Cell phone use in Cozumel

[Christi]

It all depends on what calling plan you have.

Cingular and Verizon will work here IF you PREARRANGE to have the North American calling plan WITH International Dialing feature. If they do not add the international dialing feature to your plan, your north american plan is also worthless. It's an extra $5 per month for the international dialing.

Myself and many local expats all have the verizon phones with the North American plan...and every one of us had the same problem when we first brought the phone to the island. Once we spent hours on the phone with them, and got international dialing added...eveything was fine. The North American calling plan and international dialing are two seperate things and you need BOTH of them for your phone to work here in Cozumel or anywhere within the coverage area.

You do not pay roaming charges with this plan, the minutes are just deducted like any other call from your minute plan...whatever that may be and from wherever you are.

I actually just reduced my minute plan because I wasn't coming anywhere near using the shared minutes or the basic minute plan I had.

 

[jayjoans]

Christi-
I didn't do squat with my Cingular phone and it worked fine. Chuck Norris called before we left the US and paid $5 to have the minute cost reduced for the time he was here, and he's also on Cingular. Not only did my phone work fine, but I only used it once to call home, the rest of the week my wife and I just used text messaging, which also worked fine in Cozumel.

 

[Christi]

Christi-
I didn't do squat with my Cingular phone and it worked fine. Chuck Norris called before we left the US and paid $5 to have the minute cost reduced for the time he was here, and he's also on Cingular. Not only did my phone work fine, but I only used it once to call home, the rest of the week my wife and I just used text messaging, which also worked fine in Cozumel.

Sorry, I should have clarified...I was referring to the Verizon service. That's good to know about the Cingular phones though!

 

[Ron Brandt]

Is that something you buy on the island?

Chris

Yep

Ron

 

[bertschb]

Take a phone on a vacation? Not me. My world worked just fine before I ever had a cell phone. I will not be controlled by electronic devices.

I thought the same thing until I was stuck on the island during Wilma. It was nice having access to a cell phone when the Hurricane finally passed so I could let my family know I was still alive. It was a critical tool for our group in the aftermath of the storm. From now on I will always carry a phone when traveling overseas.

 

[manitou diver]

Just got back last weekend and with Christi's assistance, I added the international dialing to my Verizon phone and it did work perfectly. It was especially useful for contacting the manager of the villa we stayed in and would have been great if I had remembered to give my number to Christi so she could contact me when the day of diving had to be cancelled due to wind!