A
azb
Guest
I have been getting a lot of questions regarding cell phones in my e mails and from new incoming expats. Many foreigners seem to have some conflicting info on the cell phones and the plans available through the various service providers.
here is what I know:
First of all: there are 4 cell phone companies who cover the whole island of DR (well, excluding the rural areas).
Codetel has the largest coverage and the best over-all system to provide a good strong cell signal. Tricom is not so far behind and claims to have an equal range of coverage.
I have tried both but I prefer codetel over tricom any day. When I had tricom, I missed many calls even when I had a full signal in my phone. The reason being: they just don?t have enough bandwith to accommodate all the cell call traffic. Now with codetel, I always receive my calls.
You can send SMS messages to codetel and to tricom via the internet from their own respective webpages. Tricom: www.tricom.net
Codetel: www.tun-tun.com.do
Also see their webpages to see what models of phones they use in DR.
Then you have centennial and orange phone companies who also cover large parts of this island.
All three (except Orange) use the CDMA 1900/800 mhz (digital/analog) system. Centennial only uses the digital signal and the Orange company uses the GSM system (chip phones).
I am sure that All sprint phones work here perfectly: Bring any sprint phone and it can be turned on to work here. If you get a phone without a 6 digit programming code, take it to a local cell phone shop and have it unlocked by the tech and receive a 6 digit programming code from them. Now take it to any of the 3 listed phone companies (except orange: they use GSM technology) and have it activated.
Note: if you take one of these phones to the phone companies without a 6 digit code, they will tell you that it can?t be programmed to their system because it has no 6 digit code.
I had 3 cell phones programmed (unlocked) from the cell phone tech for 300 pesos each (few mins work).
Ok, now the best deal:
Centennial has the best deal in the market at the moment. 354 pesos / month with 130 mins free. Each additional minutes 2.35 / min. This is the best deal and centennial has a very good coverage in this island. I have many friends with centennial phones and I always get in touch with them.
Orange phone company gives out nice deals on phones to attract customers but their rates are more expensive than the rest.
My personal experience with Motorola startec 7867w (sprint). Great phone and very durable. It dropped 50 times on all kinds of surfaces and just today, it fell in the water. Completely submerged for 4 seconds. I simply disconnected the battery and blow dried the phone. It works great.
Samsung phones work great too as well as most of the Motorola models. Samsung phones are more better looking than the startecs and have more features included ex: an alarm clock built inside.
Activation: codetel requires a cedula and a Dominican to be your guarantor for you. The Dominican would have to sign for you to take your responsibility in case you decide not to pay your bill. This could be a pain in the neck to find such a person.
Tricom is much easier to do business with and I think you can leave a deposit as security. You also might need the cedula to open up an account with them.
Centennial doesn?t require a cedula but they want a bank account if you don?t have the cedula. They are the easiest to deal with.
I won?t even go into orange because I personally think they are expensive.
Any more questions: drop me a line.
cheers
here is what I know:
First of all: there are 4 cell phone companies who cover the whole island of DR (well, excluding the rural areas).
Codetel has the largest coverage and the best over-all system to provide a good strong cell signal. Tricom is not so far behind and claims to have an equal range of coverage.
I have tried both but I prefer codetel over tricom any day. When I had tricom, I missed many calls even when I had a full signal in my phone. The reason being: they just don?t have enough bandwith to accommodate all the cell call traffic. Now with codetel, I always receive my calls.
You can send SMS messages to codetel and to tricom via the internet from their own respective webpages. Tricom: www.tricom.net
Codetel: www.tun-tun.com.do
Also see their webpages to see what models of phones they use in DR.
Then you have centennial and orange phone companies who also cover large parts of this island.
All three (except Orange) use the CDMA 1900/800 mhz (digital/analog) system. Centennial only uses the digital signal and the Orange company uses the GSM system (chip phones).
I am sure that All sprint phones work here perfectly: Bring any sprint phone and it can be turned on to work here. If you get a phone without a 6 digit programming code, take it to a local cell phone shop and have it unlocked by the tech and receive a 6 digit programming code from them. Now take it to any of the 3 listed phone companies (except orange: they use GSM technology) and have it activated.
Note: if you take one of these phones to the phone companies without a 6 digit code, they will tell you that it can?t be programmed to their system because it has no 6 digit code.
I had 3 cell phones programmed (unlocked) from the cell phone tech for 300 pesos each (few mins work).
Ok, now the best deal:
Centennial has the best deal in the market at the moment. 354 pesos / month with 130 mins free. Each additional minutes 2.35 / min. This is the best deal and centennial has a very good coverage in this island. I have many friends with centennial phones and I always get in touch with them.
Orange phone company gives out nice deals on phones to attract customers but their rates are more expensive than the rest.
My personal experience with Motorola startec 7867w (sprint). Great phone and very durable. It dropped 50 times on all kinds of surfaces and just today, it fell in the water. Completely submerged for 4 seconds. I simply disconnected the battery and blow dried the phone. It works great.
Samsung phones work great too as well as most of the Motorola models. Samsung phones are more better looking than the startecs and have more features included ex: an alarm clock built inside.
Activation: codetel requires a cedula and a Dominican to be your guarantor for you. The Dominican would have to sign for you to take your responsibility in case you decide not to pay your bill. This could be a pain in the neck to find such a person.
Tricom is much easier to do business with and I think you can leave a deposit as security. You also might need the cedula to open up an account with them.
Centennial doesn?t require a cedula but they want a bank account if you don?t have the cedula. They are the easiest to deal with.
I won?t even go into orange because I personally think they are expensive.
Any more questions: drop me a line.
cheers