Caribbean - cell phone advice - Jamaica

I have been doing some searching around & haven't found what I am looking for. Hopefully somebody here can help me out.

We are going to Montego Bay for a week next month. My cell phone is provided by my company with no international coverage. My wife (who is in the middle of her contract) has US Cellular. She called them & said they offered no plans that would include Jamaica.

We would like to have a cellphone so the kids can call grandparents & we can make/receive calls if there are any emergencies. I was hoping that a Tracfone or something like that would have a plan to include Jamaica, but haven't found one. Anybody have any ideas for us?

I assume by the lack of replies that there really aren't any good options for my phone.

Next question. How much cash do we need to bring? We are planning on spending most of our time at the resort, but will go out a few times. How many places take Visa vs. cash only? Dunn's River falls is on our to do list. Not sure about what else.

You can rent a cell phone at the Montego Bay Airport. You may even want to buy a cheap phone. Search "Digicel Jamaica".

Credit cards are widely accepted in Jamaica, but there are some places where you may be better off paying cash. Use your judgement.

If I was in MBJ for a week, planning two dinners off-resort, I might take $300 just in case. If you run out, ask the hotel for a cash advance, or find an ATM. You can probably charge excursions such as Dunn's River to your room via the tour desk.
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13F

You can rent a cell phone at the Montego Bay Airport. You may even want to buy a cheap phone. Search "Digicel Jamaica".

Credit cards are widely accepted in Jamaica, but there are some places where you may be better off paying cash. Use your judgement.

If I was in MBJ for a week, planning two dinners off-resort, I might take $300 just in case. If you run out, ask the hotel for a cash advance, or find an ATM. You can probably charge excursions such as Dunn's River to your room via the tour desk.
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13F

Thank you very much.

Typically none of the major phone Carriers have plans that "include" Jamaica but most major US Carriers will roam there for around .99 a minute plus LD. I have traveled there frequently with multiple providers and 99% of the time it works as advertised. Digicel, Claro, and C&W/LIME are the major Wireless Providers. Digicel and LIME have the better coverage and you can get prepaid phones at the airport as mentioned before or alot of larger hotels rent them for a minimal charge.

When I got to Jamaica I carry enough cash to cover Taxi's and any occassional purchases that are easier with cash (a street vendor for example selling woodwork). I agree that $300 is a reasonable number. I might go a little higher if you are comfortable and put a $100 somewhere else as emergency money. Have fun, Dunns River Falls is great!

Hint: International roaming from your home cellular company requires complex back-end IT infrastructure and costs so therefore usually only the larger companies with NATIONWIDE coverage have international roaming.

The following big-4 US companies have global international roaming for their subscribers: Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint.

On Verizon & Sprint due to the CDMA technologies used you need to do a *228, option 2 on your phone to update the roaming list before you leave /w Verizon. Call Sprint CSR for a similar option.

Then you need to talk to your customer CSR and tell them you will be traveling internationally and to enable international roaming on your account.

Once you land you make & receive calls as normal roaming on a foreign network, costing .69 to .99/minute and will be billed to your standard monthly bill.

PREPAID phones in the US DO NOT have international roaming or its VERY EXPENSIVE because the cost does NOT justify the means.

I would just buy a rental cell/mobile phone once you land.

We just got back & got by with skype on the ipad (which I only figured out at the last minute when I absolutely needed it). Our flight got cancelled and spent a half an hour on the phone getting rebooked. Other than that, I never needed to call.

We ended up taking $500 & brought back a little over $100. Unfortunately Dunn's River falls was closed the day we paid for the cool runnings tour. We were able to do the stairs, but couldn't climb the falls. There was too much rain that day & the water was too brown to see the bottom. It still was good though. The best thing we did was the zip line.