We're traveling to the turks and caicos and will need a working cell phone to call back to the US. Any idea how the best way to go about renting a phone is? (the best place to get one that works well online or the best way to get one when we arrive in the turks and caios? Thank you!

We looked into renting one last year as well. Rented a satellite phone since we were on North Caicos for a week and was a necessity for my husband.

For Provo, I ended up buying an "unlocked" phone from a reputable seller on eBay. I bought my SIM card at the IGA store in Provo and it worked great. I can also use the phone in other countries, including the US, buy purchasing a sim card.

This way we don't have to rent phones anymore on our trips. Hope that helps.

A lot of posters on Tripadvisor just recommend buying a cheap cell phone (prepaid) if you don't have the right kind of phone. Here is a link to info about using your own "unlocked" cell phone or buying one on the island (at the end), and other alternatives for calling home:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g1...elephones.html

Thanks for the information on purchasing a phone. We don't do enough international travel to warrant buying a phone. Any thoughts on where we can just rent one?
Thanks

It's cheaper to buy one in Provo than rent.

Rentals run about $10 a day, plus taxes, plus deposit. Then you just buy prepaid $ amounts on it.

you can buy a cell phone from $15 to $30 depending on specials. You get to keep the phone-possibly use it for other travels. You just buy $ amount cards, and all incomming calls are free and unlimited. Just one phone call from the room, and the cell phone you keep is paid for! (It's VERY expensive to call from resorts, even if using prepaid calling cards!)

So I don't need to pay a monthly service charge?

no monthly charges.
It's usually a Nokia or Motorola phone.
It's Pay as you go-so you buy $ amounts. Best to have everyone call you from States so that it's cheaper. You will get a phone #. Calls work pretty much everywhere, even on secluded excursions. You can buy $ cards in tons of places.

Thank you!

Do they have a cell phone company in the airport? How long does it take to go through the process of purchasing a phone. I don't want to wait 1+ hour or anything.

mbl340, until Blamona comes back I'll offer what I know.

Last summer there was not a phone company in the airport. Its very small. If you really don't want to waste the time on your vacation, and I completely understand, your options would be to
a) rent online before your trip
b) buy an unlocked phone before your trip and get the sim card on the island (what we did and took all of 10 minutes including waiting in line or
c) spend the time on the island to purchase the phone (locked or unlocked?), buy the sim card, charge the phone and purchase any accessories needed during your trip.

The downside to purchasing on the island would be your <i>uncharged</i> phone as well as it may not be unlocked. Purchasing before your trip you could have your charger and battery ready to go and spend only a few minutes buying your sim card. Its at the grocery and most likely you'll go their for supplies anyway.

FYI....we were in Provo in Nov and the resort gave us a phone to use. They said just buy $10 worth of min and give the number to people in the states to call you as you are not charged for incoming minutes....so we did that and my son's girlfried called him every day. When she got her bill she had $600 in charges for calls to the Caribbean.

I believe that I read that there are two companies that I can purchase a SIM card from in Provo.

Do Cable and Wireless and Digitel both sell SIM cards? Is there any advantage of one over the other?

Thank you.

Yes, both C&amp;W and Digicel sell the SIM cards. Either one should be fine. Digicel is the relative new player on the scene, so they may have better deals? But a SIM card is inexpensive anyways. Go with whichever is convenient.

Thanks. I just purchased a quad band phone and will get a SIM upon arrival.

The studio we rented has a phone and family could contact us if we wanted, but we will just call them to check in.