Cell Phones

I have both currently. I use Cingular and don't have a problem. I have kept my stateside number with a DC area code. I've had that number forever and I know that anyone that needs to reach me on it can. I also got an island phone that turned out to be very practical. I got the phone down here and I go with a prepaid plan. I pay $30 a month and have it charged to my credit card. The nice part is that I get free incoming calls. It's come in handy regarding jobs and people who can't call me on my long distance number.

Concerning Verizon, depends on the phone whether you'll get service or not. It depends on the bands your phone has. Whether you get roaming charges or not depends on your plan. I think I remember two things about STT last time I was there with the family this past summer. I believe one person with a Verizon phone had service and the other did not because their phones were different. The other thing is that I sort of remembering that we established that there is no "Verizon" service on STT. If there is still a plan left in existence that charges roaming fees, then Verizon customers subscribed one such plan might find themselves beholden to some nonsensical charges. Don't quote me on that. The best way is to call Verizon and ask someone. Dial 611 from your cell phone for service.

Thanks simkiss...I'll be sure to check that out!

Juanita, take a few minutes to read the board rules and help there really is a lot of good stuff there! LOL

I had Verizon we I moved to STX. Roaming was outrageous! I'm w/AT&T now,much better.

All phones in a family plan have to have the same area code.

If you are going to add two phone why not start a new family plan with the local 340 AC. You can call your existing phones without using any minutes. Calls to other AT&T phones are always free. This includes some land based lines besides AT&T cell phones.

Jim

From Betty

"Its not the most practical for a couple of reasons. When looking for a job, some employers will not call you back when you have an out of area number. Also it makes it inconvenient for the people you will get to know here, making them call a long distance number."

You say this every time a thread about cell phones pops up and it always makes me laugh. Most everyone I know down here has a cell phone, and a large chunk of the population have their cell phone from the states, even the employers. I have held three jobs since I moved here two years ago and have used my state side phone the entire time. When a potential employer sees that your contact number is a long distance call, they put down the business line and reach for their cell phone. Any employer who couldn't afford a cell phone or chooses not to have one is not someone I want to work for.

Plus a bonus, my friends from home get to call me without using long distance as well, so I can keep in touch with them and not go crazy from lack of US contact.

Large companies don't necessarily give their HR departments cell phones & many aren't allowed to make long-distance phone calls. When looking for a job that pays anything at all, unless you have skills totally unavailable here it's not smart to make it any more difficult than necessary.

Scremped: I gather most of the people you know are statesiders. A lot of local people, who may have cell phones, will figure that you are not serious if you don't have a local number. I also know local people who have two cells- the one they bought in New York or Florida and their 340 one. There are many jobs here through the govenrment, and I promise they aren't going to call back a long distance number.

I hope you don't go crazy from lack of contact with Big America! 😉

Guess I'm not thinking about government jobs or anything super serious like that. My employers have all been state siders who migrated (well except for the first one who from Puerto Rico, who kept his Puerto Rican number I might add).

As far as locals not taking me seriously, I don't feel they do in the first place, and not too many of them are getting my number anyway.

And no I don't go crazy, unless my friends from home start describing some of the things they did that I miss, then I get a little antsy.

Just wanted to offer potential movers some relief in knowing they don't have to change the number if they don't want to.

how long you been here Scremped?

It will be 2 years in May.

lol....scremped. Guess its not so much me but all the other people who have lived here long enough to know how the island works. I will not call someone in for an interview who does not have a local number. To me it says you have comitted or intergrated into the island at all and will be leaving sooner rather then later. I, personally, want to know that you've been here for a little while and have plans to stay.

I always suggest to new job hunters to make a cover letter to their resume and give a little info about your skills and about your situation on the islands, like if you own a home include that tidbit, etc... Anything to give yourself an andvatange in this job market. Letting them know you live here permentaly is always an advantage.

"As far as locals not taking me seriously, I don't feel they do in the first place"

Hmm, do you wonder why?

I assume it's because I don't take myself so seriously. Give it a try some time, it's fun 🙂

I have a 305 area code from Miami from AT&T and it works fine no roaming charges or anything. Now in regards to call from the U.S to the VI sometimes they do not show the number calling. Now so far all the calls i received from Puerto rico AT&T come with no problem on the caller id. St thomas is very hilly and there are some parts of the island that do not have good signal. If your house is in ridge or something it does not have a good signal. In Peterborg where i bought the house the signal strenght is not that good but when i come out to the pool area view of st John i get pretty good signal. My sister when with me last week she has sprint is a disaster! it only work in Charlotte amalie.

well Scremped if we did not take living here seriously i doubt we'd spend time here helping and offering advice to people thinking of relocating and talking about our experiences, a local number home line is 25-30 a month before long distance charges, we feel it's worth it to have a local number, Betty makes a valid point about potential employers not calling, i had a few people at places i applied on STT when i was over there for two months tell me to get a local cell number if i expected an interview in the future, even over here when i'm at work and try to call a fellow employee with a non local cell i can't because most businesses have a long distance block to prevent their employees from calling all over hell and creation and how would that look if i whipped out a cell and started dialing.

~Sigh~ Nevermind then. Everyone who comes down listen to them, get a local number. You'll never make it without one. I surrender.

lol aw cmon Scremped, we're just the serious side and you're the tra lalalala side thats all 2 very valid sides of an important topic

Everyone one has different experience about whats needed that's why you posted scremped. For example I don't have a local bank account but more people on this board will tell you, you have to have one. That has not been my experience, I've never had a problem, well not one that wasn't easily worked out. And I much prefer my stateside bank to the local banks here. In fact I don't trust any of them to give the kind of service, care or accuracy I get with my stateside bank. You've never had a problem with not having a local number. We've both gone against the norm and been fine. Newbies are just trying to find the easiest route and we're telling them what it is. Everyone has issues where they don't want to compromise.

"In Peterborg where i bought the house the signal strenght is not that good but when i come out to the pool area view of st John i get pretty good signal. My sister when with me last week she has sprint is a disaster! it only work in Charlotte amalie."

I live in Peterborg and have used Sprint for several years. I've never had reception problems anywhere on STT with Sprint.

We have been here close to 2 years and hubby has a stateside phone number, I have a VI number on my cell and we have a house phone. All are necessary for our family. To each his own.

Sprint has a problem with some areas of the south side. It doesn't work at all at my house & it's spotty at Bolongo & other areas of Frenchman's Bay..