cell phone coverage

[Shelly2]

Planning a trip to Roatan, can anyone tell me if they have cell phone coverage I'm on the Verizon network?

 

[dmoore19]

Yes, there is coverage on Roatan. I was there new years at Anthony's key. You will need to call verizon and get the international plan though. Your phone will also need to have the correct card in it. Even with the right card and international plan, if I remember correctly, there is still charge per minute for voice calls, I think $2.00/min. However, once again if I remember correctly the international plan covers data charges so email and web are available too. Call Verizon and find out for sure though.

 

[bkpix]

I took a simple pay as you go cell phone to Roatan in August, AT&T, and it did not work there.

 

[Drowning]

Verizon probably does not work there because it is a cdma phone and that is only used in the US. You will need a GSM phone such as offered by AT&T or T-Mobile. You will also need an international plan and the calls will still be very expensive. Another option is to get a local prepaid phone while there for emergency use; it will need a local sim card so you may want to wait until you arrive to get one.

 

[dmoore19]

Verizon probably does not work there because it is a cdma phone and that is only used in the US. You will need a GSM phone such as offered by AT&T or T-Mobile. You will also need an international plan and the calls will still be very expensive. Another option is to get a local prepaid phone while there for emergency use; it will need a local sim card so you may want to wait until you arrive to get one.

I disagree, as I said I was there in January. I had a verizon phone (blackberry storm) It worked very well. I called Verizon and asked them if it would, they asked about my phone, told me I was good to go and the additional charges I would incur. One thing that some forget to do is to dial *228 and update their roaming capabilities prior to leaving the US. Used it to get email, send email etc. I also used it to make a couple of (fairly expensive) voice calls. Others with the group had AT&T phones, supposedly the right card and the international plans, they didn't work. I don't know about T-Mobile though.

 

[Firefyter]

Verizon probably does not work there because it is a cdma phone and that is only used in the US. You will need a GSM phone such as offered by AT&T or T-Mobile. You will also need an international plan and the calls will still be very expensive. Another option is to get a local prepaid phone while there for emergency use; it will need a local sim card so you may want to wait until you arrive to get one.

The highlighted part of your sentence is patently incorrect. While it is true that in other parts of the world that GSM is more prevalent, CDMA still covers a large part of the globe. See this link for CDMA coverage: CDMA Coverage Worldwide

I use my CDMA phones in Mexico with no problems.

 

[ncchuck]

Don't forget you'll have WIFI at most resorts so you can always use skype. In addition if you have any kind of Internet Phone such as Vonage or 8x8, take your adaptor with you along with some sort of wireless router/repeater and you can make all the calls you want back to the US for nothing. I did this for 4 months on Roatan and 4 months on Utila.

 

[mcgosler]

When we were in Roatan in February, we just bought one of the local cell phones. Therre are two or three main cell phone companies there. here are differing opinions on which one is the best. Regardless, the phone cost $25. We put 100 lempiras of credit onto the phone. We were good for about 30 minutes of calling. It made no difference if it was local or international. The $25 was well spent, we'll go back next year and will use it again. You've heard that stroy before, once you've been to Roatan, you'll be back. Now if I could only find a set of english instructions for the phone, I might be able to make better use of some of the other functions.

 

[nicvanzee]

I completly agree. Why can't they have an option for english prompts. I even speak quite a bit of spanish but navigating the phone was almost impossible. All i could do was the most basic of calling and texting. oh yeah and I figured out the games.

 

[Dive n00b]

I had an odd experience in Roatan a few weeks back with my corporate GSM blackberry. Our telecom guys set me up with the international roaming package and the whole 9 yards. Upon arrival in Roatan, I fired up my device and the e-mails started pouring in. About 2 minutes after turning it on I attempted my first call and got some odd spanish operator recording. Hung up, tried again and got through. That was the only successful call I was able to make all week. No mate what I dialed, I kept getting the spanish operator recording for the remainder of the week although my data plan was working perfectly. It was so weird. Haven't figured it out to this day!