Phones

PelicanNews

Phones

Long Distance Phone Service in Sint Maarten Owner's Comments

From: Chris Schlunz
Date sent: Mon, 30 Dec 2002
Subject: Re: phones
We purchased the phone cards at an Internet Cafe across from Little Switzerland on Front Street. They were $10 each and gave us something like 33 minutes to the US. My friend (and boss), Bill, said he was able to get them at a Chinese Restaurant right near the resort. He can't think of the name of it but he said you turn left on the main road out of the resort, go over the drawbridge and a little ways down on the left is a pink building which houses the Chinese restaurant. They have a sign up that says "phone cards" so it should be easy to find. The name of the card we purchased is called CENTRECOM Carribean. They have dialing instructions on the back of the prepaid cards. One of the instructions says to dial 011 and
the country code before dialing the area code and number. You DO NOT diall 011 and the country code as instructed. If you try to do that from the resort it will not work. Once you've put in your PIN number (located on the bottom of the card), wait for the recording and then you just dial 1 + Area Code + number. It works great and was a very cheap way to call home. These cards are for calls to ANYWHERE in the world...

From: Al Porter Date sent: Thu, 26 Sep 2002
Subject: Re: phones
Judy-

Last time we were on the island (Aug), we purchased a calling card on the French side for $8.00. The cards are sold in a variety of places. We bought our card at the little market in Nettle Bay (in the strip of shops that includes the post office). I don't recall how it worked out per minute, but it served our needs just fine. I think there is also a higher dollar phone card (presumably with lower per- minute rates), and I suspect there is something comparable on the Dutch side.

I'm curious about the recently posted alternatives, including the phones in the La Palapa strip. We don't call home much and we try to keep it reasonably short, but it's good to have some economical options.

Many of us remember when island phone service was scarce and miserable. Dinner reservations were best made in person, not by phone. There is an interesting story about the first phone call between the two sides of the island. It might be folklore, but here goes: The group assembled around the phone in Grand Case, finally making the connection to a phone in P'burg. The connection took a long time to execute and the quality was poor. Reason? The call was routed to Paris, then Amsterdam, then back to Dutch SM! Al Porter

From: Kathy Carroll
Date sent: Fri, 27 Sep 2002
Judy, Just a comment on calling the US from St. Maarten. We picked up calling cards from Sam's Club, and they worked great. The 600 minute card was good for 65 minutes in the Carribean, and when we got home, the unused minutes reverted back to the US equivalent. The card only cost about $24.00. This worked great!!!
Kathy Carroll

From: "David Henry"
Date sent: Thu, 19 Sep 2002
Judy, in response to Al Rapp's question on phone calls home, we used the Mail Box business located in Palapa Center near the Dutch side drawbridge. The cost was 88 cents per minute. Cheapest place we found on the island.

From: "Suzanne M. Stingo"
Date sent: Fri, 20 Sep 2002
Hi Judy:
I have used two different companies over the years. Kallback and ICC. Both have web sites with all pertinent info on them.
www.kallback.com
www.icc-callingcards.com
One of the pluses is you can make consecutive calls without hanging up just like from a calling card at home. This saves a lot of hassle, if you need to make a few calls at the same time.

Average rate is $.47 per minute with no surcharge for calls from Netherland Antilles to anywhere in U.S.
Regards, Suzanne

From: "Mary Cullen"
Subject: Cell Phones
Date sent: Tue, 24 Sep 2002
Hi, Judy. I truly enjoy your newsletter. It really keeps me up to date. I have a question. When you are in the islands, is there anyway to use your cell phone. When I made a call from a pay phone it ran me $46 for 3 minutes to call the States. Luckily, I don't use my phone much and two years ago I was able to use my AT&T cell phone connection but no more. Any help on this would be appreciated.
Mary Cullen, Week 21 and 22

From: "Suzanne M. Stingo"
Subject: Cell Phones
Date sent: Fri, 27 Sep 2002
Judy: Hi again. Saw that someone was asking about using their U.S. cell phone on the Island.
AT&T Wireless does have service there now. You can take your U.S. telephone number and all to use. You need to call them in advance and set up the international calling feature for $5 per month. I believe the cost per minute is $2.50. Less than some other options but definitely more than the call back services described in your e-mail this Friday. Once home you can cancel the International feature and drop the $5 monthly charge. Hope this helps. Suzanne

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