Sdb33

Hello-
My wife and I are going to Tortola in July and want to find out the best and least expensive way of phoning the US. Are there any prepaid calling cards available either before we leave or in Tortola? Also, this is our first time in Tortola and any suggestions for our trip are appreciated!

tejana

Tortola is notoriously expensive in terms of their phone rates. We activated internationally calling on a cell phone when we were planning a trip there last year just for use in emergencies, and the special rate with the plan was $2 a minute instead of $6 a minute.

How long are you going to be there? Are you going to be land based or on a boat? Staying on Tortola proper or on another island?

RoamsAround

If you are land based you might consider having pre-set times when the person(s) you want to talk with will call you as those calls will be much cheaper than ones you originate from Tortola.

Everybody has their own priorities but for us we decided long ago there's really no reason to "call home" when we are on vacation. We told our relatives & friends where we'd be staying and there was no need to contact us unless there was an emergency. Likewise we told them not to expect a call from us unless something was horribly wrong.

On those few occasions where I had to make a "work related call" I didn't really care about the cost since I would be reimbursed for that expense by my employer.

virginia

you might check you texting program too. i've found that using my cell is very expensive but texting, assuming i don't exceed my program minutes, is free.
if staying on tortola there is an internet cafe where you could use a skype account - serendipity bookshop in road town.

Callaloo

If you are near the west end of Tortola (Soper's Hole), you may have line-of-sight coverage to a cell tower on St. John, which would give you access to US plans. It's hit-or-miss, and I wouldn't bet on it if it were truly important, but I've been able to make calls from both Soper's Hole and White Bay (Jost Van Dyke) in the past.

sharona

I'll second Callaloo. I was also able to make a call (Verizon) to the US from the West End, but not always. Definitely spotty so don't depend on it.

mrssparky

When we were in St. John our BVI charges were 1.99/minute and the USVI charge was 1.29/minute.

DH uses Verizon and we were told there is no plan or change you can make to avoid these charges.

dtstahl

If you are fortunate enough to have an internet connection while on Tortola, SKYPE offers PC to Phone service that is only pennies/minute. All you need is web access and a PC or Laptop with a microphone.

Not sure where any Wifi Hot Spots are on Tortola but I'd scout them out before I go down.

We just used this technique to connect with the kids while we were abroad. Worked like a charm @ $0.025/minute

mrssparky

Perhaps a tracfone would work. I think they use whatever service is available, and a unit is a unit, I believe.