Cellular/mobile phones in DR

El Tigre

El Tigre de DR1 - Moderator
Jan 23, 2003
2,306
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You're better off

Hey,

I think you are better off buying one in the states and get it connected down there. That's if you are in the states of course. When I last went I bought a Samsung LG1010 and it worked perfect down there. I paid $70 brand new on Ebay.
 

Ben

Member
Feb 2, 2004
151
12
18
The two major prepaid cellular providers are Verizon (formerly Codetel) and Orange. I have Orange, which provides good quality connections around Sosua. Orange charges about 7 pesos a minute for domestic calls. One advantage of Orange is that calls to the USA are billed at the same rate as domestic. On the other hand, Orange is more expensive than Verizon for domestic calls.

Orange cards are sold in various denominations from 60 pesos up. The best deal is the 275 peso card, which gives you 300 pesos (including 25 pesos free).

I'd suggest you ask around and find out which company has better coverage and call quality in the town where you'll be staying.

More info (in Spanish):

Orange
Verizon
 

ride2hard

New member
Feb 11, 2004
51
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0
"mschuck"

do you have GSM service in the US, ie TMO, Cingular GSM, AWE GSM?

all of their fones will work on orange;s network. orange really is the BEST way to go in my opinion.
 

Neon8

Member
Aug 3, 2003
47
2
18
www.sosuacondos.com
sprint phone

We have a codetel phone for use in the DR and buy cards for minutes. Incoming calls are free. We were just in Sosua and before leaving I turned on my US Sprint phone to see if I needed to charge it and to my great surprize it actually found service and was on Digital roam. I made a call home and got my answering machine. Don't know what will show up on Sprint bill for an international digital roam call but to find that my US phone can actually work in Sosua was amazing. It has always just kept searching for service in the past.
 

Amber

New member
Jan 24, 2003
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I agree on the Orange

I tried verizon and tricom in the past and am now quite content with the orange network.

Be careful with bringing phones from teh Us as they sometimes turn out to be incompatible here.
 

Adrian Bye

Bronze
Jul 7, 2002
2,077
138
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I have a US sprint phone here (activated through virgin) for the US.

I just tried it in Santiago and it did not work. I am surprised yours worked in Sosua. Did you actually hear your answering machine, or did it just ring?

It might have just ended up on a local "phone is not activated" message.

It would be very interesting to make some calls on a US activated phone here to try it out
 

johne

Silver
Jun 28, 2003
7,090
2,963
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I found the easest way

After trying a number of ways to insure that I would be able to call NYC after arriving in RD and following the advise of searching prev. posts-my last trip in early March proved to be the best solution for me.

I went to an Orange store and asked for the cheapest phone they had. (it sure is ugly and I got quite a ribbing--" que feo"-- from a member of this board - I won't mention your name Lissa) It cost $27. I told the clerk that I needed it to call the USA -she said no problem and we loaded the prepaid card and I called NYC from the store. Problem solved for $27 and cheap minutes bought as needed. Used it every day for two weeks and brought it home with me for the next trip.

JOHN
P.S. Motorola made
 

Ben

Member
Feb 2, 2004
151
12
18
Roaming with a US phone

Neon8 said:
Don't know what will show up on Sprint bill for an international digital roam call but to find that my US phone can actually work in Sosua was amazing.

I used my AT&T Wireless GSM phone in Sosua and the roaming charges were a couple of dollars per minute. Same for incoming calls. It would have worked out cheaper to buy a prepaid phone from Orange - which I did on the next visit.
 

Neon8

Member
Aug 3, 2003
47
2
18
www.sosuacondos.com
Yes, I actually heard my message when I called. I suspect it was not cheap but will find out when I get my Sprint bill. I doubt I will actually use my US sprint phone when we are there as we already have a DR phone number and it works ok most of the time and you get a lot of time for a few pesos. I might leave it on so that family could call in case of emergency as sometimes calls from US have not gone thru to our DR phone. Also the phone may not always be able to find service. I will have to try it out next visit. Maybe others could try their Sprint PCS phones out and see if they work. My phone and my daughters found service but my husbands never found service. Our phones are newer models than his.
 

Juan

New member
Apr 22, 2003
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El Tigre said:
Hey,

I think you are better off buying one in the states and get it connected down there. That's if you are in the states of course. When I last went I bought a Samsung LG1010 and it worked perfect down there. I paid $70 brand new on Ebay.


I have a Sprint PS LG1010 on a CDMA 1900 mxz, who did you activate yours with?