Tracfone question

[zzrobot]

Will a tracfone work on ship in the carribean, using the ships cell phone celltower?

[firefly333]

I dont know if the phone uses the ship's tower or not?? But I tried my Tracfone several times on my last cruise to Western Caribbean and it wouldnt work. It would say emergencies only, but when Id call it wouldnt go thru. I tried and tried.

[Ephraim]

Tracfone is an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator.) In the United States, TracFone operates on the AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, Claro and T-Mobile networks, among others (such as Alltel and US Cellular). The phone and network you use depends on where you purchase your Tracfone. In some areas the phones are GSM and in others they are CDMA (and in some ares they were using TDMA and Analog, but those have gone the way of the dodo bird).

 

In both Canada and the US, most MVNOs don't provide service outside of their own country because they seem to lack proper controls on prepaid service. If they do offer it, it may be cost prohibitive. (For example, Canada's Fido and Rogers offer prepaid service in the US for $2 a minute!)

 

I have been told that Tracfone will roam into Canada on condition that you are not using it exclusively in Canada, because then they terminate you.

[swmichigan cruiser]

We have used it in port at San Juan and also at ST. Thomas.

[IKE]

We used it this past September in San Juan and St. Thomas. No problem at all! However, We were not able to call from Tortola. Just US Islands.