Cell coverage??

Yes. AT&T or Sprint are your best bet. Verizon is ALL roaming down here.

Forget about Verizon. They're so wonderful they don't provide service in the VI. Your best bet is AT&T.

I just saw this and posted about the same question in another feed about Sprint. So sprint will work without roaming?

I don't know anyone who had any success using Sprint here.

When people say "roaming", we're talking about charges of at least $1/minute, $2.50 per text message, and a dollar or two per MB of data.

Many unwary tourists with Verizon plans have found themselves with a thousand-dollar phone bill after a week's vacation.

To live here, you definitely need another carrier. If you are on STJ, AT&T usually works better than Sprint. For STT, either will work. Don't know about STX.

I called Verizon because I'm visiting next week and was concerned about roaming. I was told that if you talk on the phone, you'll be charged roaming fees. If you're texting or using data within your plan limits, you will NOT be charged any additional fees. Was I told wrong?

Go to Cricket. They are on the At&T network and have service in STX. We have them and have never had a problem with them.

jandb15, I would call back and double-check. Maybe you have a different plan than most, or maybe they have recently changed their rules. I know many people have gotten charged ridiculous rates for data and text from Verizon in the past; any one one of the visitor forums will have a thread on this.

I just got off the phone with Verizon and they said calls made in VI cost $1.79/min. There are no charges for text or data as long as you stay within your plan allowance. However, texts with a picture or video attachment will cost $0.50. He checked the coverage map and said most areas in STT are covered with either 4G or 3G. Hopefully this helps. The main thing I want my phone for is GPS until I get to know the island.

I wouldn't necessarily depend on your GPS in our islands.
I've had vacation guests get completely lost doing so.
Maybe others can comment on their experiences using GPS.

Forget about GPS here.

I have a Garmin GPS and always programmed key locations for our guests. It worked well for them and then they could concentrate on driving on the left.

If you are using a not so smart phone that depends on WiFi and or cell tower locations to calculate your position you might have a problem in areas with poor service or no service but I never had a problem with satellite GPS even in the rain forest.

They don't have a Garmin. They want to use their phone.