cell phones

[dolliesny]

Has anyone taken a cell phone on a SA cruise Buenos Aires to Valpraiso itinerary? If so how successful was it and how did you obtain the phone?

[sirtom]

We are going on Infinity on Feb. 13 from BA to Santiago.

We have Cingular cell phone service with a Motorola GSM phone. According to Cingular, this phone will work in Argentina and Chile.

[digby]

My regular cingular phone would pick up a signal in all major ports, but would not work when I tried to call a number.

[greatam]

Has anyone taken a cell phone on a SA cruise Buenos Aires to Valpraiso itinerary? If so how successful was it and how did you obtain the phone?

 

Most cell service is UNavailable on your itinerary. You will have service on some providers in BA and Santiago but not much any place else. No towers for transmission at sea and few in the southern parts of Argentina and Chile. The only 100% reliable service is satellite phone. It is NOT cheap, both rental and calls, but it works, if you ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY MUST have a way someone can contact you.

 

I have purchased 2 sat phones from this provider and have had great luck in South America and other remote locations (where I go at least four times per year for business). To use a sat phone, you MUST be outside. Can't use it from your cabin. They also have cell phone rentals, but again, you are limited to certain areas.

http://www.worldcell.com/

[LabeYoung]

We were in BA 2 weeks ago. Although my phone did not work my son has nextel and he could use his walkie-talkie feature but not his dialing features....wild eh?

I have never been able to use my phone overseas, If I traveled overseas more or was a businessman I would invest in the phones that have such access, but heck the phone rings enuf at home!

Actually, using phone cards overseas does us well. It is cheap to call home with those. Internet cafes are our choice though, even cheaper.

 

All the best!

Labe

[Cally]

I have Cingular and just got off the Valpraiso to Rio cruise and I had service in all ports. If we were cruising close to land it worked as well. You need a GSM phone with GSM service.

I could call out and receive calls.

[xpcdoojk]

If you have a GSM world phone you should be able to change the settings to the local settings and if you have contacted your provider and paid for international roaming you should be able to use your cell phone. In order to do this you must have at least a 3 frequency GSM cell phone. Most 3 frequency phones have 850, 1800 and 1900 a 4 frequency GSM phone will also have 900 or 950(can't remember which off the top of my head). The 4 frequency phones are your best bet, but the 3 frequency ones will probably work. You must change the settings in order to function, and you must have your phone coverage set for international before you leave.

 

jc

[Splinter]

Alternatively, just use an internet cafe ashore. They are everywhere, always at least one near the pier, and service is cheap (usually about $1-5 per HOUR). Widely used by the crew, who will also know where all the pay phones are if you just get a phone card. Since you are unlikely to be able to use your phone anyplace but the larger ports anyway, this would be much cheaper.

[pmcrusta]

Had my ATT wireless digital cell phone with me from BA around Horn to FLL. My friend had a Sat. phone. Mine had a full signal at every port expect Port Stanley. The Sat. phone was useless. We had various chats with the Royal's

staff. Because they are gone from home a number of them told us they had expensive paper weights. They said they were told the satelites were in such a small area in SA. they were told the coverage area was small. If this is the case I have no idea. But the Sat. phone never got a signal on land or off. It's expensive to use you cell. And I never received a call. But had a message come in a few times. I called out a couple of times. Thw ATT rep. explained

that digital we use in US works in SA as it's a simular type unlike in Europe, etc. And it took a number of calls and a couple of visits. Before I reached someone that told me the correct answer. From the other responses it looks as if it's not a sure thing. I agree use email, and phone cards from the area's you go to. You can be reached on the ship if someone needs to call you or email you on the ship. But the one thing everyone learned. This cruise is not

great for connections of any kind email or otherwise. This cruise had many

"elites", they were very surprised how much the computers were down do to

no connection :eek: . So be prepared.

[dolliesny]

Thanks everyone for all of the information. Unfortunately we are Verizon cell customers which does not have a phone unless rented that will work in SA. However in for our Europe trip I think we will be all set.