How is Verizon Cell phone coverage in Bahamas?

[mike_s]

Agreed - the service and reception are excellent w/ Cingular but the per min charge was something like $3 in the Bahamas- you may be able to upgrade to a different plan - I just watched the min. used.

Better reception in Freeport vs S FL!

The verizon rate for the Bahamas was $1.29 per minute (roaming). I called verizon to enable my phone for the Bahamas and she told me that if I signed up for an international roaming package of $3.99/month that the rate would go down to 24 cents or 25 cents per minutes depending of if I was calling a land line or a cell line.

We'll see how that works and if the rates hold true to what she told me..... (I'm leary that she might be slightly mistaken).

Yes, the Cay Sal Bank is much closer to Cuba than almost all of the other Bahama islands. Its nice to hear that there is some cell phone coverage there. We were off the island of Cay Sal on a private boat doing some freediving and it was one of the rare times that we really needed to use the VHF and we could not contact the CG with a 20 watt radio.

It is not all that far from the Keys but it still remains a very remote area. Of course the fact that you need to go to Bimini first to clear customs and then head way S (against the stream) to the Cay Sal Bank keeps the place pretty remote.

yes... it's very remote. Remote enough that if I was down on a boat that I'd want a SAT phone for emergencies. For private boats they are somewhat economical to rent for trips like that. most charter boats that go down there already have a sat phone on them for emergencies.

as for the above person that got GSM coverage there, I wonder what island tower they were hitting.

 

[OceanObsessed]

yes... it's very remote. Remote enough that if I was down on a boat that I'd want a SAT phone for emergencies. For private boats they are somewhat economical to rent for trips like that. most charter boats that go down there already have a sat phone on them for emergencies.

as for the above person that got GSM coverage there, I wonder what island tower they were hitting.

I didn't know you could rent a SAT phone. Where do you rent them at?

 

[Jngluvtyger]

Hey everyone. Okay - I have learned "everything you wanted to NOT know about cell phones" in the Bahamas in the past few months! First, for those who dive/travel internationally, check out International Cell Phones, World Phones, SIM Cards, Satellite Phones. You can get international cards were per-minute charges are cheap. For the Bahamas, we bought an unlocked cell phone from Amazon and a pre-paid SIM card from telestial. We can go to the Bahamas phone co website (which is helpful) to up the minutes which is www.btcbahams.com and up his minutes. It cost about 33 cents - $1 to call Bahamas to USA. Now - If you call Bahamas from US via Verizon the charge is $1.49/minute. We can then swap the SIM card with a US SIM card when in the states -AT&T/Cingular or T-Mobile. Verizon does not have unlocked phones by the way. One last thing - be careful of buying international phone cards - at Best Buy they carry one that is suppose to be really good, but when the sales girl opened the package the rate to call Bahamas to US was $3 per minute.

 

[mike_s]

I didn't know you could rent a SAT phone. Where do you rent them at?

several places. chances are you might even have a sat phone dealer really close to you being in FLL area. (big boating area means big customer base).

Google URL below will reveal many sources. Most charge a daily/weekly/monthly fee plus a usage fee for airtime. you can buy package for airtime in 'blocks' and get a cheaper per-minute-rate. Might want to consider insurance also as they aren't cheap if you break them. read their rental policy closely. Also depending on what your trip is, consider a 12v adapter and maybe a 2nd battery. Learn to use it also before you need it for an emergency.

satellite phone rental - Google Search

one more note... sat phones are not legal to use at land based locations in every country. why? because that country you're using it in isn't getting any revenue from the call cost. Not that there are 'sat phone cops' out there to stop you, but check usage areas and print them off and take them with you. just FYI.

 

[Scubasteve1982]

I was in Port Lucaya Grand Bahama, and Bimini two weeks ago and my Verizon Blackberry worked fine. Only voice calls worked I received no data. Not sure if its something new! I'm sure my bills going to be crazy but it worked.

 

[mike_s]

we'll I'll let you know how my Bill comes out. I signed up for their $3.99/month international plan that is supposed to give me lower per minute rates. (should save me at least $1/minute)

I'm sure I'll get gouged though with Bahamian taxes still though.

 

[Gamecock]

My verizon phone VX9800 worked fine in Eleuthera end of May '08, roaming rate was $1.29/min. Didn't work everywhere but mostly on the outside areas where I could see the horizon.

 

[mike_s]

Well I used my Verizon phone on New Providence (Nassau) without a problem. had 4-5bars signal strength the entire time. On Cable Beach area. Downtown was good also.


On Little Stirrup Cay, the signal strength was almost non-existant. 0 bars signal or maybe sometimes 1 bar, if that....

 

[OceanObsessed]

Resurrecting this old thread...

I just recently switched my provider to AT&T. Anyone know how AT&T coverage is in the Bahamas? I'm particularly interested in Great Harbour, Long Island, Eleuthera, and the Exumas.

 

[mike_s]

The verizon rate for the Bahamas was $1.29 per minute (roaming). I called verizon to enable my phone for the Bahamas and she told me that if I signed up for an international roaming package of $3.99/month that the rate would go down to 24 cents or 25 cents per minutes depending of if I was calling a land line or a cell line.

We'll see how that works and if the rates hold true to what she told me..... (I'm leary that she might be slightly mistaken).

well. since this thread is back alive again, I'll comment on the above previous post about rates.

When I got my bill, it was over $1/minute.

Not the 24 or 25 cents per minute as stated by the person from Verizon on the phone. Just as I expected, their phone desk support is clueless idiots. (this is not the first time they've been wrong about stuff they've told us).

It was corrected though when I called Verizon and had them look in their call records and they saw where the woman put on the call ticket for my account the quoted rate. so they lowered the charge and gave me a credit.

Still, I think it's ridiculous for them to charge what ended up being close to $2 bucks a minute once they added on taxes, fees, bull-crap, etc.