Best cell STX, while on the topic.....

I know plenty of people who use their mainland Sprint phones while living on St. Croix. This is common among college students who are home for the summer here. From personal experience, I like Sprint the best. Cingular is also decent. I don't know about the others.

Alix,
I was in STX in April for my PMV. I used my Sprint phone to make calls and receive clls from the states. No problem. (i did'nt see any added charges on my bill either) If you want to keep your current number just don't change it. I also went to Radio Shack to see if I could get a VI number as soon as I move there. Again, no problem.

One Love.........Ironman

I switched from Verizon to Cingular before we went down to buy a condo. It worked great in most areas, only a couple of dead spots. Got my bill yesterday, and no long distance charges as they promised.

Thanks guys....looks like it is up between Sprint and Cingular. Guess I could even keep my number then, probably.....(run a business off of it).

Alix

Cingular generally has the better coverage on STX. Now and then after a storm, there may be a few days or a couple weeks when the system is overloaded until repairs are made. Cingular is great, though, because I can travel on the mainland or down-island and my phone still works, with no roaming or long distance charges.

Good afternoon Alix,

Just wanted to say that during the visits we have made to STX, we have had very good service with our Sprint phones. Actually, they worked great on STT as well. No long distance charges, plus, (I don't know about Cingular),no minutes are charged for Sprint to Sprint calls. My wife and I used them to talk to each other from the room to the pool, etc. I don't see why you can't keep your number. Pay on line, and they won't even have to send you a bill.

When you say down island, do you mean that it works even further south, i.e. St. Maarten, Guadaloupe, etc.

We just returned from STX and used our Sprint phones all over the island. When it worked, it worked well. There were dead spots by the north shore/Columbus Cove area. There were times there where the display showed signal strength but no connection was possible. We got more consistent connections in town. We plan on keeping our mainland numbers when we arrive to live, but I wonder what kind of hassle that might be to others calling us with an 816 area code? For cell phone users the long distance calling might not be a problem, but for locals trying to call? I don't know. We have had no extra or hidden charges on our bills with Sprint use on island. I would suggest calling Sprint to find out their coverage areas in the Caribbean to avoid roaming charges.

Mike

Mike, are you from Kansas City, MO? I grew up in Raytown! My experience is that anyone calling you from your 816 area code would be considered a local call. The people calling your cell phone from the VI who have a land line, would be calling long distance. Cell phone to cell phone with unlimited long distance would only be charged for the minutes. Sprint to Sprint, no long distance AND no minutes charged.

I know I have run into people leaving cell phone numbers with an area code and people ignoring the call, but heck, sometimes they ignore returning local calls too! 😉

BB, yes I am in KC; in fact there are a few KCitians who are in the process of moving to the VI, and many who are already on island. Quite an unusual thing, eh? Are you in STX? We bought a condo earlier this week and are going thru the closing thing. We have a garage/moving sale tomorrow at our house in KC to get rid of all the junk we've accumulated over the years. We hope to both be there by the end of summer. I will probably come down earlier than Linda - I'm thinking by July 1. Let me know where you are and we can get together and pick over the Chiefs recent draft picks and look at the upcoming season!

Mike

Mike, we're not in STX yet. Have been looking at commercial properties in the VI for a while now, and have hopes of being on STX someday. Still in Atlanta for now. Maybe we can get together for a cold one on our next trip down.

East Ender, you have a point that I didn't think about. Here in Atlanta, we have to dial the area code EVEN with a local call! And, there are so many area codes that no one pays any attention where it is from. To make matters worse, the SAME area code can be local OR long distance, depending on where in the Atlanta area you are calling from.

Ahhhhh, to get back to a more relaxed, simplistic lifestyle!