Data access via cell phone in the DR

Broward

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Jul 16, 2007
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Has anyone brought an unlocked I Phone or a Blackeberry to the Dominican Republic to use with a sim card.
Were you able to access the internet as well as your voice service with prepaid cards fro Claro, Orange or Viva?
If not able with prepaid cards any other way you may know of th access the web.
 

blkronin

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Sep 30, 2008
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My unlocked GSM phones have only been able to access calling and messaging services. I have service with Sprint and have been able to use all data services. Of course, you will pay roaming charges.
 

jalencastro

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Dec 15, 2004
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I am not sure if there is a thread about this on the forum.
I dont believe that data services are available using the prepaid cards from Claro or Orange, i think you have to sign up with a monthly plan of theirs to be able to use data on a carrier in the DR.
I too have Sprint and can access data only via international roaming, not worth it...i can wait until i get home to check my email...LOL
 

GeeDee

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Oct 27, 2007
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Im not sure about i phone. But if you have an existing blackberry account in the us your best bet would be to call your service provider and tell them to enable the unlimited global data plan for the time you will be there.

I have verizon and they charge $65.00 per month for unlimited global data and is prorated during the time you are there. I was able to access the internet on my blackberry in most places that had regular local service. Do not make phone calls from your us based phone. Buy an Alcatel phone for around RD$300 for local and international phone calls.
 
Sep 22, 2009
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Has anyone brought an unlocked I Phone or a Blackeberry to the Dominican Republic to use with a sim card.
Were you able to access the internet as well as your voice service with prepaid cards fro Claro, Orange or Viva?
If not able with prepaid cards any other way you may know of th access the web.

Hi,

It may be unclear what you seek. If you wish to bring an unlocked iPhone or BB to DR and insert a local SIM from Claro or Orange AND use Internet services, then you need purchase a full data plan with that carrier (and yes, they will insert their own SIM into your unlocked phone that you brought with you).

You will need an employment or other business reference here in DR to have a full "plan" cell (i.e. not the pobre tarjeta).

Now, if your question is can you use your BB or iPhone (Verizon or AT&T) here in DR to surf the web, email, etc. with your current US plan, then it is highly recommended to do as the other replier has suggested and add the "international roaming" option to your existing plan.
 

Tamborista

hasta la tambora
Apr 4, 2005
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The iPhone will allow you free WIFI access to your e mail and the WWW. Make sure you configure the iPhone so you are not roaming.

I do not suggest International Roaming @ a cost of USD$1.69/minute!
 
Sep 22, 2009
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The iPhone will allow you free WIFI access to your e mail and the WWW. Make sure you configure the iPhone so you are not roaming.

I do not suggest International Roaming @ a cost of USD$1.69/minute!

Good point. But make sure if iPhone, then must be OS 3.0, as 3.1 has a WiFi bug.

That's if all you wanted is Internet access and not establish a local account in DR.
 

Luperon

Who empowered China's crime against humanity?
Jun 28, 2004
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Sprint Unlimited Data Roam, $40 month?

My unlocked GSM phones have only been able to access calling and messaging services. I have service with Sprint and have been able to use all data services. Of course, you will pay roaming charges.

I read somewhere that Sprint has the option of unlimited international data roaming for $40 a month and will prorate it for partial months. I do not see anything about it on their web sites. Does anyone know anything about that?

If it were unlimited data, I assume you could use google voice and make unlimted calls to the USA through the cell phone data.
 

blkronin

New member
Sep 30, 2008
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I read somewhere that Sprint has the option of unlimited international data roaming for $40 a month and will prorate it for partial months. I do not see anything about it on their web sites. Does anyone know anything about that?

If it were unlimited data, I assume you could use google voice and make unlimted calls to the USA through the cell phone data.

I use the Unlimited data roaming and my broadband USB device and use skype on my laptop to make calls. I also have skype mobile but they do not support the Dominican Republic yet, Skype mobil lets you use a local phone number which dials the international number. It works very well.
 
Feb 7, 2007
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Skype mobil lets you use a local phone number which dials the international number. It works very well.

There would be no point of doing that in the DR (especially for calls to the US, Canada and PR) because the cellphone calls to DR local numbers and US/CA/PR are the same rate.

If you have unlimited data plan in the DR (beware: Claro 3G is NOT unlimited, the limit your speed after 2 GB download) you can use SIP application on your phone which you program with a VOIP carrier (e.g. Callcentric, SIPGate) for unlimited calls to US, Europe, etc. I have heard VIVA Interjet is NOT good for VOIP calls (they have unlimited usage and no download limit, so no speed limit, but high latency), Claro 3G is great and fast (while your 2 GB download lasts) then it's poor 128 kbps, Orange Net "no sirve" it's only 144 kbps max ... noword yet on 3G service from Orange. Your best bet is to use WIFI enabled phone and use SIP application (get one from Internet, many Nokia phones have built-in SIP client which you can program with your settings) to make free/cheap phone calls worldwide.
 

Activ_POP

New member
Oct 8, 2009
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I used an unlocked HTCS630 (a windows mobile smartphone) with Claro and a prepaid sim to access data as recently as Wednesday. No prepaid data plan or "full" data plan was necesary as someone mentioned above.

There is a program for windows mobile devices called HTC auto-configuration tool that automatically configured the GPRS and proxy settings for Claro Rep. Dom. after detecting the claro sim. The 3G connection was speedier that AT&T in the US and while I didnt use much data, email pushed effectivley to my device everything else worked as well. Not sure what the effect of the data usage was on my minutes because I didnt make many calls, but it didnt drain the account over the 3 days of usage. I had 500 pesos or less in the account.

Previously I had held the belief that I would need some type of data plan, and was pleasantly surprised this time around when the auto config tool worked.
 

piojaso

New member
Oct 9, 2010
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would this be possible?

Claro – Escoge la Red, Escoge Claro 3G

would it be possible to use this plan on a unlocked cellphone? or is this strictly for use on air cards on laptops/pcs? I know at&t uses the same 3g band (umts 850 mhz) as claro.would you be able to use this on an unlocked at&t smartphone and still be able to make phone calls like with a regular prepaid sim card?
 
Feb 7, 2007
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You could insert your DATA SIM CARD into a regular (HSDPA enabled) phone instead of USB stick .... Iwas told by Claro it should work.