Cellular phones and the Bahamas

Factual Questions
1

We just got to the Bahama’s for vacation. My daughter brought her cell phone, and it can accept incoming calls and text messages. In the United States we have unlimited roaming, free cingular to cingular customer. I told her to turn it off until I got answers to the following questions:

This is, I assume, international. Does anyone know the rates for incoming calls. More importantly, what about the text messages. Would each one count as one minute of cell time? What about if she turns her phone off and then when she turns it off downloads 10 waiting messages. I assume that, too, would be one minute rather than 10. What is the least expensive way to use the phone to communicate to her friends back home?

2

This all varies by carrier. Roaming charges for a Cingular phone are likely to be different than roaming charges for a T-Mobile phone, which are likely to be different than roaming charges for a Sprint PCS phone. They also vary by the calling plan the phone is signed up for. For example, I pay $5/month for unlimited text messaging, but I have coworkers who pay 10 cents per message. I would recommend forwarding your question to your carrier’s customer service website, if one is available; they can give you an accurate answer. If your daughter has already received and/or placed a call, you might even be able to see what the charges were, if you have access to on-line billing information.

3

From Cingular:

http://www.cingular.com/customer_service/roaming_ea

South/Central America
Caribbean $1.99/min Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French West Indies, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks & Caicos, Uruguay, Venezuela

so you will be charged 1.99 per minute on all calls, don’t know about text messages, but they will not be part of unlimited messages (I’ve been charged 10c for text messages)