Pardon my ignorance, but are cell phones in the Dominican republic primarily PCS like in the US or GSM like in Europe?

My sister will be studying for a semester in SDQ and I'm wondering if I should bring back my dual-band European mobile for her to use (if she can buy a SIM card for it) or if she should look at a plan that would let her use her AT&T cell phone there.

Any advice is appreciated.
Yonatan

Look sle you are in luck - they have GSM (that's all I looked up)

See http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/net_dotp.shtml

It will even show you roaming partners by country......

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by yonatan:


My sister will be studying for a semester in SDQ and I'm wondering if I should bring back my dual-band European mobile for her to use (if she can buy a SIM card for it) or if she should look at a plan that would let her use her AT&T cell phone there.</font>

I travel to SDQ 6 times a year. The BEST and frankly only way to use a cell is to buy one. Orange ( the European phone co.) has many stores / vendors in the DR.

You can currently BUY a Orange Cell for about $40 US (around RD$1100) for a new Motorola with RD$100 (pesos) on a pay as you go card installed, and with the phone activated with a local number.

One great thing about Dominican cell phones is that you receive calls for FREE, unlike N. America where you pay to call and to get calls.

You can get calling cards in Europe and call her DR# for much less than roaming etc., with a phone from another country.

I have a Codetel phone (A Verizon company) that I have used for ages and if and when it packs it in, I'll get an Orange phone.

Even a Nokia Tri-Band phone is about RD$2,850, which is under US$90 and uses a SIM card so theoretically she can use it in your country afterwards.

Phone rentals and roaming with foreign phones MIGHT be good for a day. More than that it is cheaper to buy a new phone.

BTW for her to call you now and then the best way is to go to a calling office, located in many cambios ( money changer shops), Codetel's calling offices, Turitel, and others where you use a booth and it is metered and you pay when finished.

To call Canada it is about RD$10 a minute or less than 30 cents. USA is about RD$4 a minute which is about 7 cents. Often cheaper than calling the DR from those countries.

Europe is affordable. Warning tell her NOT to use the "Hot" phones in airports or streets that say press 1 or 2 for this or that country and pay with a credit card -often as much as $5 US a minute to call. Use the shops. Ask in advance the rate. It is all computerized so the clerks rarely can or do rip you off.



[This message has been edited by ricktoronto (edited 06-16-2003).]