Verizon & postage in San Juan & St. Thomas

[DramamineGirl]

Just checked with Verizon about coverage on my 7 night cruise and they said in San Juan, calls & data & texts are considered domestic, so there's no additional charge. It's half way through my cruise so I'll probably just wait until then to touch base with family.

 

Also, St. Thomas - data and texts are domestic but phone calls are NOT.

 

I signed up for Pay As You Go which is free, but will give me a 'special' deal at $1.79 a minute if I need to call from St. Thomas.

 

Also, if you are old school (like me) and want to send post cards, you can just bring US stamps and mail them all from Puerto Rico. Beats tracking down a post office!

 

I realize some of this is very obvious to long time cruisers but it was news to me! :D

[lizardhowson]

Just checked with Verizon about coverage on my 7 night cruise and they said in San Juan, calls & data & texts are considered domestic, so there's no additional charge. It's half way through my cruise so I'll probably just wait until then to touch base with family.

 

Also, St. Thomas - data and texts are domestic but phone calls are NOT.

 

I signed up for Pay As You Go which is free, but will give me a 'special' deal at $1.79 a minute if I need to call from St. Thomas.

 

Also, if you are old school (like me) and want to send post cards, you can just bring US stamps and mail them all from Puerto Rico. Beats tracking down a post office!

 

I realize some of this is very obvious to long time cruisers but it was news to me! :D

 

Well both San Juan and St. Thomas are US territories/possessions, so it follows that postal rates, rules, laws are same.

 

As far as your cell phone, most companies (AT&T and Sprint) have domestic coverage meaning you should be able to use your cell phone just as you do in Nashville, if Verizon is charging extra fees, that would be unusual. Perhaps the person who told you this didn't know St. Thomas is a US possession i.e. they failed geography.

Edited February 29, 2016 by lizardhowson

[DramamineGirl]

Not sure it's a question of geography . . Guam is also a US territory and there's no domestic coverage there. I think Verizon has a contract with local some local cell towers in St. Thomas and at the moment, Verizon does NOT offer domestic rate phone calls there.

 

Good to know Sprint and AT&T DO have call service. Maybe I can borrow a phone!

[Straitlover]

We were just there, and everyone who had Verizon on our excursion bus said their phone in San Juan was coming up as restricted or something like it. So one made any calls because they didn't know if it would work right or not.

 

I do know on the Verizon website it says what the OP said. Text and data in St Thomas is domestic, phone calls are either 1.79 or 1.99/minute. We looked it up because my sis was trying to decide if she was going to get the $40 international plan or not.

[DramamineGirl]

That kinda sucks. Maybe I'll call Verizon and see if there's something I need to do? I think I need to turn roaming back on? Were you able to use iMessage? I really don't need to talk to anyone, just want to touch base. I will say that I bought the $40 plan for a 3 week trip to Europe in October and it worked great. I mostly was able to find wifi at my hotel . . used maybe 70 of my 100 mb for data and only about 17 minutes of my 100 allowed minutes. Connections was crystal clear. But $40 for a week seems like a lot . . . I used iMessage like crazy though, but just over wifi. Thanks for the heads up! I'll call Verizon and see what they say . . .

[soopamanluva]

Not sure it's a question of geography . . Guam is also a US territory and there's no domestic coverage there. I think Verizon has a contract with local some local cell towers in St. Thomas and at the moment, Verizon does NOT offer domestic rate phone calls there.

 

Good to know Sprint and AT&T DO have call service. Maybe I can borrow a phone!

 

Thats the first i heard of that. every other company, its just like making a call from home.

[K&RCurt]

Never had an issue in San Juan with our verizon phones, they work the same as at home.

 

BTW, there is a US Post Office just up the hill from where the ships dock in OSJ. A couple times we gathered up the gifts we had purchased for the kids, along with some laundry we didn't want to lug home to use as cushioning, and stuffed it in one of those flat rate boxes and mailed it home. It was waiting for us when we got home and no over-weight bags at the airport!

[zqvol]

Just checked with Verizon about coverage on my 7 night cruise and they said in San Juan, calls & data & texts are considered domestic, so there's no additional charge. It's half way through my cruise so I'll probably just wait until then to touch base with family.

 

Also, St. Thomas - data and texts are domestic but phone calls are NOT.

 

I signed up for Pay As You Go which is free, but will give me a 'special' deal at $1.79 a minute if I need to call from St. Thomas.

 

Also, if you are old school (like me) and want to send post cards, you can just bring US stamps and mail them all from Puerto Rico. Beats tracking down a post office!

 

I realize some of this is very obvious to long time cruisers but it was news to me! :D

 

Be careful with data and text in St. Thomas, Verizon told you wrong they are NOT domestic. Incoming texts are 5 cents and outgoing are 50 cents. Data, while it maybe domestic, is charged at some crazy roaming rate per MB.

 

As to how I know this: I have Verizon and we spent 8 nights on St. Thomas between Christmas and the start of the New Year.

Edited March 2, 2016 by zqvol

[zqvol]

Well both San Juan and St. Thomas are US territories/possessions, so it follows that postal rates, rules, laws are same.

 

As far as your cell phone, most companies (AT&T and Sprint) have domestic coverage meaning you should be able to use your cell phone just as you do in Nashville, if Verizon is charging extra fees, that would be unusual. Perhaps the person who told you this didn't know St. Thomas is a US possession i.e. they failed geography.

 

Verizon does not offer domestic coverage ins St. Thomas, only AT&T does at this time. The fact that St. Thomas is a US possession does nto mater that is how Verizon works, or maybe doesn't work on St. Thomas and the rest of the USVI.

Edited March 2, 2016 by zqvol

[Love2travel4]

Be careful with data and text in St. Thomas, Verizon told you wrong they are NOT domestic. Incoming texts are 5 cents and outgoing are 50 cents. Data is charged as some crazy rate per MB.

 

I called Verizon 3x to check....in St. Thomas texting and data use is domestic. Phone calls are $1.79 per minute.

[zqvol]

I called Verizon 3x to check....in St. Thomas texting and data use is domestic. Phone calls are $1.79 per minute.

 

Believe what you want but I speak from personal experience from 8 weeks ago and the pricing structure has not changed in that time.