My local cell phone service will not work well on the islands. Anyone have a solution? I wondered if you could purchase a prepaid cell phone inexpensively there in Waikiki which would be "local" and therefore no longdistance issues to deal with. Any ideas?

When you say it won't work well, do you mean you won't get reception, or that the Long distance charges won't be covered? We have all the major carriers here, so reception shouldn't be a problem except on Lanai or in the country areas of the other neighbor islands.

I believe you can rent a phone thru one of the car rental companies (Budget? Avis? can't remember)or buy a prepaid phone thru Verizon, but the minute charges are quite high on both options.

My cell phone provider is Cingular and they've moved over to a newer technology called "GPS" (I think that's the new technology). Anyway they show via their service maps that Hawaii is NOT a good coverage area. It never ceases to amaze me how "new technology" doesn't mean better service!!! I plan to go in and talk with them again to see if there's something available now that wasn't back in December 2003.

Hi... I thought I posted a reply to this thread already but I don't see it now.

Anyway... I have been a Sprint PCS customer for over 6 years now. About five years ago I took my Sprint cell phone to Oahu and it worked perfectly.

Not sure if it's worthwhile changing cell providers just for this occasion but just wanted to pass on that my Sprint service followed me well to Oahu.

I was wondering about Oahu also, as well as Maui. I want to bring my phone in case a family member back home needed to reach us and to check my voicemail, otherwise we won't need it. My carrier is Verizon--do you have to check with your individual carrier to see if you have service? I just assumed that if one worked, they'd all worked. Obviously I'm technologically challenged.

Cingular has been using GSM in the west since the beginning, but the nationwide move to GSM nationwide has been a gradual move. It is my understanding that because of the large exisiting base of TDMA phones out there, Cingular will be using a GSM/TDMA overlay for a few years. I am assuming you have a TDMA phone and that is why you have concerns? AT&T has a fairly estabished TDMA netowrk on the islands. If you have a GAIT phone it works on both GSM and TDMA.

As for service, Cingular does not currently have service in Hawai`i, as they sold their Hawaiian network to AT&T a while back. But, they will be renentering the Hawaiian market with their purchase of AT&T. In the meantime, when you are in Hawai`i you will be roaming on AT&T or T-mobile's betwork. AT&T claims to have full GSM coverage in Hawai`i, which they say thay have added to their existing TDMA network in the islands.

I have phone service through Cingular, and have a Los Angeles number on my phone. I still do a lot of business on the mainland and I am not ready to give up the phone number I have had for many years just because I have moved. I have a nation plan, so I have no roaming, no long distance and nationwide mobile-to-mobile, so it makes no difference to me. Since everyone I do business with here also has mobile phones, the long distance thing is not an issue. My phone works perfectly except in places where reception is spotty, e.g., in Hana, certain areas upcountry and for some odd reason, in my home office, but it works fine everywhere else in my house.

Verizon uses CDMA and they do have service on Maui.

If you do not already have a nation plan, call and switch to one before your trip. I know with congular you can switch to a nation plan for one month, switch to something else the next. Cingular even has nationwide mobile-to-mobile now.

I have a new flip phone and it has only GSM technology, so that's why they told me it would NOT do well in Hawaii. I can't change to National plan for just one month because Cingular's national plan is NOT compatible with GSM technology, which is what my phone has ONLY. I hope I'm explaining this right. Bottomline, I CAN't use a nationwide plan on my phone.

Oh, my, that is completely inconsistent with my Cingular experience. I have been with Cingular since their inception, having been absorbed into their plan with various mergers over the years. When Cingular came into the SoCal market they were using GSM. While I now have a triband phone, my husband's phone is a still a single band GSM phone. We have traveled between here and SoCal for many years with no problems. We are on a Nation plan and have been for at least maybe three years. I have not seem a roaming charge since 2001, and technically I am on roaming all thre time when I home, since my phone service is based in CA, but I live in HI. Actually, the full name of our plan is "Cingular Nation GSM," and as far as I know it requires a GSM phone.

And since AT&T claims to have full GSM coverage in HI, I don't understand why they are telling you you can't use your phone.

I'm not doubting you were told this, I just seems so odd to me. Did you speak with a Cingular employee, or with a Cingular rep at a store? My mother had a very bad experience with a Cingular resller at a phone kiosk, who told her incorrect information and was unable/unwilling to give her the calling plan she wanted. Once my mother contacted Cingular directly (called 611 on her phone) she was able to get things straightened out and now has the plan she needs/wants.

Call your company and ask them what you can do for a temporary plan while you are in Hawaii.

If they will not help you, keep going up the food chain until someone does help.

I think that's my best bet. I'm going to go IN and talk with a rep, not over the phone. I've found they're more helpful in person vs. over the phone. Part of my problem could be the TYPE of phone I have. I got a Motorola flip phone T290 (I think that's the right model #). I got the phone in January 2004.

Make sure you go to a Cingular store and not a third party reseller. I can tell you from personal experience, just because It says Cingular on the sign does not mean it is a Cingular corporate store!

Here's my solution or alternative besides fussing with the phone reps. We leave a number for our hotel or condo with a neighbor, and close relative. In case of emergency, we can be reached. Otherwise, we are free not to "check in" with anyone during our trip, worry about time change, etc.