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Hello everyone,
My husband and I are relocating to St. John the last weekend of September and are staying indefinitely as he has accepted a job offer there.
We currently have Verizon Wireless as our cell phone carrier here in Pennsylvania. However, VZW does not provide service to USVI without roaming. According to Sprint and AT&T, they both provide regular service there. We were also looking at Innovative and Choice Wireless. I have read a lot of negative things about Choice coverage as far as internet goes. But was wondering about their cellular coverage? If we go with AT&T, we would still have non-roaming coverage when we come to the mainland to visit family, however, we'd be on a limited data plan (we both have smart phones and want to keep them) and it would be pricier than Choice.
So my question is (or my questions are).... AT&T, Sprint, Innovative, or Choice for our wireless cell coverage with data plan? Who's got the best coverage and least dropped calls? Who's got the best value? (I've researched all the actual costs, but want your opinion on the bang for the buck).
Also... I've been reading a lot about BBVI... do they also provide cell service or only internet?
(I will have additional topics to post as I have more questions about our relocation)
This topic has been covered fairly recently, so try searching the archives for more information. Best bang for your buck will depend on what options you need. The most important thing is to make sure that your phone works where you are going to be living (or spending most of your time).
fdr... I did do a search and found some posts on this topic... they were from February and older... which is why I didn't find them when I was perusing by page and went through the first 10 pages.... Thanks for the reminder to use the search field.. although I wouldn't call february "fairly recently". *-)
We also had Verizon and had to switch when we moved here a few months ago. We went with AT&T and have had no problems so far. We live on STT and go over to St John every other weekend. Just be careful because some spots on St John require an international plan because you are so close to the British Virgin Islands. I also noticed on St John that some areas I had no signal.
Not much changes around here in six months' time, actually! I did a search for "Sprint" in the archives, which pulled up a number of more recent posts.
If you don't know where you're going to be living yet, and you don't already have a cell phone plan that will work down here (AT&T, Sprint, or TMobile), then get a pay-per-minute phone from AT&T or Sprint for when you first arrive. Then, if that carrier's service works well at your house, you'll know who to sign up with for a monthly plan. If not, try a different carrier. If you wind up in a place with very limited cell service, you might not want to shell out extra cash monthly for a big data plan, etc.
Good luck with the move!
Thanks fdr. I hadn't thought about doing the pre-paid thing to start. That makes sense. Our biggest issue is that my mom and son are both on our plan as well, so I'm trying to find something that fits for all of us that their phones will be able to continue on as well.
I appreciate everyone's feedback and can't wait to establish residence during our PMV the first week of September. Then the crazy begins as we start to sell our belongings back home... Then just 3 short weeks after our PMV, we'll be on St. John permanently!! Excited and exhausted at the same time.
What I know:
Sprint on St. John is basically useless. I think they only have 1 tower.
My secondary cell is through Innovative cause I can just pop in the SIM. 2 cents per minute. Blows Sprint and AT&T out of the water as far as reception on St Thomas(Live on East End). --haven't used it on St. John yet.
