Hi We are returning to TB for one month mid dec- mid jan. we are looking forward to the beautiful beaches and wonderful people. But want to stay in touch with family in IL. We do not have a cell phone here and would appreciate advice. thanks tom and jeanie

If the place your staying at has a land line, then you can use World Talk cards. Look at cwjamaica.com for more info.

If not, a cell phone may be your best bet. I'd get a cheap one on EBay or similar that can take the chip from Digicell or CWJ. I'm pretty sure any of the cheaper Nokia line will accept the SIM chips here. Check the sites online for contact info about the SIM chip type.

-Eric

Hey guys!
Staying in touch is easy as pie. You can rent or buy cell phones from MoBay or Black River. You can buy just a phone card with differnt amount of minutes and use a phone where you are lodging. Prices are $1.20us and up depending on the amount of minutes you want. Picking the right card is the trick, compatability is a must for certian phones, just ask the owner which brand. You can email too if you just want to drop a line. There are a few locations in TB that are connected. Hope this helps out, and enjoy the Eden of the south coast known as Treasure Beach.

You can rent digicel phones at the airport and buy calling cards. I do know that when we were in T.B. in May 2005 our Sprint and Verison phones worked and the cost wasn't that bad. I think 24 minutes cost about $20.00. Not as bad as I had expected.

When I was in TB, I could not find the cards for landline phones, only Digicell were easily available. So you need to rent or buy a cell phone. They even rent them at the airport.

They sell (and I have bought many)landline cards at the little store next to the Golden Sands, and also at the store at Kingfisher plaza. I guess it's expensive to make a call in Jamaica from a land line, cuz ya don't get alot of bang for your buck with em. It's probably cheaper to use a cell - especially if you're going to be making alot of calls. I don't have one, so the cards were alright for a quick "check in" at home.

Things may have changed since January (05).

The land line phone cards are known as Cable and Wireless World Talk Cards and are available anywhere Cable and Wireless phone cards are sold. You must make sure to ask for World Talk Card. A $500 JA ($8.33 US)card will give you about 20 minutes of call time.

Maybe I was there when they were short. In May, I could not get a World Talk Card at either of the stores you mentioned or several others. Morris mentioned that he doesn't carry as many as he used to because there is less demand, and it seems to take longer to get resupplied.