I'm coming down soon and need a phone that works with digicell. I tried bringing one from the states before but for some reason it didn't work.

Does anyone have a specific phone name/model they can say works for sure?

And how much are inexpensive feature phone (not iphone) cost in JA these days?

Thanks

I took my h t c one t..Mobile Phone with me to Jamaica i have to unlock it before. it cost $400, ja for the the chip

you can get any phone that is unlocked and just buy a chip in Jamaica.

My Samsung II worked with a digicel sim card. You just need to make sure you 'unlock' your phone before you use the Digicel sim card. Call your carrier and explain what you want to do, and they should guide you.
Also, make sure if you use a smart phone, make sure you turn off all Data access or your minutes/credits will go quickly. You could also buy a cheap basic phone to use in Jamaica, or when you travel abroad.

Thanks for the info. I'm not looking to purchase an expensive smart phone, just a regular 'feature phone'.

Has anyone used one like that in JA successfully? I know most will work, but since I bought one that didn't I'd like an exact model number to be sure.

Any unlock phone that uses a chip will do that all you need.

I bought a cheap phone from Lime in Negril in Feb. It doesn't have any perks - can't take photos or anything. Strictly text & phone calls.
I think it cost $30 US for the phone & more local & international minutes than I could use in 2 weeks.
The nice thing is that now I always will have the same phone number in Jamaica. I don't know what will have to be done when I return next Feb. to get it going....it's also nice to have saved numbers in the phone book.

blackberry phones are easy to use. Just make sure they are unlocked then get a digicel sim card.

Not all Blackberry phone has sim card. i have a blackberry phone that does not have sim card. i only used it here in the u.s.a cant work in Ja

I take my unlock Blackberry out there and it did not work with the sim card .

Tourist, I think I'm right in saying that you need to add money to the phone/account at least once every 3 months to keep it active. If not, they give the phone number away.

Can anyone back me up on this?

US is right, I have a phone that i use only in Jamaica and I have to put credit on every month or so and I have it for a few years now and it works all the time when I come home.

Oh shoot! I think I'm right at the 3 month mark...I wonder if I should make a call to them? Thanks for the info. Oh, that would stink to get there & find out I couldn't use the phone.

You should be able to add credit online, Tourist. Hope its not too late...

Many years ago I realised that I could not survive without a phone in JA/TB, eg friends coming to see me and I wasn't there or vice versa! So I bought a cheap phone in Black River and left it in JA but the friend kept forgetting to charge it; another phone with someone who had it stolen etc ... Finally I got a cheap unlocked phone here in the UK (from Carphonewarehouse) bought a new Digicel chip (from Digicel shop in Black River) - not sure how much they cost now but it was about 600-800 JMD - and now I take it home with me and every 60 days (Digicel will text you just before this is up) I topup online with Digicel with approx 300 JMD - you can use this to send texts or save for when you go back to JA - you don't lose this credit, but to be able to use you need to topup every month. I topup the day before I travel. Oh and you still get your 100 JMD if you topup every month!

I will also say that I found that if you were only going to JA for 1 or 2 weeks it wasn't worth waiting until you got to JA to buy a new phone as more often than not I needed to use it at the airport on arrival, and by the time I'd bought the phone and sussed out how to use it etc etc it was time to go home! lol