Anyone use Blackberry/iPhone in Cuba?
Aug 7, 2012, 3:57 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: NYC
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Anyone use Blackberry/iPhone in Cuba?
I'm aware the phone has to be unlocked and that the phone must be quadband and that there is no 3G/4G. But I have heard about people getting emails to their Blackberry while in Cuba. I assume they were roaming off a non-US carrier. One person mentioned getting gmail using basic 2g mode. Any ideas how to accomplish this (I am on T-mobile US)? My goal is to use email/bbm/whatsapp.
I heard there is a Rogers Carribean prepaid sim card that will work in Cuba. If I get some kind of international roaming card I could also use it as a modem for my laptop? Any local SIM options with data features? Also wondering- the hotels that do have wifi-can I connect my phone to wifi to check messaging apps or it's only accessible from computers?
I heard there is a Rogers Carribean prepaid sim card that will work in Cuba. If I get some kind of international roaming card I could also use it as a modem for my laptop? Any local SIM options with data features? Also wondering- the hotels that do have wifi-can I connect my phone to wifi to check messaging apps or it's only accessible from computers?
Aug 12, 2012, 1:23 am
#2
Join Date: Nov 2004
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Posts: 770
I'm using Blackberry with SIM from Spanish operator when I'm in Cuba, but that's requires a subscription (my home operator don't have data roaming in Cuba at all). I recall my Canadian colleagues were getting emails on their Blackberries too while down there.
You can forget about using the phone as a modem for laptop except emails - it is bloody slow and data traffic is very expensive.
Many hotels have a wifi, you can connect phone too. Depending of hotel it can cost upto 10 bucks an hour.
You can forget about using the phone as a modem for laptop except emails - it is bloody slow and data traffic is very expensive.
Many hotels have a wifi, you can connect phone too. Depending of hotel it can cost upto 10 bucks an hour.
Jan 16, 2013, 10:19 am
#3
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota,USA
Programs: UA, NW
Posts: 3,752
One of the members of our group was a Verizon employee, and he researched options for phone service in Cuba. The upshot was that no U.S. phone company has any arrangements for phone service in Cuba. Europeans and other non-North Americans can roam on their ordinary GSM phones. (Supposedly a Mobal world phone will work in Cuba, since it has a British SIM.)
However, I found the LACK of connectivity to be refreshing and relaxing. All the members of our group reported sleeping unusually well, which I attribute to being cut off the anxiety-provoking 24/7 news cycle. I carried an iPhone, but I used it exclusively as a camera and alarm clock, since it kept displaying the "No Service" sign.
I told my friends and family in advance that I would be incommunicado for seven days and gave them the landline phone number of the place we were staying.
Our lodgings (a convent) had no Internet connection, but one of our party went to the Hotel Inglaterra to try out their Internet connection, and he found it to be maddeningly slow, so he gave up.
However, I found the LACK of connectivity to be refreshing and relaxing. All the members of our group reported sleeping unusually well, which I attribute to being cut off the anxiety-provoking 24/7 news cycle. I carried an iPhone, but I used it exclusively as a camera and alarm clock, since it kept displaying the "No Service" sign.
I told my friends and family in advance that I would be incommunicado for seven days and gave them the landline phone number of the place we were staying.
Our lodgings (a convent) had no Internet connection, but one of our party went to the Hotel Inglaterra to try out their Internet connection, and he found it to be maddeningly slow, so he gave up.