge your account until the MBs are used/expired. I once recharged my account when I had about 30mb left because there was a retailer close to home and I didn't want to bother stopping at CLARO during on my road trip. After I used up the 30mb I had left, the 700mb plan wasn't automatically renewed. CLARO instead charges your a per MB rate that cost more than the 700mb plan. I used up the $240 balance in a day where if I had the 700mb plan activated, it would have lasted me about 5 days (based on my consumption). You're suppose to receive a text message when your MB are up but I didn't get it.
 

Uzin

Bronze
Oct 26, 2005
1,386
20
38
Data Plan: 60MB = 40 Peso; 150 MB = 156 Peso; 700mb will cost you 240 pesos and must be used up within a week.

They keep changing the plans for prepago (prepaid tariff), it now says you can get up to 200MB for 40 pesos (plus tax).

Internet M?vil - Internet | Personas | Claro Rep?blica Dominicana (click "Prepago" tab)

I think it was like that some months ago and then they changed to 100MB - but I never recall 60MB.

You can always subscribe using *111# and going through the menus (as long as you have credit) - no need for retailers...
 
Aug 6, 2006
8,775
12
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I do not use a cell here in the US, because there are few people who call me, and most of those who do are people I do not wish to talk too" polltakers, fundraisers and people peddling cell plans and cable TV. So I do not have any idea of what the joys of FaceTime or iMessage might be. I had a hard time with an unlocked used T mobile flip phone, and hence purchased an unlocked GSM Android phone of unfamous brand for $54 bucks. I do not purport to be any sort of cellphone expert, and was only telling people of what my experiences were.

Locked phones to me seem to be rather like proprietary computers and deliberately crippled software. Perhaps others have found otherwise. Carrying a $500 Apple phone around seems like a waste of money to me. Some of my friends do this, and about half of all conversations I have with them get dropped. I suspect that this may be related to their calling while navigating America's most boring highway, the FL Turnpike. No one is going to get me to talk on my phone while driving, but I can't stop them from doing it while driving.
 

nexx

Member
Jul 11, 2014
58
4
8
They keep changing the plans for prepago (prepaid tariff), it now says you can get up to 200MB for 40 pesos (plus tax).

Internet M?vil - Internet | Personas | Claro Rep?blica Dominicana (click "Prepago" tab)

I think it was like that some months ago and then they changed to 100MB - but I never recall 60MB.

You can always subscribe using *111# and going through the menus (as long as you have credit) - no need for retailers...

You're right, no 60MB plan. I was also in costa rica recently, got the two confused.

Claro - 100mb is 40 pesos.
350 is 156 pesos
700 is 240


http://www.claro.com.do/wps/portal/do/sc/personas/movil/prepago#info-05a